The Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics and now March Madness — the sports world has been in overdrive lately. Which can mean both good and bad things for the promotional products industry. As you gear up for the annual 64-team college basketball showdown, follow these tips to avoid the mayhem and bring on promo product magic.

Magic
Aside from all the obvious ways promotional products companies can use March Madness to their advantage (We see you: plush basketballs, logoed jerseys and tiny desktop basketball hoops!), there is opportunity simply in the idea behind the event: brackets. Yes, fans can determine the best college basketball team, but your customers also effectively keep people coming back to their businesses every week. They can start product bracket tournaments and have consumer weigh in on their best products each week, betting on which will take the top spots. The winners get free giveaways (of the products you supply) and your customers will instantly have repeat buyers.

Your customers can also take advantage of March Madness time of year with coupons or discount codes, similar to what eBay is doing. Do they have new customers in March? Tellthem to give 20 percent off when people use “basketball” as a coupon code while ordering. Everyone loves a sale!

The most obvious — and perhaps the most difficult — way to bring in more business during March Madness? Companies can get some of their products into athletes’ hands. Maybe that means sponsoring them or giving promotional gifts. Today’s athletes are incredibly engaged on social media with their fans. If they post photos on Instagram of themselves wearing shirts with your customers’ company logos (that they’ve purchased from you!), you can bet consumers will come in droves

Mayhem
Please, try not to infringe on the NCAA’s copyright while helping customers with their marketing plans this March! Multiple companies have lost trademark lawsuits already and you just don’t want to be among them.

One of those lawsuits started last year, when online sweepstakes and fantasy sports company Kizzang tried to register its new slogans: “April Madness” and “Final 3.” Oddly similar to March Madness and Final Four, no? Well, in typical aggressive NCAA fashion, the association took offense and filed against Kizzang. As of a judge’s ruling in January of this year, Kizzang is not allowed to use any related slogans and has to recall anything that went out under those marketing promotions. Plus, the company must wear a scarlet letter; part of the ruling was that Kizzang must admit to unfair competition practices and copyright infringement.

Also in January, the NCAA filed a complaint against a car dealership that had been using “Markdown Madness” as a marketing scheme to sell more cars, trying to riff on March Madness. The NCAA, perhaps logically, suggested that consumers will be confused and think that the association is trying to sell cars. In the dealership’s defense, though, “Markdown Madness” has been officially owned and federally registered for about three years. The NCAA attempted to settle with the company but eventually filed a lawsuit this year.

As you get warmed up for this year’s tournament, pass your vector artwork and embroidery digitizing requests to Idea Custom Solutions for the highest quality and standard 24-hour turn times. We can even help you get creative for customers with Custom Creative services, including original designs for logos, t-shirt designs, posters and banners.