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Who do you have winning your college basketball bracket? The head of AT&T\u2019s marketing is hoping that you\u2019ll respond by asking, \u201cFor which tournament?\u201d<\/p>\n
The telecommunications giant is once again sponsoring the men\u2019s and women\u2019s college basketball tournaments. It\u2019s also significantly increasing its investment in the women\u2019s tournament as the record-setting superstar from the University of Iowa, Caitlin Clark, draws in more viewers. Kellyn Smith Kenny, chief marketing and growth officer at AT&T, recently spoke with The Associated Press about the tournaments. <\/p>\n
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n
Q: Can you put into context how big a phenomenon Caitlin Clark is right now from a marketer\u2019s perspective?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: She is a big deal. The impact that she has had on viewership for the sport, buzz, social activity around her, the social activity around Iowa, it\u2019s managed to take all of the incredible coverage and popularity of last year and amplify it.<\/p>\n Last year, the final game of the women\u2019s March Madness was just shy of 10 million viewers. What we\u2019re seeing this year is numbers blowing away (last year\u2019s trends).<\/p>\n Q: So you want to advertise on her games?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: One of the things that\u2019s amazing about it is women\u2019s sports is a really smart investment for brands and advertisers to make. Viewers of women\u2019s sports, they have a disproportionate share of their households\u2019 discretionary spend. They\u2019re far more likely to remember and recall the brands that advertise during women\u2019s sports, and they associate those brands with being supportive of women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n It seems like we\u2019re in this moment of the power of the woman, and the power of the girl. From what we saw last year with Beyonce and Taylor Swift and their tours, and this year with Caitlin (Clark) and Sabrina (Ionescu, a professional basketball player), there\u2019s incredible momentum.<\/p>\n Q: Does Caitlin Clark remind you of another superstar, or does this all feel new?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: I think this is potentially once in a generation. If I compare her to other athletes and the type of heat she has in her sport, you\u2019ve got Mikaela Shiffrin in skiing and Serena Williams in tennis. It is incredible how much momentum and how much true passion for the sport she has been able to create.<\/p>\n Q: So next year will be a letdown for the women\u2019s college tournament when she\u2019s no longer playing in it?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Because she\u2019s brought so much attention to the sport, now there are other households names. LSU\u2019s victory over Iowa last year also created emerging stars and household names. I\u2019m hopeful she\u2019s almost a spark that ignites a fire. I think that\u2019s what we\u2019re looking for. There\u2019s so much attention on women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n Q: Is AT&T doing anything different with the women\u2019s tournament this year than in years past?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: We do have a long track record of investing in women\u2019s sports. The hype around women\u2019s sports is intensifying, but we were always big believers of women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n From 2023 to 2024, we are doubling our media investment in the women\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n We are a sponsor of March Madness brackets, and we are on a mission to encourage more bracket equity. Every time someone asks: \u201cDid you fill out a bracket for March Madness?\u201d we want the response to be: \u201cYes, I filled out two, both women\u2019s and men\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n Q: If we can pull the lens out more broadly to live sports in general, do you find that it\u2019s still the premier way to get in touch with potential customers?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: There\u2019s no question that what live sports can deliver is fans who don\u2019t hop around to other shows. They are very engaged. They feel very passionate and connected to the content, so it is one of the most stable mass reach vehicles to reach our customers and to reach our prospects.<\/p>\n The thing that\u2019s so incredible about sports is that it\u2019s a shared passion. When brands advertise and communicate through sports, fans can figure out very quickly if this brand is an authentic sports fan, truly understands fandom and the players and the coaches and the dynamics. Everything AT&T does, we are trying to meet fans where they are. We think way beyond the commercial and the advertising.<\/p>\n Q: Even with the fracturing of media, you\u2019re still finding those fans?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Last year 30% of games viewed were over a mobile device. We\u2019ve seen that number increase every year. This emphasizes how critical it is that when brands tell their story, we\u2019re not limiting it to broadcast television. We have to adapt to how 30% or more are going to be looking on a phone or tablet, which means it\u2019s easy to toggle to other apps or experiences.<\/p>\n (Along with cameras above the basketball rim and attached to drones,) we had pylon-cams in college football: AT&T 5g-enabled cameras giving fans an inside look at whether they make it (into the end zone) by a hair of a centimeter.<\/p>\n Q: Are the audiences of the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tournaments very different, or are they converging?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: We are starting to see that it is converging a bit. It\u2019s not this nascent, small little niche fan base for women\u2019s basketball. The appeal is broadening.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to the CEO Daily newsletter to get the CEO perspective on the biggest headlines in business. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n