Repucom NCAA

Survey Finds Coca-Cola Top-Recalled NCAA Men's Tourney Sponsor Among Sports Fans

Published March 21, 2012

Nearly 24% of all sports fans and 34.5% of those that consider themselves college basketball fans were able to recall a sponsor of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament unaided, according to a survey by research firm Repucom. Unaided by any list, the top recalled brand associated with the tournament, among both sports fans and college basketball fans, was Coca-Cola, followed by Nike. When then provided a list -- which included AT&T, Capital One, Coca-Cola, Verizon, LG, Enterprise, Powerade, Gatorade, Hertz, Reese’s and Lowe’s – Coke was again the top recalled brand, followed  by Gatorade, which is not a sponsor of the tournament. For both aided and unaided recall, there was a slight lift in recall among college basketball fans when compared to all sports fans.

DRINK IT UP: When asked about sports drinks in particular, 21% of sports fans and 27% of college basketball fans recalled seeing sports drinks on the sidelines during the tournament. Of those respondents, 40% of both sports fans and college basketball fans recalled seeing Powerade on the sidelines. However, 80% incorrectly recalled seeing Gatorade (Repucom).

TOP RECALLED BRANDS (UNAIDED) ASSOCIATED WITH THE MEN'S NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
BRAND	ALL SPORTS FANS	COLLEGE BASKETBALL FANS
Coca-Cola	5.1%	7.2%
Nike	5.4%	7.0%
AT&T	2.5%	3.7%
Pepsi	1.8%	2.7%
Allstate	1.6%	2.4%
TOP RECALLED BRANDS (AIDED) ASSOCIATED WITH THE MEN'S NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
BRAND	ALL SPORTS FANS	COLLEGE BASKETBALL FANS
Coca-Cola	43.9%	50.1%
Gatorade (not a sponsor)	37.8%	43.2%
AT&T	29.2%	33.9%
Verizon (not a sponsor)	26.5%	30.7%
Capital One	25.0%	29.0%
Powerade	21.3%	24.0%