FOX Sports South and SportSouth Celebrate the Hall of Fame Career of Chipper Jones with Special Coverage During Final Braves Homestand of the Regular Season

On Tuesday, September 25 FOX Sports South and SportSouth paid tribute to Chipper Jones with a 1 hour pregame special, which was made even more memorable with extended postgame coverage as the Braves clinched a playoff berth in walkoff fashion that night.  FOX Sports South also gave viewers live, commercial free coverage of the team’s Chipper Jones Night pregame tribute on Friday, September 28^th thanks to Georgia Best Chevy Dealers.

Through traditional media outreach, social media promotion, web content, digital billboards, and OAP messaging, FOX Sports South and SportSouth spread the word about the week of Chipper Jones telecasts and garnered a great amount of coverage and social conversation.    

Ten days before the Tribute aired, “sneak peaks” of Tom Hart’s exclusive sit down with Chipper Jones were posted daily across social media channels including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, to heighten anticipation.

Starting on September 18, several On Air Promotions aired within all FOX Sports South and SportSouth programming, previewing Braves LIVE: A Tribute to Chipper Jones:

Digital billboards promoted tune in to the September 25 special:

Braves LIVE host and alumni of the team Brian Jordan joined FOX-5's Good Day Atlanta the morning of September 25 and broadcasters Chip Caray and Joe Simpson did radio interviews to promote the tribute:

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/19630967/fox-sports-south-braves-to-honor-chipper-jones

The Braves supported the initiative by retweeting tune in messages to more than 230,000 followers:

Social media conversation throughout the tribute was incredibly positive:

The @SportSouth account reached 475,792 individuals with an overall exposure of 1,328,304 during the final home games of the season, peaking on the night of the Chipper Jones special (September 25).   

Messages for Chipper from prominent and legendary figures such as Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, Dale Murphy, Mark Richt, Tony Gwynn, Kirk Gibson, Don Mattingly, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed that aired during the special were posted to FOXSportsSouth.com immediately following the special’s debut. 

The Atlanta Journal Constitution made a note of the Tribute and publicized upcoming re-air dates in the widely read Braves blog on ajc.com:

When the Braves clinched a playoff berth with a 4-3 Walk Off Win, SportSouth gave viewers extended postgame coverage live from the clubhouse champagne celebration. The FOX Sports South Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Viddy accounts provided followers even more behind-the-scenes coverage of the clinch celebration with in the moment photos and videos, including a postgame video of Chipper hugging his parents made it on Viddy's coveted "Featured" List. 

http://viddy.com/foxsportssouth 



To follow up Tuesday's pregame Braves LIVE Chipper Jones Tribute and coverage of the postgame clinch celebration, FOX Sports South provided viewers with live, commercial free coverage of the Braves Chipper Jones Night ceremonies on Friday, September 28th.  Social media accounts provided an extra layer of coverage, with Facebook posts, Tweets, videos and photos as the events unfolded from Turner Field. 

For the week in total, the networks' Chipper Tribute hashtag #ThanksChipper, reached more than 437,522 individual Twitter accounts, with an overall exposure of 856,681, generating a great amount of social conversation about and appreciation for FOX Sports South and SportSouth coverage.