Home Depot seeing value in meshing March Madness with DIY

Home Depot is expanding its collegiate sports footprint by becoming an official corporate partner of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), just in time for March Madness. Through the partnership, The Home Depot will have rights across all 90 NCAA championships, including the women's and men's Division I basketball tournaments, creating a game-winning combination during spring, the retailer's busiest selling season.

Just before the NCAA tournament tips off on the first day of spring, The Home Depot will launch its "How to March Madness" campaign on Selection Sunday. Brought to life by Home Depot associates and basketball legend and ultimate Home Depot fan, Shaquille O'Neal, the campaign includes "Tips from the Tool Shaq," a content series to help doers get their spring projects done. The series features entertaining content tying together basketball themes with common spring projects including "How to Protect the Paint" and "How to Clean the Glass."

"The Home Depot's customers are also big sports fans, and March Madness is one of the most exciting times of the year," said Molly Battin, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at The Home Depot. "We've had a long-standing commitment to collegiate sports, and we're excited to add the NCAA and its March Madness tournaments to our roster. We look forward to connecting with our customers in a fun, authentic way and empowering them as they tackle their spring projects."

The three-year partnership with the NCAA, CBS Sports and TNT Sports builds on The Home Depot's strong connection to college sports, which includes a 26-year association with CBS Sports' college football coverage, a 22-season College GameDay partnership and sponsorships of all four major Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) sports conferences: Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

"We are thrilled to welcome The Home Depot, one of the most recognized brands in college sports, to the NCAA Corporate Champions and Partners Program," said Dan Gavitt, NCAA senior vice president of basketball. "We appreciate Home Depot extending its support of college student-athletes to NCAA Championships, which includes March Madness. We look forward to working with Home Depot on its activations engaging fans during our championship events."

Launched on March 17, an extensive collection of project guides, step-by-step videos and "Tips from the Tool Shaq" will be available at www.homedepot.com/HowTo. The campaign will feature ads on linear TV including CBS, TBS, TNT, TruTV and ESPN Network; digital and social content; integrations and experiential activations including an onsite Tool Shaq allowing attendees at the Men's and Women's Final Four to experience "How to March Madness" firsthand.