For March Madness, college basketball’s championship tournament watched by millions in the US, we used social media to connect with the most passionate college basketball fans, one-on-one, live and direct.

With the #RiseAsOne Social Response Lab as basecamp for the tournament, we tapped into the pulse of the action by streaming every game, and listening to the fan chatter on twitter. We brought in designers, illustrators, and writers to turn tweets into custom posters, and avatars into one-of-a-kind #RiseAsOne portraits. The most influential fans saw their likeness making up the crowd in the Kentucky Wildcats championship poster.

From the first tip of the first game to the championship itself, the Social Response Lab and its team of designers and illustrators lit up with outgoing tweets, avatars, and images, helping transform the words and faces of the fans into icons of team pride. The Social Response Lab proved that engaging fans through social can be the most effective way to connect.