It’s time. The moment has arrived to determine, through a rigorously scientific process of social media favoritism, the best advertiser in the game today.
Adweek’s March Adness brand bracket pits 64 of the most innovative and attention-grabbing marketers against each other in a no-holds-barred battle for social supremacy. Only one will make it through the championship and claim a year of coveted bragging rights (honestly there’s nothing else on the line here).
We’ll be asking our social media audiences to vote often over the coming weeks, so be sure you’re following @Adweek on Twitter and on Instagram. Each matchup will be a limited-time poll open to any voters, so be sure to keep an eye out for each one.
If you work at or represent a brand, you might want to start planning your March Adness strategy right now. Getting your fans voting can be the difference between glorious victory and ignominious defeat.
This is a tournament where underdogs can thrive, as illustrated by last year’s victor: 16th-seed Aviation Gin. Thanks to the distillery’s social media savvy and the support of its celebrity owner, Ryan Reynolds, the brand soared past all other competitors to take the top spot in the 2019 March Adness bracket.
In this year’s bracket, Aviation Gin starts the tournament 10 seeds higher at a No. 6. Why not No. 1? Because as any fan of 1980s movie sequels knows, you have to give your scrappy hero room to continue growing. (If Daniel-san hadn’t gone to Okinawa to get his butt kicked and start smashing ice blocks, would we even have Peter Cetera’s “Glory of Love”? I rest my case.)
Speaking of rankings, you might be wondering how they’re determined. Oh, it’s incredibly complicated. There are…algorithms? OK, full transparency: the Adweek news team basically just throws a bunch of names in a spreadsheet and moves them around until we stop yelling at each other.
Here’s a look at the schedule for this year’s matchups:
Round 1: March 19-20 and March 23-24 ( all voting via @Adweek on Twitter and @Adweek on Instagram)
Round 2: March 26-27
Round 3: March 31 and April 1
Round 4: April 2-3
Round 5: April 6-7
Championship: April 8-9
Winner announced: April 10
Let the distraction commence! Good luck to all the brands, their superfans and especially the marketing underdogs who seize their moment to knock some corporate juggernauts down a peg or two.
Round 1
UPDATE: Round 1 is closed! Check out the final tallies in tweets below, and be sure you’re following Adweek on Twitter and Instagram so you can take part in Round 2 on Monday and Tuesday.
Round 2
Update: Round 2 is closed! Check out the final tallies in tweets below, and be sure you’re following Adweek on Twitter and Instagram so you can take part in Round 3 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
(Note: Thanks to incredible participation in our Instagram voting, Nintendo managed to beat out Hulu as we headed into the Sweet 16.)
(Note: Thanks to incredible participation in our Instagram voting, Nike managed to beat out Popeyes as we headed into the Sweet 16.)
