Yahoo Inc. | 2022ROLE: UX DESIGN DIRECTOR
CLIENT: DEGREE
PUBLISHER: YAHOO SPORTS
Degree partnered with Yahoo Sports to launch the Bracket Gap Challenge, a content hub and Women's March Madness bracket contest aimed at raising awareness for the NCAA Women's tournament and promoting gender equity in sports. The campaign involved creating a custom off-platform bracket microsite and interactive branded content on Yahoo Sports to build awareness and excitement around the bracket.
Bracket Gap Challenge Microsite
CLIENT ASK: In 2022, there were very few women’s March Madness bracket games available to the public, even on Yahoo Sports. Degree needed to partner with someone who could build one specifically for their campaign.
USER INSIGHTS: As demand for women’s college basketball coverage grew, potential users sought options to play a women’s bracket game, similar to the highly engaged men's March Madness brackets.
SOLUTION:We developed an off-platform bracket game microsite, aligned with Degree’s campaign branding. The national campaign launched alongside the microsite, which also served as a hub for branded content, attracting thousands of users. Participants could sign up, create, and submit up to three brackets, view live scores, and track their bracket status in real-time, encouraging reengagement and making the microsite a central part of their March Madness experience.
Tips for Building a Dynamite Women's Bracket
CLIENT ASK: Degree needed to drive awareness of their women’s bracket game, a concept not common at the time.
USER INSIGHTS:Yahoo Sports users were familiar with men’s brackets as an integral part of their March Madness experience but were largely unaware of any equivalent option for the women’s tournament.
SOLUTION:We designed an interactive Women’s Bracket How-To Guide on Yahoo Sports to raise awareness of this new bracket and provide a primer for potential users, encouraging participation. The guide was designed for both users new to bracket games and those familiar with the men’s tournament but less experienced with the women’s.
The Fight for Equity in Basketball
CLIENT ASK: Alongside driving awareness and traffic for the bracket game, Degree needed to spotlight the broader campaign and emphasize the need for equity in sports.
USER INSIGHTS:While coverage and interest in women’s basketball were growing on Yahoo Sports, it still lagged behind men’s basketball and created an opportunity to engage users who were unfamiliar with key figures in women’s basketball and encourage deeper involvement.
SOLUTION:We produced a series of branded content videos featuring prominent figures from various aspects of women’s basketball and housed them in an interactive multi-profile. This allowed users to explore multiple perspectives in one place, contextualizing the fight for equity and deepening their understanding of the state of women’s basketball.