Ride the Wave of NCAA® March Madness® with the Bracket Refresh Program

There’s only one thing that comes close to generating the red-hot enthusiasm and fervor that consumers have for Coca-Cola® products: the NCAA® March Madness® Tournament, which runs from March 13 to April 3, 2017. It’s a great opportunity to leverage Coca-Cola® and POWERADE® to fuel NCAA fever. Retailers can participate in The Coca Cola Company’s NCAA® March Madness® Bracket Refresh Program, an integrated marketing campaign designed to incent shoppers to engage with Coca-Cola® brands, create greater in-store traffic, and drive sales.

Drink, Refresh, Score
When sports fans settle in for the game, the vast majority enjoy drinks and snacks, buoying home media consumption into a $28 billion opportunity.¹ As anticipation builds at the beginning of the four-week tournament (when “anyone can win”) and as fans follow their favorite or surrogate teams, starting 2/20-3/23 The Coca-Cola  Company has advertising and marketing materials ready to promote NCAA® March Madness® through a consumer promotion program called Bracket Refresh with a call-to-action to: “Drink, Refresh, and Score.”

• Drink: Consumers purchase Coca-Cola and POWERADE products. Consumers then scan or enter the codes online (Coke.com/BracketRefresh) for the chance to unlock teams and win prizes.
• Refresh: If a team is eliminated, consumers can purchase more products to receive new codes and a chance to refresh their bracket with a new team. More teams will be released on 3/20 where consumers can come back and scan or enter their code for the chance to get a Sweet 16® team and get back in the game.
• Score: Each time a consumer’s team wins, the consumer scores prizes. The sweepstakes grand prize is $25,000 cash

Since most of the brackets bust after round one, this program incentivizes shoppers with multiple chances to purchase these beverages and receive regional seed pieces. The win-win: shoppers are encouraged to keep shopping until they get the best teams that keep them in the game. And these repeat purchases benefit retailers.

Promoting the Madness
The Coca-Cola Company will be promoting the NCAA March Madness Bracket Refresh Program with in-store merchandising (promotional displays, end caps, and point of purchase visuals); product packaging (20-oz Coca-Cola & Coca-Cola Zero® bottles); as well as media buys and advertising (TV, social, digital, in-broadcast integration).

By working with a Coca-Cola customer team representative, retailers can activate merchandising and point-of-sale materials to capitalize on NCAA March Madness enthusiasm. Take advantage of the opportunity to promote Coca-Cola and POWERADE beverages and drive sales through the Bracket Refresh Program.

Contact your local representative for more information and promotional materials. See the official rules HERE for the NCAA® March Madness® Bracket Refresh.

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¹ 2015 CBL/revenue mapping by RGM}