Project and Report Design Document

Brock Hoffman

bshoffman@vt.edu

Project Description:

As College Football has been the biggest money maker in all of college athletics nationwide and is still
growing till this day, fan bases and universities care deeply about the success of their team. With that
deep love and care it comes with expectations in terms of wins on the record and in order for coaches to
win in this modern world of social media they have to be able to promote their university and football
program on these different platforms. As Virginia Tech is heading into a new era with new Head Coach
Brent Pry he is tasked with large ask being VT has always had a rich football tradition. In order for him to
gain the recruits he needs in order to build a roster of his liking both talent and character wise as well as
gain the support of the fanbase before the season begins he is going to need to promote the change
that he plans on bringing to the program on social media.

Upon completion of this project I will be enhancing my knowledge on the different software’s and
creative media mindsets in order to develop the content to better help my future as well as enhance the
promotion of the new era in Virginia Tech football in order to gain the attention of not only recruits but
the fan base as well. When it comes to social media content there is two sides with videos and
graphics/images so I will be working with Jamaal Simmons – Director of Creative Video when it comes to
the video side of things and Zach Lantz – Creative Director for the images and graphics pieces.
Specifically, what I mean by working with these two individuals is I will be helping them both with the
filming and taking pictures as well as doing the editing for both videos and images/graphics. So, I will be
there alongside them for the workouts, practices as well as there in the offices helping out.

Specific Objectives:

1. Work with Jamaal and the video team to create videos for winter workouts
2. Work with Jamaal and the video team to create videos for spring ball
3. Work with Zach Lantz to develop graphics and images that can boost recruiting

Materials & Methods:

To develop the material and content needed for the project the media team for videos will use adobe
premiere and the graphic/image team uses Adobe Photoshop, so as of now those will be the main two
software’s. The plan is to video the workouts over the coming weeks and post videos periodically about
the workouts that are currently going on. As we work into spring ball I believe the plan will be to post at
least one video weekly highlighting the practices throughout the week. In terms of graphics and images
there will be feed post after major workouts and all the spring practices. Recruiting graphics will be
designed and posted when the staff sees fit throughout the spring.

Justification for Project:

As I mentioned earlier the Virginia Tech football program is heading into a new era under a new staff
and will need to build back the program the way they see fit. In order to do this in a modern world of
football social media will play a major role in that in terms of getting recruits attention as well as
enhancing the support of the fan base. I believe this project will have a rolling effect in who it benefits,
to start it will benefit the players on the team which in return benefits the staff which will help the
program which all in all will help the University, as I said earlier the biggest revenue builder is collegiate
football.

Criteria for Evaluation:

To evaluate my project and the content created Coach Pry and 2 leaders of the football team will review
each piece of my content and see if it is fitting enough to post out on platforms.

Goal Statement:

In order to help the newly hired head football coach for Virginia Tech Brent Pry and his supporting staff
myself as well as the creative media team plan to create online content (images and videos) in order to
gain the support of the VT Football fan base as well as help the program acquire top rated recruits in
order to benefit the program long-term.

Learner Analysis:

For my project I believe there is a wide variety of people for my target audience because the Virginia
Tech Football fanbase is so big and from people with different backgrounds. In terms of general
characteristics, we are looking to target recruits that are male in the age range of 16-18 years old and
both male and females in the age range of 19-60 years old for the VT fan base that live within the mid-
east coast region of the United States (D.C., Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina) due
to the majority of the VT fan base being from that region. I chose this range because 16-year-old people
allows us to cover the recruits VT is looking to build the program around. For the upper end I realize that
there are people older that come to the games and support the program but for the major percentage
of the fan base they are under the age of 60. The majority of my target audience will have prior
knowledge about the Virginia Tech football program due to the heavy football tradition that comes with
being apart of the program specifically in the region. All of my learners will have a good attitude and be
highly motivated towards the program as the recruits are looking to receive a scholarship offer and
attend the university and the VT fans are looking to improve the program in every aspect. I believe that
my target audience has enough prior knowledge about the VT football program that it is reasonable to
expect that they will be involved and excited about the upcoming and current content being produced
by myself and the VT Football creative media team. By being a former VT Football player, I have gained
experiences with the fan base through public events and gameday atmospheres, I have also gained
knowledge from helping out in recruiting events for the team to understand what future recruits enjoy
and how they are intrigued.

Learning Context:

The learning context in which this project will take place is on a number of social media applications.
With the modern age of collegiate sports and self-promotions within athletes personally and programs
you have to keep up with the times so me and creative media team will post both images and videos as
are content on Twitter & Instagram which through research is proven to show where the majority of our
fanbase is on for social media. The nice things about the content we will post is it will all be ‘feed post’
which mean they stay on our page forever which doesn’t place our fans in a time constraint to watch
videos or see pictures, one thing that we will encourage to our audience is to turn the VT Football
Notifications on which will give them notifications when we post the content. With these sites being
online and able to reach them through phone, tablet, or computer it allows the users easy access from
nearly anywhere with internet connection. The content we will be posting will make the users feel like
they are in a real-world simulation of practice or workouts when watching on the sites. I obtained this
information through prior experiences of being a high school recruit years ago.

Objectives:

Goal Statement: In order to help the newly hired head football coach for Virginia Tech Brent Pry and his
supporting staff myself as well as the creative media team plan to create online content (images and
videos) in order to gain the support of the VT Football fan base as well as help the program acquire top
rated recruits in order to benefit the program long-term.

Terminal Objective: The Virginia Tech Football Fan base as long as potential high school recruits will be
excited about the future of the program as the new coaching staff is planning for the 2022 season.

- Objective 1.0: Given a video camera, computer, and software me and Jamaal will film, create,
edit, and post video content of the VT football team during winter workouts.
o Objective 1.1: Given a video camera me and Jamaal will video the VT Football team
during winter workouts.
o Objective 1.2: Given a computer and software me and Jamaal will create and edit the
video of the VT Football team during winter workouts.
o Objective 1.3: Given a computer me and Jamaal will post the videos of the VT Football
team in winter workouts to both Twitter and Instagram.
- Objective 2.0: Given a video camera, computer, and software me and Jamaal will film, create,
edit, and post video content of the VT football team during Spring Ball.
o Objective 2.1: Given a video camera me and Jamaal will video the VT Football team
during Spring Ball.
o Objective 2.2: Given a computer and software me and Jamaal will create and edit the
video of the VT Football team during Spring Ball.
o Objective 2.3: Given a computer me and Jamaal will post the videos of the VT Football
team during Spring Ball to both Twitter and Instagram.
- Objective 3.0: Given a camera, software, and a computer me and Zach Lantz will develop images
and graphics that will help boost recruiting and fan base connection.
o Objective 3.1: Given a camera me and Zach Lantz will take pictures of winter workouts,
spring ball, and facility advancements.
o Objective 3.2: Given software and a computer, me and Zach Lantz will edit the pictures
taken.
o Objective 3.3: Given software and a computer, me and Zach Lantz will create and edit
graphics.
o Objective 3.4: Given a computer me and Zach Lantz will post the pictures and graphics
to both Twitter and Instagram.

Goal Analysis:
Classify Goal:

The intended goal of my project is to help the newly hired football staff at Virginia Tech gain the fan
support that is needed when change comes as well as boost recruiting and show people that this is the
new age of the Virginia Tech football program. In creating this content, I believe it will show the fan base
why they should be excited about the team for the upcoming season and the seasons to come as well as
show recruits why they should come be apart of the new era.

Desired Outcome:

Upon completion of Spring Ball newly hired Head Coach Brent Pry as well as two members of the VT
Football team leadership council are pleased with the social media content efforted towards building
the fan base and boosting recruiting.

Goals & Sub-Steps:

1.0: Video, Create, Edit, and Post Videos of VT Football in Winter Workouts

1.1: Video VT Football in Winter Workouts

1.2: Create and Edit the video of VT Football in Winter Workouts

1.3: Post the video of VT Football in Winter Workouts

2.0: Video, Create, Edit, and Post Videos of VT Football during Spring Ball

2.1: Video VT Football during Spring Ball

2.2: Create and Edit the video of VT Football during Spring Ball

2.3: Post the video of VT Football during Spring Ball

3.0: Take Pictures and Create Graphics of VT Football to boost recruiting and fan base connection

3.1: Take pictures of VT Football during winter workouts, spring ball, and facility advancements

3.2: Edit pictures taken

3.3: Create and Edit Graphics

3.4: Post the images taken and graphics created

Evaluation:
Purpose:

An evaluation is needed for my project in order to better help myself, Zach, and Jamaal know if the
content we created during the Spring of 2022 better helped the newly hired football staff at Virginia
Tech reach the fan base more as well as get recruits interested in VT. With the new staff at VT, utilizing
social media and creative media content is the much more efficient way to reach the fan base and get
them more involved as well as reach recruits and get them excited about the future of the program. This
evaluation will help me and my team be able to know if we did a good enough job in those regards with
our content and how we can improve the content moving forward into the summer and fall season.

Key Questions:

1. To what degree did we improve fan base interactions on social media through our content?
2. To what degree did we improve recruiting interest through our social media content?

Key Stakeholders:

The Key Stakeholders for this evaluation will be Zach and Jamaal as they are both have full time jobs
working in the creative media department for VT Football, as well as myself as I have teamed up with
them to help and assist alongside them throughout the Spring of 2022.

Sample and Sample Strategy:

Being a former football player on the Virginia Tech football team I still have a good relationship with
former players as well as have built relationships with the new football staff which allows me to be able
to communicate with them for a sample. My sample strategy for the evaluation is since I have the
experience of being a team captain and on the leadership council at VT I know how much weight that
holds so I will be randomly selecting two members of their current leadership council as well as selecting
Head Coach Brent Pry to give me a sample size of 3 individuals.

Instrumentation:

The instrumentation I will be using to conduct this evaluation is a survey through Qualtrics which is a
software provided to VT students. Having the ability to use this software along with my experiences
using Qualtrics will allow me to develop a well thought-out and put together survey.

Logistics & Timeline:

Upon the completion of Spring Ball 2022 for the VT Football team on April 16 th, Head Coach Brent Pry as
well as two random members of the leadership council will be sent emails with the survey link.

Budget:

Since I am using Qualtrics which is provided to VT students my evaluation will be free of cost.

Survey Questions:

1. Do you feel like the content posted this spring gained more fan interaction and involvement?
a. Agree
b. Disagree
c. Neither
 2. Do you feel like the content posted this spring peaked the interest of potential recruits and got
them excited about the future of VT Football?
a. Agree
b. Disagree
c. Neither
3. In terms of fan base involvement which specific content do you believe enhanced that?
a. Videos/Pictures of Winter Workouts
b. Videos/Picture of Spring Ball
c. Graphics for Social Media
4. In terms of peaking recruits’ interest which specific content do you believe enhanced that?
a. Videos/Pictures of Winter Workouts
b. Videos/Picture of Spring Ball
c. Graphics for Social Media
5. What was your personal favorite content posting this spring?
a. Videos/Pictures of Winter Workouts
b. Videos/Picture of Spring Ball
c. Graphics for Social Media
6. Please rate on a scale of 1-10 (1 being the worst, 10 being the best) the overall performance of
the creative media content posted this spring.
a. Scale = 1-10
7. Is there anything that we could improve on in the future for the social media content?
a. Text Box

Results:

The people surveyed for this evaluation were two randomly selected members of the team leadership
council as well as Head Football Coach Brent Pry.

1. Do you feel like the content posted this spring gained more fan interaction and involvement?
a. Agree – (3 Votes)
2. Do you feel like the content posted this spring peaked the interest of potential recruits and got
them excited about the future of VT Football?
a. Agree – (3 Votes)
3. In terms of fan base involvement which specific content do you believe enhanced that?
a. Videos/Picture of Spring Ball – (3 Votes)
4. In terms of peaking recruits’ interest which specific content do you believe enhanced that?
a. Videos/Pictures of Winter Workouts (1 Vote)
b. Videos/Picture of Spring Ball (1 Vote)
c. Graphics for Social Media (1 Vote)
5. What was your personal favorite content posting this spring?
a. Videos/Picture of Spring Ball (3 Votes)
6. Please rate on a scale of 1-10 (1 being the worst, 10 being the best) the overall performance of
the creative media content posted this spring.
a. Scale = 1-10
i. Max: 8
ii. Min: 7
 7. Is there anything that we could improve on in the future for the social media content?
a. Text Box
i. Individual Player Content
ii. Create some kind of public feedback section for fans to fill out. Something that
allows them to be able to write down what they would like to see more of
iii. More content with Offensive Linemen

Discussion & Recommendations:

Upon completion of this evaluation on the creative media team along with myself work this spring with
the VT Football team I have concluded that overall, we did a good job of reaching our goals to increase
fan engagement/interaction as well as peak the interest of potential recruits. As we reached our goals
that we set out to achieve there are some things we can improve on, first we need to implement more
individual player content in order to help boost the brand of our players with the new NIL rules the
NCAA passed. The second thing we need to improve on is implement a forum for our fans in order for
them to share their ideas on things they want to see more from the creative media team. Ultimately, we
achieved the goals we set out for the Spring of 2022 but there is always things to improve on for the Fall.