The 2011 NCAA Digital Marketing Bracket, West Region

It's time to unveil the first of our 4 Regions in the 2011 Digital NCAA Tournament Bracket. Up first, we'll dive into the West Region, where we've seen the #1 seed Stanford take hold.

First, a reminder in case you're joining late. (Read our recap of the First Four matchups here) These seeds were calculated using a weighted average between how the teams connect on social media, the level of access they give you to their program, the level of branding and emotion they deliver, the quality and depth of content, and (naturally) the intangibles... though it's digital so isn't everything intangible?

And finally, keep in mind that every team in this field of 68 is inspiring -- that's how they got here, to the big digital stage. And we can take great learnings from each of them.

Enjoy!

Let's Roll.

1- Stanford vs. 16- Hampton/Arkansas Pine Bluff

You can tell Stanford comes from a digitally-minded part of the country. And that will make them a tough out for the winner of this First Four matchup.

Stanford

Conference: Pac-10

Website: http://cardinalred.gostanford.com

Bid: Pac-10 Champ, Automatic

Breaking Down Stanford: The Cardinal deliver a sick visual experience around their squad, including individual player highlight reels and emotional photography. Simply put, one of the best at leveraging photography and video to build their brand.

Hampton

Conference: MEAC
Website: http://www.hamptonpirates.com

Bid: MEAC Champ, Automatic

Breaking Down Hampton: Strength is in their simplicity. They make it very easy to find social and, most importantly, they position Recruiting in an aspirational way by calling it "Join The Team. Get Recruited here."

Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Conference: SWAC
Website: http://www.uapblionsroar.com

Bid: SWAC Champ, Automatic

Breaking Down UAPB: Pine Bluff has a similar strength in the simplicity of their design. This easy layout puts your attention directly onto each game, which they make evident through their online calendar.

8- Virginia vs. 9- Utah

Two strong ways to make an impression... Utah gives you a King-Sized look into social media. But Virginia unveiled a stunning visual impact with their hoops recruiting site.

Virginia
Conference: ACC
Website: http://www.virginiasports.com

Bid: At-Large

Breaking Down Virginia: The centerpiece of Virginia's Digital footprint is "This is UVA Basketball", accessible here. It's powerful, but it's also a little tough to find. And on the simpler side, Virginia hits us with a pretty strong blog, the Wahoo Blog, here. Much like many 8-seeds in the real tourney, Virginia has all the weapons to make a deep run, if they can get them firing on all cylinders.

Utah
Conference: MWC
Website: http://www.utahutes.cstv.com

Bid: At-Large

Breaking Down Utah: Utah leads with enormous (Texas-sized) banners for Recruits and Social Media -- giving the biggest emphasis to two critical areas. This emphasis, coupled with strong branding makes the site easy-to-use and navigate.

4- Texas A&M vs. 13- Louisville

Is the difference between these two programs' digital footprints the focus on giving you access to the latest? It's interesting what this addition has on the Aggies... and what it could do for Louisville.

Texas A&M

Conference: Big 12
Website: http://www.aggieathletics.com

Bid: At-Large

Breaking Down Texas A&M: The Aggies put their emphasis onto The Mark Turgeon Virtual Guide (which you can find here). It's pretty sweet -- giving you a family atmosphere feel mixed with deep emphasis on player development. And there's a dynamic ticker across the top that makes you feel like this guide is alive.

Louisville

Conference: Big East
Website: http://www.uoflsports.com/

Bid: At-Large

Breaking Down Louisville: Louisville created a NCAA Tourney Blog last season (linked here) that gives a pictorial look into the emotion of the tourney. The result is pretty powerful -- and one I wish we could see more of, not just in the postseason!

5- Maryland vs. 12- South Carolina

Two different approaches. Is this your 5-12 upset to pick? Maryland goes the immersive route, with a sensory overload of wealth. Meanwhile South Carolina goes the simpler route, turning that focus into innovations such as their iTunes presence. Hmmm.....

Maryland

Conference: ACC
Website: http://www.terrapinsforever.com

Bid: At-Large

Breaking Down Maryland: The Terrapins give us highlight reels, easy access to Twitter, and an inside look at the gear they wear inside their recruiting site, Terrapins Forever (here). Very immersive, very powerful framework to build upon.

South Carolina

Conference: SEC
Website: http://gamecocksonline.cstv.com

Bid: At-Large

Breaking Down South Carolina: South Carolina gives us a couple of unique ways to follow the program socially -- on iTunes (pretty cool, here) and via the Spurs Up Athletics blog, here. Now they just need the emotional, inspirational framework to plug these into!

3- Penn State vs. 14- Davidson

Penn State's presence for Hoops digitally will startle you, it really sets the table. Meanwhile, when the game is on, there aren't many programs who connect you better than Davidson...

Penn State

Conference: Big Ten
Website: http://www.gopsb.com

Bid: At-Large

Breaking Down Penn State: Penn State delivers a combination of emotional photography and cinematic experience that isn't found in many other places. As you can tell from the image below, this combination makes the program feel bigger than it is. What you can't see from that image is the player highlight reels that power their roster. Definitely a statement-maker.

Davidson

Conference: Southern
Website: http://www.davidsonwildcats.com

Bid: Automatic, Southern

Conference Champion

Breaking Down Davidson: Where are you watching the game? Davidson earns big respect for their Wildcats Roar blog (great name, link here) that lets you follow the games live via audio, video, and Cover It Live blogging. In addition, Davidson athletics & academics partner together to deliver a view of campus, here.

6-Dayton vs 11- West Virginia

Another amazing matchup. Dayton does more with a blog than many people can imagine. And WVU is one of the most tech-savvy campuses in the NCAAs.

Dayton

Conference: Atlantic 10

Website: http://www.godaytonhoops.com

Bid: Automatic, A-10 Conference Champion

Breaking Down Dayton: Dayton does an amazing job of taking the concept of a blog and transforming it into an experience, literally. As you'll see in their Experience Flight Blog (click on the link on the bottom of this page), they position game days at Dayton as a pro-like atmosphere that we just want more of!

West Virginia

Conference: Big East

Website: http://www.msnsportsnet.com

Bid: At-Large

Breaking Down West Virginia: West Virginia, both as an academics institution and as an athletics showcase, comes across as a very tech-savvy innovative place. Check out their platform on iTunes, here, and you'll get a feel for what the University offers its student population. Now that's depth that resonates well with young athletes!

7-North Texas vs 10-Providence

The Mean Green. Wow, they deliver an almost artistic expression on the team. And Providence thinks different, in a good way -- even delivering access to their coach via LinkedIn.

North Texas

Conference: Sun Belt

Website: http://www.meangreenexperience.com

Bid: Automatic, Sun Belt Champion

Breaking Down North Texas: Talk about a surprise. The Mean Green occasionally hit the big dance as a huge underdog (like last season)... but they show up like they mean it in the Digital NCAA Bracket. Pretty amazing job of positioning themselves as a perennial powerhouse, and the site leverages some of the best photography you'll find in NCAA Sports.

Providence

Conference: Big East

Website: http://www.friars.com

Bid: At-Large

Breaking Down Providence: When you get to Coach Keno Davis' site, here, you'll find a coach who blogs, tweets, facebooks (is that a verb?) and is even up on LinkedIn. The Friars site itself could apply some of this access and transform their site into an experience.

2-Florida vs 15-Wisconsin Milwaukee

Tough matchup for UWM, who surprised me by winning the Horizon's auto bid with access to their squad. Florida gives access and sizzle in a pretty powerful 1-2 combo.

Florida

Conference: SEC

Website: http://www.gatorzone.com

Bid: At-Large

Breaking Down Florida: When you hit Coach Donovan's site, here, you feel the prestige and currency of this program. You see them at the White House after national titles. You see an NBA Pipeline of talent, and Coach Donovan's style of play. And all of this adds up to a family feel? Powerful stuff.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Conference: Horizon

Website: http://www.uwmpanthers.cstv.com

Bid: Automatic, Horizon League Champions

Breaking Down UWM: UWM leads with a great blog and YouTube channel that work together to give you solid access to the program. When you hit their unofficial recruiting site (or fan site) PantherU, here, you feel like the stage UWM plays on is much larger as they go in depth on media coverage and recruiting.

That's a stacked region. But is it the toughest? Which favorite would have the toughest matchup? Those questions in due time... But first, come back tomorrow as we dive into the second of our 4 regions...

As always, you can follow me on Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @pawlow34)

Andy

The 2011 Digital NCAA Basketball Tourney: The First Four

Today is the first of our days unveiling matchups in this year's Digital NCAA Tourney. We'll start by breaking down the 4 play-in games for the tourney. Then we'll go region-by-region breaking down the field.

First, a reminder. These seeds were calculated using a weighted average between how the teams connect on social media, the level of access they give you to their program, the level of branding and emotion they deliver, the quality and depth of content, and (naturally) the intangibles... though it's digital so isn't everything intangible?

And finally, keep in mind that every team in this field of 68 is inspiring -- that's how they got here, to the big digital stage. And we can take great learnings from each of them.

Enjoy!

16-Hampton vs. 16-Arkansas Pine Bluff
This is a matchup of two conference champions, both of which lead by offering a clean design and a focus on getting you where they want to get you.

16-Hampton
Conference: MEAC
Website: http://www.hamptonpirates.com

How they got here: Won the MEAC's Automatic Bid by leveraging a clean design to connect directly with recruits. They hit you with a prominent "Join the Team. Get Recruited Here" call to action right from the comforts of the home page.



16-Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Conference: SWAC
Website: http://www.uapblionsroar.com

How they got here: Won the SWAC's Automatic Bid by pairing a clean design with a dynamic calendar that makes it pretty obvious when the action is happening.





16-South Carolina Upstate vs. 16- Liberty
Two teams that won their conferences show up in a 16-seed First Four game. That shows you just how tough this year's field is! Both squads find a way to add excitement around gametime, and they come at it from an entirely different standpoint.

16-South Carolina Upstate
Conference: Atlantic Sun
Website: http://www.upstatespartans.com

How they got here: Winner of the Atlantic Sun Conference's Bid. You have to dig for it, but the Spartans hit you with some great content from Coach Eddie Payne's website. Chief among the energy of this site is Traveling with the Spartans, a place where you can actually see what the team sees when they travel.



16-Liberty
Conference: Big South
Website: http://www.libertyflames.com

How they got here: Winner of the Big South's Automatic Bid. The Flames offer up an easy reminder of when the next game is, from a prominent countdown clock off the home page. They also pack together an athletics department social media widget!




15-Butler vs. 15-Indiana
This is one of those matchups I wish the NCAA Selection committee would bring out more often -- regional rivalries that don't get played in the regular season.

15-Butler
Conference: Horizon
Website: http://www.butlersports.com

How they got here: At-Large Bid. Strong play in the social media realm, as Butler does a strong job bringing their personality out across Facebook & Twitter.



15-Indiana
Conference: Big Ten
Website: http://www.iuhoosiers.cstv.com

How they got here: At-Large Bid. Indiana delivers good content, albeit tough to find inside a heavy recruiting virtual guide.





14 George Washington vs. 14-Middle Tennessee State
This matchup tells you a bit about the collective strength of the A10 and Sun Belt Conferences... or at least it tells you they have multiple bids.

14-George Washington
Conference: Atlantic 10
Website: http://www.gwsports.com

How they got here: At Large. Coach Hobbs gets you exactly what you need to understand once you hit his site -- what's the style of play? what's your philosophy? The challenge is that you have to get here to get this information.




14- Middle Tennessee State
Conference: Sun Belt
Website: http://www.goblueraiders.com

How they got here: At Large. The Blue Raiders give you easy, elegant access to their social media world. It's clean and it's clear where they want you to go.





Here's the bracket, updated.

Come back tomorrow as we dive into the first of our 4 regions...

As always, you can follow me on Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @pawlow34)

Andy

The Digital NCAA Bracket: Top 4 Seeds

It's time.

Today we'll unveil the 4 teams that earned top seeds in our 2011 Digital NCAA Tournament field.

On to our #1 Seeds....

1- Stanford

Conference: Pac-10

Website: http://cardinalred.gostanford.com

How they got here: Won the Pac-10's automatic bid by hitting us with arguably the best branding in NCAA Division-1. This includes a collection of beautiful images and customized information about each player. We even see highlight reels for each player. The digital footprint they've laid applies to other sports and is emotional stuff.

1- Duke

Conference: ACC

Website: http://www.goduke.com and http://www.dukeblueplanet.com

How they got here: Won the ACC's Automatic Bid by leading with Social. Duke Blue Planet might be the best socially-integrated site in NCAA Division-1, as it links to other blogs, delivers supreme Twitter integration, and packages inspirational highlight reels straight from YouTube.

1- Kentucky

Conference: SEC

Website: http://www.ukathletics.com and http://www.coachcal.com

How they got here: Won the SEC's Automatic Bid by bringing more access to the Coach and Team than most (if not all) Division-1 Programs. Among my favorite features are the Sites & Sounds of the Game (highlight package + still photography + the crowd), Wildcat Recaps (Coach Cal's speeches mixed with highlights), and Coach Cal on Foursquare (in case you want to know where he's at!)

1- Kansas

Conference: Big 12

Website: http://www.kuathletics.com

How they got here: Won the Big 12's Automatic Bid by going deep on the right kind of content. They deliver videos on getting better, tours of their facilities, and of course highlight reels. From a social standpoint, they give us a basketball blog + Facebook page, player chats, and most intriguingly a Google Map of where the roster comes from.

Great models to follow and this is going to be a fun week!

As you'll see below, the bracket becomes a little more real...

Come back tomorrow as we dive into the First Four matchups!

As always, you can follow me on Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @pawlow34)

Andy

A Digital Selection Sunday?

Brackets.

They are among the most powerful ways of communicating information. In a single glance, we get 64 teams (or in this year's case, 68 teams) and their seasons all in one take. This take combines everything -- wins/losses, injuries, play of late, offense, defense, leadership, and intangibles... and transforms that into a seed. And, of course the seeds become a bracket that all of us analyze and break down: Who's overrated/underrated? Who was left out? What conference is the toughest?

With the expansion to 68 teams, the bracket will look like this when it's unveiled next Sunday...

But what if the bracket was not determined by how good your basketball team was? What if it was determined by the way you connect (or don't) online?

Enter the Digital Selection Sunday.... Or rather Selection Week. I have visited every website in NCAA Division 1 and compiled a bracket, which I will unveil over the next week leading up to the actual NCAA Tourney.

Here's how it will be determined:

1. Content: What information do you have about your program online?
2. Access: How much access do you give to fans (or recruits) online?
3. Social: How do you leverage (or not leverage) social connection of fans?
4. Branding: Do you develop a consistent look and feel that is both emotional & inspiring?
5. Intangibles: How easy is your website to use? And how do the pieces work together?

I've broken down every NCAA team by these factors. (Though, as in real life, not all factors are treated equally!) All conferences that get an automatic bid in the real tourney do in this tourney as well. And everything else is up for grabs.

The results will inspire you. And, more importantly, they'll make you think.

Here's our schedule...

Monday, March 7 - The Top 4 overall seeds

Tuesday, March 8 - The First Four Matchups

Wednesday, March 9 - Region 1

Thursday, March 10 - Region 2

Friday, March 11- Region 3

Saturday, March 12 - Region 4

Then we hit the real Selection Sunday, March 13!

You can follow along via this blog, on the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook Page (here), or on Twitter (I'm @pawlow34)

Can't wait,

Andy

Northwestern States Talks to Recruits in the Right Voice

We touched on it yesterday, in our piece on Lamar University: It's critical we speak to prospective student athletes in the right tone. (Yes, it's critical we speak to everyone in the right tone!) Talking personal is a very important piece of delivering a personal experience.

Northwestern State takes this to a crazy level of authenticity.

Hit the Northwestern State Athletics page and hover over Recruits:

As you'll see in the resulting menu (which I'll zoom into below), you get a series of options in a very personal, direct, voice: The voice of the student athlete to be!

Let's dive in.

Clicking into "What Will I Wear?" Takes you here, to a photographic look into the uniforms of each of the athletic programs.

Each sport delivers a specific image gallery, like this one for men's basketball (shown below), giving you an intimate look into what the team wears before and during each game.

Moving on, you'll note a parallel path exists for common questions "Where Will I Compete?" (here) and "What is Natchitoches like?" (here) Each takes you to a photo gallery of facilities or relevant imagery about that question. The style is not over-the-top, but rather simple and honest -- a fantastic answer to a series of critical questions.

How could this be better? I'd love to see those answers given by players and/or coaches of each program. Give us a collective voice and view into what it's like to live here and play here. Of the gear you get to wear. And of the town you get to impact. This could become a platform that is built upon team-by-team, year-by-year. Yet the impact of one team only gets stronger from the presence (and answers) of each other.

Great food for thought - what is it your prospective students (or consumers) would love to know? And what's the most intimate way to get back to them?

Thanks for sticking with me on this tour of the Southland Conference! Come back next week as we roll out another conference!

Don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm@pawlow34.

Andy

Lamar Connects You With Real Stories of Being a Cardinal

Why should you attend Lamar? We often see lists of reasons on athletics sites (but really not often enough!) But seldom do we see a diversity of topics, written through the voice of the student body. As you'll see with Lamar athletics, the level of intimacy you get from seeing these answers in real terms is powerful, powerful stuff!

Hit the Lamar Athletics Website and hover over "Recruiting..."

Click into "Why Choose Lamar?" (Side note, I love that language. It's personal and direct.) That takes us here:

Finally, click into "Meet LU Students," which takes us to our destination, here, shown below:

As you'll note, we get a collection of students (not necessarily student-athletes) listed by home town and major. Yes, this content actually lives on the Lamar Academics site. But as a recruit, it hits you at a precise moment.

Now, take a peak at a couple of these individuals (here or here).

Lamar gives you a look into a list of parallel questions that are crazy important if you are a prospective student (or student athlete): What do you wish you knew when choosing a college? Why Lamar? What do you love about Lamar? What surprised you about Lamar?

You see things like this:

"I really enjoy the fact that all my classes are small, and I get to know my professors. I also have taken advantage of Lamar’s co-op program, which allows you to alternate college study with paid on-the-job training. And finally, I like living on campus. It gives me a chance to be close to my classes and Lamar facilities."

Or this:

"What surprised me about Lamar University? How beautiful the campus and the dorms are."

It's real talk. Not marketing jargon nor a list of things you'll find in a brochure. It's exactly what you'd find when you bump into someone on campus, which is what this feels like (in a good way)

So, how could this be better? What if these individuals would answer questions on the Lamar Facebook page? Any prospective student athlete could hit the wall with a question and the students on campus would answer. Perfect opportunity for insight in a very social way. Other Lamar students could chime in, comment on the comment, or Like the comment. And we'd get a level of connection that might just make you feel like you were already on campus!

Come back tomorrow as we conclude our week long take at the best practices of the Southand Conference!

Don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm@pawlow34.

Andy

Nicholls State Leverages Facebook Events to Drive Fan Participation

How do you get the word out for events when you have limited time and money?

The easy answer is to let it happen on its own... But it isn't that easy, naturally.

Social Media can help, because of the network effect -- if you make it easy for the consumer. Nicholls State does a couple things that put us on that path.

Hit the Nicholls State Athletics Facebook Page (here), shown below...

Now, click into their events page, also shown below for your convenience.

Finally, for this example, click into the page for their official FastPitch banquet (here, thanks for sticking with me)...

You'll notice a few things here, but the biggest one is in the upper right-hand corner.

It's there, it's prominent, it's direct: Are You Attending? Choose for yourself -- "I'm Attending. Maybe. No." There's no secret that the best time to get someone to RSVP is when they are evaluating this for the first time, and NSU makes it evident. Naturally if you RSVP to attend, it will post to your news feed, thus letting your friends know of your plans. And, especially when you're dealing with college or HS students, the best way to get one person to go is to let them know their network of friends is also planning on attending.

Secondly, there's a picture and a personal description of this event -- that's both direct and informative:

"First-year head coach Seth Thibodeaux announced on Tuesday that former Major League Baseball Player, College Baseball Hall of Famer and New Orleans native Will Clark will be the keynote speaker at the fifth annual First Pitch Banquet, benefitting the Nicholls State University baseball program, at 6:00 p.m. on Feb. 11 in the Student Union Ball...room on the Nicholls campus."

It's written in the right tone - to the point but not abrupt, that you'd also offer up to a friend if you wanted them to attend with you. Well done.

How could this be better? I'd love to see more interaction between this Events page and the News Feed of NSU Athletics. Perhaps post a series of reasons to attend (once per day) with a link to this page? Or provide a tease for excitement that you might see if you make it (like autographed gear from Will Clark?) Find ways to make it natural for each event to pop up in the daily conversation and you'll ramp up the attention to said event.

Come back tomorrow as we continue our week long take at the best practices of the Southand Conference!

Don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm@pawlow34.

Andy