When Coke signed on last June as the NCAA's first "corporate champion," a designation given to the Association's top-tier partners, it was the first time the NCAA reached such a long-term agreement with a company (11 years, the life of the bundled-rights contract). It was the richest agreement of its kind ($500 million paid to CBS, which offsets CBS' purchase of the rights fees from the NCAA).

And from an NCAA brand perspective, it's an effervescent relationship.

"Coca-Cola made an 11-year commitment, which sets the stage for a strong partnership," said John Egan, Coke group director/college market. "The NCAA is working to build a brand -- we benefit from the strength of the NCAA brand -- so it behooves us to want to work with the NCAA to build it."

Egan said it's in Coke's best interests to have the NCAA branding initiative be successful and that Coke can help the NCAA brand overcome some obstacles.

"Brands are established through the quantity and quality of consumer impressions," he said. "The majority of impressions that consumers have about the NCAA are around regulatory issues. The challenge is to establish a different consumer perception through quantity and quality of messaging.

"The great thing about the NCAA's bundled-rights agreement is that it provides the NCAA the quantity of messaging. And the NCAA staff has done an outstanding job of creating a quality message."

The NCAA's alignment with Coke and other corporate champions and partners gives the NCAA more opportunities to communicate to consumers and make those impressions. For the NCAA, a brand like Coke, with strong attributes and a historic commitment to education and to the community, was a strong fit.

"Coca-Cola has been part of sporting events for more than 100 years," Egan said. "Consumers associate sporting events with Coke. We also have research showing that consumers see a lot of the same attributes in the two organizations -- things like best in its class, excellence, leadership, community. Coke and the NCAA is more of a natural fit than might be perceived on the surface."

Egan also said Coca-Cola's interest in the NCAA brand goes beyond the Men's Final Four part of the brand, which traditionally has been the lure for most corporate partners. He said Coke believes it can recoup its investment through a more general association with the NCAA brand.

"When we looked at this partnership, we were impressed by its breadth and depth," Egan said, noting the Association's 87 championships in 22 sports. "We have an expectation that our marketing in conjunction with the NCAA will expand well beyond March."

Egan said plans were in place for marketing initiatives at the Women's Final Four, Men's College World Series, the Men's Frozen Four and the Division I Wrestling Championships, among other NCAA events.

"We view it as a partnership that goes beyond traditional sports marketing and certainly beyond March Madness," he said. "Given the NCAA's commitment to academic achievement and youth development, those are things that also are very important to the Coca-Cola Company. We feel like a partnership with the NCAA can help build good will for our company."

-- Gary T. Brown