Kings of Leon Tapped for NCAA Tournament Push (Exclusive)

CBS and Turner Sports are turning to Kings of Leon to add some star power to their March Madness coverage.

Beginning Friday, the companies will roll out a multiplatform campaign featuring tournament footage weaved into a music video for “The Immortals,” a song off of the band’s latest album, Come Around Sundown, in 5,800 movie screens around the country.

“It really gives an iconic soundtrack to the marketing campaign, and it’s a way to make it memorable,” Christina Miller, Turner Sports’ senior vp strategy, marking and programming, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Getting the word out is critical, since CBS and Turner agreed last April to collectively shell out $10.8 billion for a 14-year contract to carry the annual college basketball tournament. In addition to shared Web and wireless rights, games will air across four networks: CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV. For the first time in the tournament’s 73-year history, all 67 games will be televised in their entirety.

To supplement the theatrical push, which runs through March 17, the campaign will make its way to digital billboards, elevator ads, cable, radio, print and the Web. No surprise, the companies will also leverage their own channels, including CNN, HLN and CBS Radio, along with those airing the games, to lure eyeballs to the tournament. Expect to see talent (Turner’s Ernie Johnson, CBS’ Greg Gumbel) plugging the event as well.

The campaign will culminate in a headline performance by the four-time Grammy winners at the Coca-Cola Zero Countdown concert, part of the tournament’s final four weekend festivities, on April 2.

Miller adds, “When you take a band like Kings of Leon and you marry that with NCAA tournament, it gives a really strong voice to the feeling and the high energy of March Madness.”

Turner declined to comment on financial terms of the campaign.