FOX Sports Networks PR Blog: This One's For You brings a taste of home to troops overseas

Friday, August 2, 2013

This One's For You brings a taste of home to troops overseas

FOX Sports Midwest presented This One's For You, a St. Louis Cardinals telecast to troops, on July 25, connecting Missouri National Guard soldiers in Afghanistan with their families and with Cardinal Nation.

This was the RSN's sixth tribute to troops, and below we shine the spotlight on a few of the elements that made it unique.

Overview
* FOX Sports Midwest televised the Phillies-Cardinals game to its regional audience. American Forces Network showed FOX Sports Midwest's feed to troops throughout the world.

* Producer Mike Helling, director Tom Mee and announcers Dan McLaughlin, Al Hrabosky, Jim Hayes and Pat Parris seamlessly weaved interviews with soldiers in Afghanistan and their families at Busch Stadium into the game telecast.

* Live interviews with the soldiers of the Missouri National Guard's 1-135th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion at Camp Marmal in Afghanistan were conducted view Skype. FOX Sports Midwest taped greetings from soldiers at Fort Hood and with Cardinals players.

* Nearly 400 family members of the 1-135th purchased tickets in a special group section at Busch Stadium.

Music from Keith Urban
* FOX Sports Midwest marketing director David Pokorny worked with Janine Kerr of FOX Sports' music department to obtain rights to For You, a song by country star and American Idol judge Keith Urban about the sacrifices made by soldiers. The song was used in on-air promotion and during the broadcast. Urban re-tweeted FOX Sports Midwest's promo to his 1.1 million followers.

Hundreds of viewer Tweets

* FOX Sports Midwest scrolled more than 200 Tweets from viewers, using Mass Relevance to interface with a custom tickers. All were displayed at a landing page at FOXSportsMidwest.com.

* #ThisOnesForYou was a top trending topic in St. Louis, and Mass Relevance metrics said "potential social impressions" were 1.26 million. The Cardinals Tweeted and Facebooked about This One's For You.

* The blogosphere got involved. Yardbarker's i70Baseball ran stories throughout the day on This One's For You and writers' personal thoughts on those who serve.

Results
* Despite an early 6 p.m. start, the game generated a 9.5 household rating and made FOX Sports Midwest No. 1 in prime time in St. Louis on the night.

* The 1-135th and its family members expressed appreciation in the following days.

"Our guys had a blast....even at 345am! It meant a lot to all of us that were on the ground here...a number of the soldiers that were in route to our location have since seen the broadcast on replay or heard from their family members and it certainly put a smile on their faces. In the end, that's what This One's For You is supposed to accomplish." --CPT Michael Sweetland, 1-135th Attack Battalion.

"I just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful experience at the game. My family had a great time and my husband said he saw us on TV! That part made it the best! This is a memory I will always cherish and I appreciate you all giving to our troops and their families in this way. Thank you!" --Carrie Scheer, Wife and Family Readiness Group Leader

“The 1-135^th they are a Reconnaissance Battalion and they’ve just gotten in country, in Afghanistan…They don’t carry cargo they carry bullets and they take care of our people there. Without our families we couldn’t do what we do. And these brave men that are over there now they are doing that ‘away game’ that is what National Guard does…It really means a lot to us and to have these types of events where the families are here and the community is supporting us it makes the tour much shorter and it really brings it home.” -- Brigadier General J. Marty Robinson