SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA; LONDON, UK – March 31, 2025 – A Mass Mutual ad starring NCAA basketball star Flau’jae Johnson, tennis champion Madison Keys, and World Cup winner Christen Press tops a chart of the most emotionally engaging March Madness ads (so far).
With the annual NCAA tournament in full swing, DAIVID – an AI platform that helps marketers by predicting the effectiveness of their creative at scale – used its advanced content testing technology to identify the March Madness campaigns that have attracted the most positive engagement from viewers in the first couple of weeks of the men’s and women’s tournaments.
Built by combining facial coding, eye tracking and survey data with computer vision and computer listening APIs, DAIVID’s AI models let users know within seconds the emotional and business impact of their video or display ad without the need for audience panels. Clients include Nike, Snapchat and EssenceMediacom.
Mass Mutual’s “Stay Ready” campaign, which is focused on closing the confidence gap in financial security for women, currently leads the way after generating intense positive emotional responses from 52.2% of viewers – 7% higher than US average. The ad, which features the three sports stars going through grueling practice routines, generated twice the levels of hope and trust as the average US ad, and also scored highly for feelings of inspiration (+62.6%), admiration (+41.8%) and warmth (+33.8%).
That put it just ahead of another ad starring Johnson, this time for Experian and its initiative to wipe out $5M of debt for 5,000 struggling families in Louisiana, and State Farm’s “How I Got Here”, starring USC Trojans star JuJu Watkins, in second and third respectively.
Adidas’ spot “How Do WNBA Players Support Each Other?”, featuring Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Aaliyah Edwards, Aliyah Boston, Nneka Ogwumike and Satou Sabally, is fourth, while AT&T’s “Villanova BFFs” and Home Depot’s “Tips From The Tool Shaq: How To Stay In The Zone” are joint fifth. Other ads to appear in the top 10 include State Farm’s “Batman v Bateman” and Powerade’s “What It Takes”.
Top 10 Most Emotionally Engaging 2025 March Madness ads (as of March 27)
| RANK | BRAND | CAMPAIGN | % of people who had intense positive emotional responses |
| 1. | Mass Mutual | “Stay Ready” | 52.2% |
| 2. | Experian | “$5M Of Debt Wiped Out?” | 51.7% |
| 3. | State Farm | “How I Got Here, feat JuJu Watkins” | 51.1% |
| 4. | adidas | “How Do WNBA Players Support Each Other?” | 50.9% |
| =5. | AT&T | “Villanova BFFs” | 50% |
| =5. | Home Depot | “Tips from the Tool Shaq – How to Stay in the Zone” | 50% |
| =7. | State Farm | “Batman v Bateman” | 49.8% |
| =7. | DraftKings | “Responsible Gambling” | 49.8% |
| 9. | Great Clips | “Gearing Up” | 49.2% |
| 10. | Powerade | “What It Takes” | 49.1% |
Peter Daboll, Head of North America at DAIVID, said: “Given the skyrocketing popularity of the women’s NCAA tournament, it’s not surprising to see so many female sports stars at the top of our March Madness chart at the midway point. Brands that tied their March Madness spots to the emotions associated with the event all performed well, generating intense positive emotions well above the US norm. However, traditional basketball and sports ads, along with purely funny ads such as State Farm’s ‘Bateman vs. Batman,’ also proved effective with audiences.”