Roots
My experience at the United States Soccer Federation begins with the Development Academy. The Development Academy (DA) is U.S Soccer's youth development league.
The mission of the DA is provide elite, driven youth talents with development environments, which meet the highest standards, that empower them to reach their full potential.I was given the opportunity to lead digital media efforts at 3 of the DA's showcases around the country, which included:
- 2019 Girl’s Spring Showcase - Colorado
- 2019 Dallas Boys Central Regional Showcase - Texas
- 2019 Winter Cup - Florida
DA Duties
At each of the showcases I managed, my responsibilities included:
- Managing and distributing content across all DA Social Channels (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook)
- Live coverage of DA "Feature Games" including live-tweeting & cutting highlights
- Interviewing Athletes & Coaches for post-game content
- In-Game Photography
- Overseeing DA Snapchat & Instagram Story Takeovers
- Managing a small team of photographers & videographers
- Communicating schedule updates & cancellations
An example of interview content our team would create leading up to Feature Games.
2019 Open Cup
U.S. Soccer's Open Cup is the longest running soccer tournament in the United States. The tournament holds 84 teams. 52 professional teams and 32 Open Division amateur teams. The winner of the tournament is crowned America's Soccer Champion, earns a berth in the 2020 Concacaf Champions League, $300,000 in prize money & has their name engraved on the Dewar Challenge Trophy.
Involvement
With so many teams competing in the tournament, clear & concise communication across the Open Cup social media channels is extremely important. My duties included:
- Live coverage through all Open Cup social channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). Up to 6 games would occur simultaneously in early rounds.
- Utilizing SnappyTV and Twitter Studio to quickly turnaround highlights for social.
- Managing announcements for host-team declarations as well as seeding.
THE OPEN CUP FEVER
With so many professional and ameteur teams going head-to-head there are bound to be upsets. It is important to be able to tell the story of these teams effectively over social in order to capture the true heart of the Open Cup.
.Stories such as New Mexico United, who had only been formed for six months until their historic Open Cup run. The USL team made it to the quarterfinals taking down two MLS teams in the process.
United States Men's National Team
My duties with the Men's National Team included:
- Social live coverage during friendlies, Gold Cup Matches, and the Gold Cup final to a combined audience of 6.9 million.
- Non-game day social disribution and management
- Curating analytics through programs such as Track Maven and Social Bakers, as well as native tools.
- Execute sponsorship obligations with companies such as Allstate, Coca-Cola, and more.
A Hype Video leading up to the Gold Cup Final with emphasis on the USMNT and Mexico's rivalry.
2019 Gold Cup Final
The 2019 Gold Cup Final saw the USMNT and rival, Mexico, go head-to-head in Chicago. Just a few blocks away from the U.S. Soccer Federation's main office, The USMNT played at a sold-out Soldier Field as well as to a TV audience of 8.8 million, across Univision, Univision Deportes Network and FS1.
My main responsibility during the final was to manage social live coverage through twitter, assist with the Instagram story, and assist in post-game content distribution across all channels.
United States Women's National Team
My responsibilities for the United States Women's National Team included:
- Assisting social media efforts across all channels during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, 2019 FIFA Women;s World Cup Final and 2019 USWNT Victory Tour
- Took lead for social live coverage for the FIFA WWC Group Stage USWNT vs Sweden match
- Executed social media influencer strategy and monitored celebrity mentions using social listening tools.
- Sponsorship posts and event digital communications for stakeholders such as: Volkswagen, Allstate, VISA, Coca-Cola, and more.
- Marketing analytics tracking with native tools as well as TrackMaven and Socialbakers.
- Assisted in brand transition through social media for the world cup champion's Fourth Star
World Champions
The 2019 USWNT FIFA Women's World Cup was historic for many reasons and social growth was no exception. Over the course of the tournament with the USWNT gaining over 500,000 followers (44.9% growth) since June of the same year.
With strong personalities on the team, telling the stories of the athletes through content pieces such as "Behind The Crest" & "23 Stories" helped to humanize the athletes who were making history game-by-game.
The celebratory tweet above was the most reshared of the Final with 110,000 retweets.
23 Stories offered a unique look at each USWNT athlete and their background.
The Fourth ⭐
Once the USWNT won the 2019 World Cup, one of the main brand initiatives was to completely change the brand colors across all accounts to emphasize the victory, as well as the changing of the USWNT crest from three stars to four. One of my main duties during the final was to make sure this transition occurred smoothly and timely.
The new color scheme and branding would be used throughout the Victory Tour as well.
Ticker Tape Parade
After the championship coverage did not stop! The USWNT were honored by New York City in a Ticker Tape Parade down the Canyon of Heros. I was given the opportunity to travel to NYC and capture the event live on the Instagram Story.
Credits:
Brandon Randall