• by Sarah Mahoney , March 11, 2026

With the release of March Madness brackets just around the corner, there's no doubt that NCAA's biggest corporate sponsors, including AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola, will have plenty of new creative to launch. But other brands, including State Farm and Unilever's Degree deodorant, are already out of the gate. And ESPN is running ads promising fast relief for the looming epidemic of "Bracketbrain."

State Farm has drafted Cameron and Cayden Boozer, freshman twins at Duke, for their first commercial. Called "Will You Be There?", the ad is set to run on Selection Sunday. It introduces the kids with a good-natured spoof of sweaty sports ads, some pretty realistic sibling bickering and an able assist from Jake from State Farm.

"The March tournament is the biggest stage in college basketball, and we're honored to be part of it with Cameron and Cayden," says Kristyn Cook, State Farm's chief agency, sales and marketing officer, in the announcement.

Ads, created by Highdive, will run on linear, digital, social, OLV, and streaming.

Degree deodorant is also getting ready with a sweat defense, and the Unilever-owned brand has tapped NBA Champion Chet Holmgren, from the Oklahoma City Thunder, and WNBA legend Candace Parker to hype Degree Clinical 5X, a product made for high-pressure moments.

The campaign will appear in social media and at retail, and the company says that aligning the brand with the tournament, which packs over 130 games into three weeks, is a great way to talk to consumers about high-pressure moments.

ESPN is also leaning into clinical intensity, in an ad that positions March Madness' “Bracketbrain” as a medical dilemma, solved only by a fake-pharma ad featuring white-coated "Bracketologists." Side effects include "elation, heartbreak and/or emotional whiplash."