• by Larissa Faw , March 9, 2017

Wendy's is kicking off "Drive to the Final Four," a three-week long road trip as part of its sponsorship as the 'Official Hamburger' of the NCAA. This is the first time Wendy’s has partnered with the NCAA.

The fast food chain is working with a team of agencies including VML for creative, The Marketing Arm for experiential, Mediavest | Spark for media buying, Saatchi & Saatchi for merchandising, and Ketchum for public relations.

The road trip will launch March 12 on Selection Sunday, stop at three college campuses – Xavier University, Butler University and University of Louisville - and at the first and second round tournament venue in Indianapolis, the Midwest regional tournament in Kansas City and the Final Four contests at Phoenix on April 1 and 3.

At each stop, Wendy’s Food Truck will be serving up free samples of its "fresh, never frozen" cheeseburgers and fans will have a chance to win "Unreasonable Upgrades," such as gift cards and upgraded game tickets for regional tournaments. The official hashtag #Drive2theFinal4 will chronicle the road trip on Wendy’s social media channels, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. And the “Don’t Get Frozen in the Moment” slow motion photo opp encourages fans to post their own basketball moves via social media.

The promotion extends across TV with ads that highlight the fact that its beef is never frozen.

Wendy's is also introducing #WendysBracket, the first-ever bracket builder on Twitter where fans answer a series of questions that then automatically generates brackets. They also can pick by game via quick-fill options, all through Direct Messages on @Wendys.

Jay Bilas, American college basketball analyst for ESPN and YouTube stars like King Bach who will use social media to support the promotion and share their thoughts on the tournament.