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ESPN’s ‘GameDay’ Gets Interactive

Aug 27, 2007  •  Post A Comment

ESPN is going interactive with a new promotional campaign for its Saturday morning pre-game football show “College GameDay Built by the Home Depot.”
The new campaign, which launches today, features show’s cast—Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Chris Fowler—preparing for the show in humorous vignettes. At the end of each spot, viewers are asked whether or not there’s some truth to what they’ve seen.
For example, in one spot, the GameDay crew is seen working out—Mr. Corso is shown using an old-fashioned vibrating belt machine. The spot then asks viewers how well they know “GameDay” and whether or not the guys work out together on the road.
Viewers are directed to CollegeGameDay.com where they can vote true or false, and watch a pre-recorded message from one of the “GameDay” announcers telling them whether they guessed right or wrong.
“Our fans can’t get enough of our guys, and so the campaign is designed to take people behind the scenes, bring to life the traditions of the show and leverage the relationship between the guys in other moments that fans don’t get to see,” said Gil Beverly, director of college sports marketing at ESPN.
“Gameday” is coming off record ratings last season. It average a 1.7 rating and 1.57 million viewers, up from a 1.6 rating and 1.44 million viewers in 2005.
ESPN has long programmed multiple channels and platforms, but the interactive promotion for “GameDay” is new this season.
“With the power of the Internet, we’re able to deliver more content, on demand, through a channel that viewers use regularly,” Mr. Beverly said. “The end result is a stronger relationship between the viewers and one of ESPN’s top brands. At least that’s our hope.”
ESPN will be releasing two new “Gameday” spots every couple of weeks during the season both on air and online. The spots will air on all ESPN channels.
In addition to the spots, “GameDay” is also supported by topical spots that promote which college the show will be broadcasting from and highlight an upcoming feature on a player or coach. Those topical spots will include a harder tune-in push.
Another part of the “GameDay” campaign will be entirely online. ESPN will be sending a crew on the road with “GameDay” to shoot behind the scenes footage involving the cast and the fans.
“On the Bus With College GameDay” will deliver what the experience is like on the road with the ’GameDay crew’, Mr. Beverly said.
Mr. Beverly said the cast’s chemistry together is key to the campaign’s success.
“When we shot the campaign, it had been the first time they’d seen each other in months and just the genuine affection and happiness to be around each other was obvious,” he said.
He added that the guys have impeccable comedic timing and provide great ideas for the marketing people to work with.
“Some of the best moments of the campaign were ad-libbed,” Mr. Beverly said. “They provide us with good feedback in terms of what works and what doesn’t work, and it’s particularly important with this iteration of the campaign because everything is steeped in what really happens behind the scenes and we relied heavily on them to explain aspects of what goes on to us.”

11 Comments

  1. what do you think about clemson

  2. If we are to believe that year-in-and year-out the Southeast conference is the best conference, why aren’t the universities of these schools scheduling more games out-of-conference against top schools ? I think it would be great for college football! (By the way, I have been a fan of college football for 48 years)

  3. i think that notredame and lsu is gonna be a great game but lsu is gonna dominate in the forth quarter and is gonna come on top 28 to 21

  4. How about those Horns! Colt and the rest of the team are hungry for frog legs.They will win big in Austin. Hook Em’ Horns!

  5. If more schools want a shot at BCS bowl teams they
    can always SCHEDULE THEM! And the real App st question is how many Div 1 schools could they beat?
    I bet it is a lot more than some people think.

  6. One Question;
    Can anybody remember the last time USC
    was beaten decisively?

  7. Please help me with the following questions concerning NCAA Football rules:
    Field Goal situation: Ball is snack to hold with knee on the ground to kick a field goal, the holder has his knee on the ground, however he pitches the ball to the field goal kicker going around right end. QUESTION: Isn’t the ball downed at the point where the holder knee was on the ground? Please advise.
    Thanks
    Charlie Branch
    .

  8. watch auburn in the sec race with changes on the offensive line and brad lester who averaged a touchdown every ten carries the tigers are in business. kodi burns also has a chance to come in this year and play a tim tebow type roll wich will be deadly

  9. Hey Desmond, why is it that no one is still giving South Carolina any love? We have just as good of a chance to win the east as anyone. What is going on?? The ball coach has the SEC’s #, its time we catch a break from you guys dont you think? wendi wyatt, Greenwood, S.C.

  10. I feel like LSU can’t be beaten by any team in the nation. When we play USC for the national title we will win by 20 to 25 easily.

  11. i think lsu can and will be beaten the best team theyve beaten is south carolina they still have florida,auburn,kentucky,and arkansass lsu cant beat that

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