Tag Archives: yale

Solar Eclipse PSA

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The Great American Eclipse coincided with the Connecticut Open in August of 2017. While in New Haven providing coverage I was tasked with creating an original all-access piece when we had media time with the top seeded players. Before the tournament I had thought about doing a piece with some players reacting to watching the eclipse. But obviously that video would be finished after the event. It would not benefit from the momentum of the national conversation, hype and excitement about the coast to coast celestial show.

My concept for a PSA was approved and I wrote the script the day before our all-access sessions. Having the benefit of working with these female players in the past, I knew their personalities well enough to write lines that suited their delivery.

It was definitely a blast writing, directing and editing. I really enjoy working the Connecticut Open because the tournament director, Anne Worcester allows for so much latitude to create original content. The team in New Haven scrambled and came up with all of the props needed. Katie Spellman, the new PR director for the tournament, is very well connected having worked for the WTA and also repping players. Her ability to cajole players and worldwide tennis contacts to share and retweet the piece meant that the video reached an audience that dwarfed all of our previous output from the past three years.

I enjoyed doing the voiceover, making the tennis ball eclipse graphics, picking the 1950s light and lively orchestral track. Editing meant that some fun jokey parts were left on the cutting room floor. But I think the piece ended up being tighter and more watchable as a result. This video and the Connecticut Open Debate video from 2016 rank as two of my favorite pieces we have created recently. Obviously there is limited interest and fans of European tennis players is niche audience, but making something from scratch that people respond well to and enjoy is one of the most rewarding parts of the job.

Over 350 retweets.

When measuring views as metric for determining success, this video was 500% more successful than our all-access piece from 2016.

 

 

Genie’s College Tour

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Eugenie Bouchard emerged in 2014 as a rising star in the WTA. She reached the semis in France, Australia and the Wimbledon finals in 2014. Her ranking shot to world no. 5. For whatever reason, sports writers speculate about motivation, injury, focus on endorsements etc, she has seen mixed results lately. She is still one of the most marketable athletes. What Genie has accomplished by age 23 is considerable. When she arrived at New Haven she asked the tournament director if a private tour of Yale could be arranged. She seemed genuinely excited and acted as though she might really walk away from the sport and go to school.

Genie ended up retweeting this video on her Twitter account. This was significant because  her online following or “Genie Army” is large compared to other female tennis players. She may have regretted sharing later because she ended up having to tweet to fans and the public that she was not actually leaving tennis for college. It was too late, articles abounded online and the video spread bringing positive attention to New Haven and the tournament.