World Poker Tour

History:
Poker had been televised for many years on ESPN, focusing on the World Series of Poker. Ratings have been lackluster and poker has been suffering a continual decline in casinos nationwide. Into this landscape came The World Poker Tour conceived by Steve Lipscomb, a documentary filmmaker who believed that poker could be transformed into America’s new favorite pastime by marrying the drama of reality television with great sports TV production values. His “ace in the hole” was to offer viewers a look into each player’s “hidden cards” with tiny cameras, thus driving the drama to new highs as players bluff and bet with millions at stake on the table.

PR Program Goals:
Jackie Lapin Media Relations was retained to help take the WPT from an unknown entity to “the PGA of Poker,” creating a climate that would propel TV viewership, player participation and revenue opportunities for the organization. The agency teamed with the PR director for The Travel Channel, the network that committed its Wednesday night 9 p.m. time slot to the WPT. 

Strategy:
The first tasks centered on introducing the World Poker Tour to the American TV viewership, because it was felt that once people saw it, they would be transfixed. With the door slightly ajar, we then aimed to create a perception that poker was the hottest game in America, and that people were playing it in their living rooms, going to casinos and watching it passionately every week on the The Travel Channel, thanks to the WPT. Lastly, we worked to build the brand for The WPT, and differentiate it from many of the imitators that arose in the wake of the show’s success.    

Tasks:
1. Create a media kit that reached out to TV, sports, business, gaming and consumer media simultaneously. It announced the new concept of creating the “PGA of poker;” explored the highly innovative approach to TV production; addressed the compelling nature of the game and the high stakes players; noted how the WPT was changing the image of the game, leaving behind the concept of cigar-smoking old men; touched on the new celebrity interest in the game; and introduced Lipscomb, the team behind the production and the TV commentators. 

2. Begin publicizing WPT events. Prior to the season’s first airing in March, Jackie Lapin Media Relations assisted the WPT with the coverage of its WPT Invitational celebrity-pro am. The event, which drew a roster of current (Don Cheadle, Norm McDonald, Lou Diamond Phillips) and oldtime (Mickey Rooney, Dom DeLouise) stars, was staged in Los Angeles. Reporters were invited to cover, and Los Angeles Times Sports Columnist T.J. Simers was invited to play, resulting in two very funny columns.  Subsequently, the agency assisted with coverage of selected other tournaments at the time of their taping.
 

3. Introduced media to the World Poker Tour in advance of the launch. USA Today’s sports business column Michael Hiestand and Sports Business Journal were offered exclusives. Partnering with the Travel Channel, the agency distributed releases and pitch letters to TV writers and sports TV columnists across the nation, following up to arrange interviews. One big coup was an AP story by the wire service’s TV sports columnist. The agency also cultivated the gaming media.

4. Drove the “Buzz.” Once the show was launched, we began to feed media info on  very impressive ratings numbers, which continued to climb even after the first 13 shows were in second and third re-runs. Seizing on this, plus the website response, positive media reviews, and the beginning “buzz,” we sent a pitch to the feature editors at every major daily in the U.S. proposing they jump on a story about “Poker Being Hot!” The results were well beyond our expectations. The story simply began to snowball, with a large number of the nation’s top papers profiling the phenomena over the course of four months. The pinnacle of this effort was a major cover story in USA Today.

5. Targeted key national media. The agency handpicked specific consumer and business media to target, which The Travel Channel focused on TV Guide. Jackie Lapin secured: Sports Illustrated, Business 2.0, Businessweek, Men’s Journal, Entertainment Weekly and dozens of others with different and unique angles, including profiles of the founder and a look at the way the WPT had made poker compelling TV that had the nation hooked.  

6. Proposed profiles of individual players. We worked to create interest in players all across the nation—everyone from the local hometown player who had done well in a WPT tournament to some of the truly fascinating men and women who make up the group of touring pros. Part of the story has been the efforts to convey to media that the average person can play in a WPT tournament alongside the top pros. You can’t do that in the NBA or NFL. 

7. Capitalized on the WPT Championship. The WPT’s culminating event was the most expensive tournament in history to “buy-in,” with players having to pay $25,000 to play. We publicized that more than 100 players were lining up to get in, and that the prize for first place would exceed $1 million. When the winner was crowned, a former junk bond analyst,  we had it set for him to make an appearance on Closing Bell.  

8. Exploited the appearance of celebrities. By the time that filming began for season two, poker had truly become so chic that the WPT was attracting celebrity players to its regular tournaments. Ben Affleck may have only lasted one hour in one of the Los Angeles events, but the agency seized the opportunity to feed photos and video to People and US, along with Entertainment Tonight and all of the other entertainment TVs.          

9. Chronicled the business growth of the WPT. Throughout the year, the agency continued to issue releases and place stories on the WPT’s continual evolution as a business—licensing, merchandising, website sales, additional programming, new long-term contractual agreement with The Travel Channel. We also launched a campaign to promote the complete DVD set of the WPTs first season—which generated tremendous press in such media as Entertainment Weekly, U.S. dailies and DVD Websites—and created a sold out inventory.

10. Publicized new shows. In order to stay ahead of the many new imitators, the WPT looked to extend its brand by creating other new shows to fill in the gap between season one and two. The agency undertook media campaigns to publicize: Ladies Night (featuring six of the top women players in the world); The WPT Battle of Champions (a show airing opposite the Super Bowl pregame show on NBC, partly brokered between WPT-Travel Channel-NBC by the agency); and WPT Hollywood Home Games (a series of shows featuring celebrities playing against each other for charity and a $25,000 seat at the WPT Championship).      

Results:
The World Poker Tour has become the highest rated show in the Travel Channel history, and is a huge television hit. More than 5 million people tune in weekly, with the audience continuing to grow at a rapid pace. The WPT’s success has spawned its own competitors with ESPN, Fox, Bravo and other networks copying the format. Because the WPT has made poker so approachable and appealing, casinos are reporting record turnouts for tournaments and a dramatic increase in their poker rooms—a boon for the industry. What that has meant for the WPT is that the number of players has tripled this year and consequently, so has the prize money—from $10 million in year one to an astonishing $30 million in the second season. And for the WPT, the issue is one of managing the incredible growth. Handling the influx of organizations that wish to stage tournaments, licensees, sponsors, business partnerships and the vast other opportunities coming forward to the hottest “reality” show on television.