Challenge: The NFL and 32 Clubs had limited resources capturing photos for use on social media on gamedays. In past seasons, this resulted in a reliance on wire photos and homogenous gameday content.
Objectives:
- Expand coverage at all NFL games to deliver more content for League constituents, including @NFL, 32 Clubs and Player social media channels.
- Deliver photo and video assets to League constituents to showcase unique and differentiated content to fans across the country, from pre-game tailgates and player warmups to in-game highlights and celebrations.
- In partnership with all 32 Clubs, implementation of the LCC program began by sourcing one social content creator in every NFL market across the country. Correspondents were based at each NFL stadium and had specialized skillsets in photography and videography with a "social-first" lens. The NFL provided each correspondent with a DSLR Camera, a Samsung Galaxy Note S8 smartphone and other equipment to facilitate real-time sharing.
- Each correspondent was credentialed with Behind-The-Scenes and On-Field access to capture exclusive content, including tailgating, fan traditions, player arrivals, inside huddles, in-game action and more. To capture the full game day experience, LCC's would arrive three hours before kickoff and stay through the last press conference, which enabled the NFL and Clubs to share the most compelling content across platforms. Each LCC was responsible for capturing photo and video content requests for all stakeholders, including both the visiting and home clubs.
- The NFL took a cross-organizational approach to coordinate and deliver LCC content in real-time to League, Club and Player social media accounts. The vast quantity and robust quality of the content warranted additional distribute to internal departments at NFL Network, NFL.com / NFL Mobile and other NFL Partners.
At the end of the 2017-2018 season, LCCs generated 409 photo posts across League, Club and Player social media channels resulting in over 10M engagements.
Additionally, we distributed 7,000 LCC images through a partnership with AP where the images were downloaded and shared by outlets such as Good Morning America, ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated.
Here are a few specific examples of how we achieved objectives across each group.
NFL Accounts
After Hurricane Harvey, the NFL wanted to capture a special moment with the Houston Texans' team leader, JJ Watt. The NFL's LCC was in the perfect position to get his embrace with Tom Brady postgame. https://www.instagram.com/p/BZcPtUpjaFX/
Club Accounts
The San Francisco 49ers LCC captured an emotional moment right after 49ers K Robbie Gould kicked a game-winning field goal. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc0wcaIjhuA/
Player Accounts
We shared this image with Pittsburgh Steelers WR JuJu Smith-Schuster that depicts a jersey swap with his former USC teammate Adoree Jackson. https://twitter.com/TeamJuJu/status/931412832947761152
