CASE STUDY: “Interactive Agency”
Expertise Provided: The University of Texas
Public relations
Media relations Longhorns Vmag
Blog promotion
Email marketing
Online advertising
About NEWgame Communications:
NEWgame is the creator and distributor of
the Vmag®, a safe broadcast platform that
delivers video magazines straight to the
desktop. By integrating text, images, Web
links and full-screen, broadcast-quality audio
and video, Vmag gives brand marketers and
advertising agencies a direct connection to
consumers by opening a compelling, and
unique channel.
Situation
NEWgame Communications, teamed up with
the University of Texas Longhorns Athletic
department to create a new and exciting
way to use their online video magazine
technology. To give the Longhorns football
fans access like never before, Coach Mack
Brown allowed NEWgame reporters and a
camera crew to follow his team from game
to game, on and off the field, in the locker
room and up close and personal. NEWgame
then packaged up all the behind-the-scenes
footage and commentary into a weekly
online video magazine – the UT Longhorns
Vmag. Subscribers to the Vmag received 10
to 15 minutes of exclusive content in TV-
quality audio and video delivered straight to
their desktops each week.
Solution
blast! PR began a marketing plan for the UT
Vmag in the spring of 2005 that included
goals such as:
Generating interest and adoption of the
Vmag
Educating audiences about the Vmag
technology
Generating interest from sports, marketing,
and traditional advertising publications
In the whirlwind surrounding the first
UT football game, blast! PR sent out a
press release to all relevant reporters and
publications, followed by a press conference
with Head Coach Mack Brown and CEO of
NEWgame, Kathleen Hessert. Reporters
were invited to listen as Brown and Hessert
w w w . b l a s t p r . c o m | 9 1 9 . 8 3 3 . 9 9 7 5
128 E. Hargett Street | Suite 201 | Raleigh, North Carolina 27601
explained the significance
of the Vmag as an education
and marketing tool. They also
discussed the exciting footage
to be captured throughout the
football season by the Vmag
reporters.
Several follow-on press releases
continued to encourage more
subscriptions as the season went
on. blast! PR also suggested several
online and offline strategies for
increasing public awareness of the
Vmag. Online campaigns consisted
a blog, banner ads on Mack Brown’s
Web site, targeted email campaigns,
and seeding fan message boards with
Vmag. blast! PR suggested NEWgame
conduct guerilla and viral campaigns
such as handing out Vmag logo
imprinted giveaways at home football
games and a forward-to-a-friend link on
all Vmag issues.
As the first season of the UT Longhorn
Vmag came to a close, blast! PR
promoted the entire series as a holiday
gift collection on the Web site, the blog
and in a personalized email sent to all the
Vmag subscribers.
Results
The conference call generated 15 news
stories in publications including, the
Dallas Morning News, the Austin American
Statesman, the Charlotte Observer,
MediaPost Publications, ESPN, AdAge,
the Austin Business Journal, the National
Sports Forum and more! By the end of
the season, the Vmag’s reporting system
identified subscribers in 49 U.S. states,
the District of Columbia and 13 foreign
countries. Vmag also reports that 72% of
the subscribers were not season ticket
holders. Such statistics prove that blast! PR
was able to create a buzz and reach out
to displaced fans across the globe!