On March 11, 2020, Red 5 Interactive had a political client, during a statewide campaign, who pulled their staff off the road for their safety. The big question – NOW WHAT?
There was no precedent for what was to come. No playbook.
We quickly huddled with our client to discuss how we will connect with voters statewide without holding physical rallies, in-person fundraisers, and one-on-one coffee klatches.
Someone mentioned, let’s do live streaming. We had done Facebook Live with a cell phone along the campaign trail, but we didn’t see that as a compelling or sustainable solution through Election Day, eighty-six days away. We developed a punch list of what we needed to accomplish.
- Compelling and Engaging Content
- Guests – Remote
- Studio – allowing for social distancing
- Reliable and Adequate Bandwidth
- Hardware and Software
Red 5 had not provided this type of service at scale, so we went to work to find a solution. Within 48 hours, Red 5 had a solution and began the preparations for the first live stream.
We procured an empty conference that measured 10′ x 20′ – not an incredibly spacious studio, but it checked all the boxes. We purchased a broadcasting software suite called Wirecast – that we needed to learn how to navigate in about 24 hours. And we had to pull together the necessary equipment like cameras, tripods, lights, microphones, a teleprompter, a myriad of cables, a backdrop, video monitor, and content – tons of content.
Over the coming eight-four days, the program evolved. We were deliberate about sticking to our schedule, much like a television program. We did a 30-minute segment each day called “In the Cage,” playing off our client’s love for baseball. “In the Cage” segment content included updates about the coronavirus and how it impacted the state and the country.
We also did three 1-hour segments each week that provided more conversation and in-depth topic discussions. These segments included more interaction with Facebook users and call-in questions. VideoAsk was a tool that we used to encourage voters to ask a video question that we then played during the live stream.
Red 5 took every opportunity to discover and execute technology that added value to the live streams and provided compelling content.
Now for some statistics.
- Produced over 100 hours of original content
- Broadcasted over 130 live streams
- Spoke to over 200 guests
- 6.9 million Facebook impressions
- 275,460 Facebook engagements
- 29,349 FB Post link clicks
- Reach 4.4 million unique Facebook IDs.
- 2.1 million video views on Facebook
- 2 million Twitter impressions
Over eighty-two days on all social channels, our client saw over 9 million impressions, 340,000 engagements, and a reach of 5.1 million.
It was live television, and sometimes the stars didn’t align. We didn’t have a perfect show every broadcast; in fact, it was a terrific lesson in not letting perfect get in the way of good. Each time we had a hiccup, we learned from and found ways to improve and find workarounds when we ran into an issue. The team was incredibly agile, and the flexibility allowed us to make changes on the fly and still give the viewer a terrific experience.
The Red 5 Interactive mission is to add value to each client experience. We want our clients to walk away from their interactions with our team knowing we have added value. Red 5 strives to go above and beyond to find the right solution, not just a solution.
If you would like to learn more about our live streaming capabilities or have a problem that needs solving, we would love to partner with you.
