Ok, quick. If I, Zennie Abraham, say “NFL Draft”, what do you think of? Well, the answer you’re likely to respond with is “college players going to the National Football League”, all though you’re going to say “NFL”. Now, what if I say to you “Red Carpet”. What do you think of? You think of The Oscars and long, red carpet, and beautiful people: the women in the most fashionable and stylish dress and the men sporting the latest in suits and shoes. Yes, even tennis shoes are part of the scene, today. Nice ones.
So, what if I say “NFL Draft Red Carpet”. What do you think of then? Logically, you’re going to say “college players bound for the NFL and dressed to the nines for the occasion leading up to the NFL Draft. The NFL’s version of The Oscars Red Carpet.” And from 2010 to 2022, that’s the kind of presentation of The Red Carpet, the NFL gave America. The League even brought in Oscars Legend himself, Joe Lewis, the man in charge of the very production of the real Oscars Red Carpet.
But in 2023, for the NFL Draft in Kansas City, the National Football League acted like it just plain forgot how to do the NFL Draft Red Carpet. And I should know. I’ve not only covered the Oscars Red Carpet and The Night of 100 Stars Oscars but red carpets made for events like The Expendables at San Diego Comic Con 2010, and red carpets at events like the Social Media Expo in Las Vegas that was held during CES Las Vegas 2014. I could go on and on. So, what I have come to expect from the NFL Draft Red Carpet was what was missing in 2023: a focus on the players with a dose of Hollywood glam and celebrity sprinkle.
Oh, and here’s that The Expendables Red Carpet at San Diego Comic Con 2010 video, just for grins:
The NFL Picked YouTubers Without NFL Red Carpet Experience
For some wild reason someone at the NFL, I don’t know who, decided to focus more on YouTubers than the players, and the YouTubers they elected to highlight were not at all household names and certainly not known to NFL Fans. Indeed, I could make a powerful argument that, as a pioneer YouTube Partner since 2008 (and with a noted history that includes forcing a change to get a word-filter to stop racist comments), I’m better-known to NFL Fans than the people the League worked with YouTube (and a PR firm that was clearly new to all of this) to put together. But the point is, the YouTuber should not be the focus: the players, the new entrants into the National Football League, should be the stars.
In years from 2010 to 2022 (I have covered all years save for 2011, 2018, 2021, and 2023 and made more on site NFL Draft YouTube videos than any person or outlet) interviews with players were the focus. For example, here’s my talk with Mitch Trubisky, then North Carolina QB, who was eventually drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 2017 NFL Draft:
And here’s then-Clemson QB Deshawn Watson, drafted by the Houston Texans, and who really got the whole “shoe game” thing going with his Michael Jackson-style shoes:
But as you can see, the focus was on the players. But to make it more in the tradition of the red carpet, the NFL invited Hollywood and entertainment celebrities like Anthony Mackie, Tim McGraw, “Mr Las Vegas” Wayne Newton, and in 2010, Alec Baldwin (who sadly didn’t make it), and then mixed in coaches like Nick Saban and even elected officials like Tennessee Governor Bill Lee.
My point is, the NFL Draft Red Carpet felt like The Red Carpet. But in 2023, it fell off. The NFL sent the message that YouTubers you never knew were more important than college players you did know. Let’s take Haley Kalil. She’s an American model and a newish YouTuber who’s got a large following on YouTube and Instagram.
Ok, but the fact is that following seldom translates into huge Google Trends results. Haley Kalil’s average search intensity compared to my Zennie62 YouTube Channel brand has her at 8 and mine at 2. And as the map shows, in the same ballpark. Just check the link to the Google Trends results, here.
And if you add my name “Zennie Abraham” in Google Trends and compared with Haley Kalil and Zennie62, then my name is 2, Zennie62 is 3, and Ms. Kalil is 6. In other words, she’s not head over heels larger than me in Google Search trends.
See?
So, the point is, the NFL did not even score with the trucking in of these YouTubers who never interviewed NFL Players. On top of that, the NFL managed to keep me off the red carpet, which was a massive mistake. You don’t leave your best content creator out off the playing field, and because I know how to turn the damn field without being there — the folks the NFL and YouTube picked don’t know how to do that. I have fans I’ve never met in every NFL City because of the magic of YouTube and vlogging — oh, and doing it for, like, 17 years.
Oh, and I’m 61 years old as of August 4th — one month an a day younger than that other pop-star, Tom Cruise. Think about it.
So, in trying to please a young audience that would really rather see a cool interview done by yours truly, by feeding them “YouTube Stars” not organically-grown, the NFL failed to serve it’s real audience: the dedicated football fan. What the NFL also forgot was the dedicated football fan just also happens to be a huge fan of The Oscars Red Carpet.
Stay tuned.