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NBC’s Sunday Night Football, TV’s most watched program, is giving its marketing efforts a more powerful ground game.
This season, NBC’s branded “SNF” bus will head to the game city every week, allowing fans to interact with the show. It also will be on location on Friday nights when the “SNF” crew shoots a local high school football game, highlights from which will be used in the “SNF” telecast, NBC Sports said Saturday at the Television Critics Association’s annual summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Starting with Dallas, the bus will make its way to each of the 17 game cities, arriving two or three days ahead of time. Besides being on location during the high-school shoot, fans also can see last week’s game ball, signed by the game MVPs, as well as recent football highlights. Each week, a photo of the 2013 “SNF” Player of the Game will be added to the schedule on display outside of the bus.
Fans also can take pictures of themselves inside and outside of the bus—which is plastered with life-size images of NFL players and Carrie Underwood, who this year is taking over SNF” theme song crooning duties from Faith Hill—and then post them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using the #SNF hashtag. Each week, four “SNF” Fans of the Week—selected due to their social-media activity, team pride and overall fandom—will be given a VIP experience that includes game tickets and a trip on the bus.
Fans who can’t make it to the bus can follow along at NBCSports.com/FollowSNF, although the page isn’t up and running quite yet. The site will offer an interactive map of the bus’ travels, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the “SNF” crew and content from the bus itself. Online fans can contribute by uploading pictures of themselves showing their team pride.
On the screen, meanwhile, NBC is upping its visual game as well, adding a new visual technology called 360-degree FreeD.
NBC will start with Dallas’ recently renamed AT&T Stadium, where NBC is working with Replay Technologies Inc. to install 24 8K high-speed cameras, 12 in each end zone. The effect will be that end-zone replays will feel a bit like the slow-motion scenes in “The Matrix,” allowing fans to see what actually happened from every possible angle.
“Just as our center hung video board has changed the way our fans view the game, we believe that this ‘FreeD’ technology will add a unique viewing dimension for our fans at every game,” said Charlotte Anderson, Dallas Cowboys executive VP, in a statement.
“The Cowboys are the perfect partner because AT&T Stadium is the most technologically advanced stadium in the world, and the organization is constantly striving to provide the best entertainment experience for their fans,” said Fred Gaudelli, “SNF"’s coordinating producer, also in a statement.
“Being able to seamlessly move from side to side and around an entire play without switching shots will entertain and inform the fans at the stadium and watching our telecast. Fans will think they are playing a video game or watching a sci-fi movie, but they’ll actually be viewing football as never presented before.”
Viewers will get their first chance to see the new technology in action on Sept. 8, when the New York Giants play the Dallas Cowboys in the season opener. NBC will also use FreeD during the Notre Dame-Arizona State game on Oct. 5, and on Oct. 13, when the Cowboys play the Washington Redskins.
Fans in the stadium will be able to see FreeD replays on the scoreboard.
Brief Take: Just because NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” is the most-watched, most highly-rated show on television doesn’t mean NBC is going to rest on its laurels when it comes to its marketing, promotion and content. Instead, NBC is giving fans more ways and more reasons to engage with what’s already the country’s most popular sport.
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