Best Sports Rich Media Online Campaign

Tournament Challenge (ESPN's March Madness game) has truly become a cultural phenomenon, but with only four days to fill out a bracket, casual fans can easily miss their chance to play. RED was asked to develop a campaign that capitalized on the game's wide appeal in a narrow time-frame.

The digital campaign included standard Flash ads that allowed fans to make the first pick of their bracket directly from the end frame. Homepage takeovers on ESPN.com called out procrastinating fans, declaring: "The time for speculation is over." Two iterations of the takeover pulled in real-time data to further encourage both existing and new fans to sign up.

The disruptive, yet playful campaign led to double-digit growth in the Tournament Challenge game, with more than 8 million brackets completed—a 26% year-over-year increase.

Contributors:

	ESPN

RED INTERACTIVE AGENCY

Location: USA

About the Agency:

RED is a full-service digital agency. We are comprised of experienced strategists, creatives, technologists, designers, marketers, storytellers, and inventors. And together we form a passionate collective dedicated to creating the most meaningful and effective digital solutions for progressive brands. We consistently deliver results for our clients by first gaining a deep understanding of their needs and target market, and then combining insight-driven strategy & ideation with the highest levels of execution. Ultimately, we find gaps in the marketplace and bring our unique brand of innovation to the digital landscape.