Verizon Wireless, Twitter, ESPN Collaborate on College Football Highlights
Story Highlights
Beginning this Saturday, fans will not miss the best plays in college football when a new season-long program called “Did You See That?” launches – a collaboration between Verizon Wireless, Twitter, and ESPN. As part of the program, ESPN will embed replays to Twitter via ESPN’s College Football handles within moments of happening. In addition to Twitter, the highlights will run across ESPN’s digital properties, including GameCast, ESPN’s College Football App, and the ScoreCenter app.
Each highlight will be accompanied by an eight-second Verizon Wireless ad, which was produced in collaboration with Moxie, a digital advertising agency based in Atlanta and ESPN’s in-house CreativeWorks team. Additionally, a ‘Did You See That?’ feature will run during select college football games throughout the season. The campaign will extend across ESPN’s digital platforms throughout the season.
“This program with Verizon Wireless is the largest one we’ve executed to date with Twitter,” said Lisa Valentino, senior vice president, multimedia sales, ESPN. “Sports is the original social currency, and we know few things play as well on Twitter as sports highlights. It’s a great experience for fans during one of the busiest sports seasons.”
#DidYouSeeThat will be supported through Twitter’s Amplify program. Amplify was introduced shortly after ESPN and Twitter rolled out an inaugural highlight program in 2012 during the College Football Bowl Season. Amplify aims to increase the social TV conversation with real-time, dual-screen sponsorships and in-Tweet video clips.
“ESPN was Amplify’s first adopter with college bowl games last year, so were thrilled to be able to expand the program with Verizon Wireless for the entire college football season,” says Glenn Brown, head of Amplify at Twitter. “Programs like this are a win-win-win for everyone involved. Brands get new opportunities to reach consumers, networks can distribute their content across multiple platforms and generate new revenue streams, and users get amazing content from the best plays happening live in college football.
The 2013 college football season on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPNEWS, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Radio, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Regional Television and ESPN GamePlan will total more than 450 regular-and post-season games, concluding with the entire Bowl Championship Series, including the VIZIO BCS National Championship, on ESPN and ESPN Radio. The schedule will include weekly Saturday night games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, weekly ESPN and ESPNU Thursday night contests and telecasts every Friday.
