Tweet. It started with a Tweet. Chad Ochocinco tossed it out over the Twitterphere with a single Tweet. He thought he wanted to ride a bull?! That single Tweet would grow into what ultimately would become what Bull Stock Media does best…. the Media Blitz. It was quickly evident that this was going to be one of the biggest PBR rides Bull Stock Media had ever covered. At least from a media standpoint. The closer Saturday got, the frequency of phone calls between the PBR and BSM offices grew.
It was Friday morning when things really shifted gears. Andy was already on the ground in Duluth, GA. Jacey was all set as usual to produce Live Photos for the event. The last piece was to get me up to speed on what was going to happen. Friday night would create some content that would give the BSM team a chance for a dress rehearsal of sorts before the big event on Saturday night. Of course everything worked as planned on Friday, and we were ready for Saturday night, and the Media Blitz.
Saturday night comes, and Andy, Jacey, and I must have texted, called, and emailed each other 25 times….we weren’t nervous, just checking to make sure all the team members were at their posts and ready to roll. Time for Ochocinco to cowboy up, and get on Deja Blu.
Andy was flying solo at this event which means he needed to cover the “in the chutes” images, as well as the actual “ride” IF Ochocinco nodded. Up on the chutes, snap-snap-snap. Chad getting tied in, snap-snap-snap. (There were many more than six shots, but you get the point). The BSM guys have wireless transmitters on all their cameras so as we are taking pictures, they are being uploaded to our server where Jacey edits, crops, and posts to the Live Event center. However, like I said, Andy was flying solo this night, so his was the only camera getting images – no pressure. No sooner does Andy get done covering the up close stuff of Ochocinco getting ready, and the images are already being worked on. Jacey is posting to the Live Event Center and uploading to an additional server where I’m picking them up. This would be a good time to clarify where the BSM team members were stationed. Andy was in Duluth, GA, Jacey was just outside of Bozeman, MT, and I was stationed in Orange County, CA. The triangle we made was just over 5000 miles. And the images needed to ultimately be delivered to a PR firm in NYC so add another 2800 miles to the equation. Anyway Andy scrambles back to his usual position just between the arena panels and the shark cage, only to have Ochocinco re-wrap his rope. The mad scramble was for not. It did give Andy an extra minute to settle in (and Jacey and I to catch up).
Who knows what was actually going through Chad Ochocinco’s mind during these moments, but it was show time and he needed to nod and get this going. Nod he did, and just as quickly as the gate swung all the way open, it was over….. as the headline read, “UNO.CINCO SECONDS”. After Chad dusted himself off from his humbling ride on Deja Blu, Andy had a few posed shots to take in the arena…. but just like that – this ride was over.
At this point, Andy’s pulse is returning to a reasonable rate just as Jacey and Mine began to climb. The Live Event Center was blowing up with speculations of how long the ride was mixed with comments about how impressed the PBR fans were that he actually nodded. (all of which needed to be moderated before being posted on the blog).
Now, time is of the essence. We needed to get these images to the PR agency in NYC as quickly as possible. We’re talking within minutes. Edit, crop, caption, tag, size, and park them in a folder. One down, next image…. and so on until we had 7 premium images for the wires. The BSM team had images from Andy’s camera in Duluth to Jacey in Montana to Me in SoCal to the Agency in NY within 15 minutes. All the while, there was never a blip in the Live Photos and Andy covering the event.
The Agency distributed those images out to several news sources and stories with photos were showing up on the web before the regular bull riding was over.
So, we will take this moment to toot our own horn a bit.
The New York Times, SportingNewsToday.com, TMZ.com, SI.com, ESPN.com, FoxSports.com, New York Daily News, Yardbarker.com, Bleacher Report, SB Nation, CBSsports.com and NBCSports.com to name a few of the places our photos ran. Millions of people saw Andy’s images of Ochocinco’s big ride because of the teamwork of the Bull Stock Media team.
They threw the biggest blitz in PBR’s history, and it couldn’t sack the BSM team. I’m looking forward to what they throw at us next.
Way to go BullStockMedia! You are the Greatest!