Top Insights From Great Clips Partnering With the NCAA

By Mary Hanula, IFA

Great Clips, Inc., recently announced their new, multi-year marketing partnership with the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports, giving the brand the title of the, "Official Hair Salon of the NCAA." I had the chance to speak with Lisa Hake, President of Marketing and Communications for Great Clips, Inc., about the exciting new partnership and what it means for the brand's marketing strategy. 

This is an amazing partnership! What are some things you can tell us that made Great Clips want to partner with these other organizations?

Great Clips is very focused on understanding our core customer and building tailored programs that speak to their passion points. We know that many Great Clips customers are avid sports fans, including college sports, hockey and action sports, so our partnerships with the NCAA, NHL, X Games and Monster Jam are great opportunities to engage with our audiences in authentic and timely ways throughout the year.

It’s mentioned that the partnership includes NCAA March Madness, men's and women’s Final Four and more. What does this mean for the marketing and advertising of Great Clips going forward?

That’s right. As part of our partnership with the NCAA, in which Great Clips becomes the “Official Hair Salon of the NCAA,” we also can activate marketing programs around NCAA March Madness, the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Four and all 90 NCAA Championships.

Ultimately, this provides us with various opportunities throughout the year, as well as during tentpole moments like March Madness, to create unique marketing and promotional programs that speak to our customers’ areas of interest and bring them closer to their passions.

Do you feel that this move will connect the brands more closely with its consumer base? If so, why?

Yes, definitely. Through our partnership with the NCAA, we’ll be able to tap into the electric fandom that our customers have for college athletics and NCAA Championships, while also reinforcing how we make it easy to get a great haircut whenever and wherever our customers are getting ready for game day.

What are some things we can expect from this partnership, as well as the NHL and X Games partnerships? 

We’re still in the early days of our NCAA partnership, but we’re already planning a number of items, including advertising and exclusive content that will span NCAA and Championship broadcasts on Turner Sports and CBS Sports platforms, onsite engagement opportunities at Championship and NCAA-related events as well as national and local-market promotions that offer customers unique experiences and tickets to NCAA events and Championship games. We will also introduce our first national marketing campaign in support of our NCAA partnership ahead of the 2020 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

We also continue to leverage our NHL and X Games partnerships throughout the year. In addition to on-site branding at X Games and on ESPN broadcasts, we’ve also been creating content that features well-known X Games athletes to provide our fans with unique insights into their personal story and, of course, hairstyles. As the Official Hair Salon of the NHL, we’ve tapped into a popular topic of conversation among hockey fans — and even players — which is Hockey Hair. For the past two years, we’ve rolled out an online and socially-sharable voting campaign called LegendHairy Greats of the NHL, which allows fans to vote for the NHL players they believe have the best Hockey Hair. We’ve seen tremendous engagement online and on social media and are looking forward to launching that campaign again later this year.

Can you tell us about your brand’s marketing strategy for 2020?

In 2020, we are building upon our partnerships and growing our digital and social media presence. We continue to elevate our technology offerings, like Clip Notes and Online Check-In, and stay focused on promotions that align with our brand values.

What were the biggest elements of your marketing strategy that you feel made these partnerships possible?

Through our partnerships with the NCAA, X Games, NHL and Monster Jam, we’re able to reach our audience on an integrated platform. We can create national and local-market opportunities that support our goals of growing brand awareness and connecting with customers where they live and have fun. 

What advice would you give to franchisors who are trying to up their own strategy and partnership alignment?

Establishing an integrated marketing strategy that seamlessly extends across channels and various levels — from local promotional marketing to national advertisements — is critical for franchisors to reach their customer base with a clear and consistent message.

Find out more about Great Clips, Inc., here.