’Bama Brings Video In-House With Crimson Tide Productions

To help carry its championship mentality from the football field to the front office, the University of Alabama Athletics Department has brought all its video operations in-house. Newly formed Crimson Tide Productions (CTP) will handle all video, creative, new-media, and publications for the athletic department, including the official athletics Website and video-board productions.

“We’ve combined several groups into one,” says CTP Director Justin Brant. “We’re going to be covering all digital and print media, game-day programs, and in-game entertainment. We’re also going to be taking over Webmaster responsibilities, producing RollTide.com as well as TideTV, our subscription-based Web video product.”

Under Brant’s direction, CTP will produce video for big screens at Bryant Denny Stadium, Coleman Coliseum, Foster Auditorium, the university’s baseball and softball stadiums, and the soccer complex. Luckily, prior to joining Alabama, Brant was a big-screen producer with Daktronics and the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, so he is no stranger to producing compelling in-game entertainment.

Crimson Tide Productions will also be tasked with creating recruiting materials for coaches, intro videos for scoreboard use, highlight packages, and any creative that is placed on the Web. As football season approaches, it will be producing a massive amount of content — at least one video a day. CTP will also be responsible for facilitating the athletic department’s mission to strengthen the Crimson Tide brand through new media.

Prior to the formation of CTP, Alabama’s athletics video was produced in a variety of places.

“Some of it was outsourced, some of it was done here,” Brant explains. “We have now pulled it all under one umbrella of Crimson Tide Productions. The athletic department realized that they could get a bit more bang for their buck by doing it all in-house, so they were able to move some funds around and bring in more people. It was a conscientious effort to make better use of money and have everything centralized.”

With a centralized department, Alabama’s videos will have a single look and feel, with a clear theme and mission, he says. “Now it’s close to us, we believe in it, and that will help us provide a better product. We want to be champions, and that’s what we’re trying to convey with video.”

Currently, CTP has a staff of five, but, by the time football season kicks off, that number will jump to nine, bolstered by new hires as well as employees pulled in from other departments.

“Our mission is to really complement the mission of the athletic department and to be champions,” Brant says. “I think everybody wants to build on the championship year that we had last year [in football]. We want to keep building and not get complacent.”