ABOUT THIS ENTRY

The Metrodome Roof Collapse is a favorite conversation starter for Minnesotans. With the 10-year anniversary coming up, the Vikings Entertainment Network (VEN) decided it was the right moment to design a content feature that did a deep-dive on the day's events.

The longform video went viral quickly on YouTube, surpassing expectations and garnering unprecedented results.

How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?

Organizations are constantly hoping for their content to “go viral,” but few are able to achieve it in an organic and unplanned way.

Not only did this video surprisingly go viral, but it netted the Vikings organization thousands of dollars in revenue - a total win/win.

The effort put forth on the video demonstrates that tapping into a highly-publicized media moment, regardless of how long ago it occurred, will always be popular amongst audiences.

Objective: Given the media sensation that surrounded the 2010 Metrodome roof collapse, the Vikings Entertainment Network (VEN) saw an opportunity to capitalize on the anniversary of its downfall.

There was a lot to consider:

How would this be showcased?

Who would be interviewed?

How would we track them down?

VEN & NFL Network knew there was potential to retell this story and capitalize on the tale that is widely told to fans and non-fans alike. To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the roof collapse, the Vikings Entertainment Network partnered with the NFL to document the day's events from start to finish.

Strategy & Execution: The first step was to reach out to NFL Network to establish a partnership on the content. Working with them, VEN was able to share resources and tools of amplification to make sure the video reached the broadest audience possible.

Everyone from Vikings leadership to the grounds crew from the Metrodome were contacted and interviews were set up for those people to tell their stories.

The interviews were cut to tell the story starting from the day before, leading into the event itself and the quick thinking that happened afterwards to move the game to Detroit. Much of the story told by eye witnesses had never been heard before the interviews took place.

To accompany the video, the VEN editorial team wrote a feature article to tell the same story in a different format.

Once the video and article were finalized, NFL Network & VEN worked in tandem to launch the feature across broadcast, social media and vikings.com.

The video included never-before-seen footage from inside the stadium during the time of collapse, and exclusive interviews with the grounds crew inside the stadium that day.

The video spiked online immediately.

Results: Once the video was published on YouTube and promoted on team social channels, it rapidly took off an at unprecedented pace. One of the main components of the video's success is its wide appeal to audiences beyond just the typical Vikings fan. The roof collapse was a national news story that was widely reported on. It now had people remembering and wanting to relive that time, which helped create an easy and click-friendly piece of content.

The results of the video on YouTube were especially staggering. The video received 3.9M views, which is 3.9M more than the average views on this channel. It generated over 367k watched hours, gained 6.9k subscribers to the Vikings YouTube channel, and generated $40k in revenue, respectively. Not only was this a viral success, it was the first of its kind for the Vikings Entertainment Network video content.

Additional Social Media Results

Facebook: 6,196 interactions, 0.15% engagement rate, 535,432 content impressions

Twitter: 2,450 interactions, 0.09% engagement, 744,948 content impressions

Highlights: Drove over 20k clicks to two separate pieces of content

9,418 to vikings.com longform article

12,480 to the YouTube video

100,343 video views of the teaser on Twitter

Production

Minnesota Vikings

Credits

Nate Vaughn
Senior Producer, Original Content
Minnesota Vikings

Ryan Cardinal
Senior Manager, Digital Marketing & Media
Minnesota Vikings

Ryan O'Neill
Producer
Minnesota Vikings

Alex Miller
Producer
Minnesota Vikings

Jay Nelson
Senior Manager, Motion Graphics
Minnesota Vikings