Kristie Chong-Adler

Associate Manager@KristieESPNPR

I’ve been with ESPN since 2008 and have worked on PR for Digital Media since 2005. My career started at MTV Networks, where I held internships with MTV International and mtvU, then went on to join their Summer Associate Program after graduating from Penn State. After the program concluded, I worked for three years at NBC Universal with their Digital Media Communications team.

Having spent my entire life – born and raised – in the Tri-State area, I'm of course a huge sports fan of the NY teams -- Yankees, Giants, Knicks -- and of course the Nittany Lions (WE ARE…!!) I’ve recently picked up yoga and running and am a member of New York Road Runners. The longest distance I ever raced so far is a 10K, but my next goal is a half marathon. I love to travel and have been to some amazing places abroad like Italy, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Japan. Someday, I’d love to travel to Africa and Australia.

Recent Posts

posted by on March 28, 2013 8:00 AM

Four regionals in four days: Join ESPN.com’s Eamonn Brennan on his NCAA tournament #MyMadness tour

Eamonn Brennan's travel schedule (Created by Kristie Chong-Adler)

Eamonn Brennan’s travel schedule (Graphic by Kristie Chong-Adler)

ESPN.com college basketball writer Eamonn Brennan will give new meaning to the term “Final Four” over the next four days.

Brennan is hitting the road for a four-NCAA- regional-sites-in-four-days, whirlwind tour to cover the Sweet 16 and Elite 8.

Kicking off at 11 a.m. ET today — and continuing through Sunday — fans will be able to interact cross-platform with Brennan by using the hashtag #MyMadness. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, ESPN College Basketball

posted by on March 20, 2013 10:11 AM

Kid President fills out his ESPN.com Tournament Challenge bracket with SportsCenter’s Robert Flores

Viral video sensation Robbie Novak – better known to millions as “Kid President” – recently visited ESPN to tape his latest pep talk to the world on #MarchGladness. In collaboration with SoulPancake, the video – which debuted this morning on YouTube – features Kid President breaking down his picks in the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament with SportsCenter’s Robert Flores.

Front Row spoke to ESPN’s Katherine Boidy manager, Consumer Marketing about promoting Tournament Challenge via social media, the collaboration with SoulPancake and more.

Social media is a big part of the marketing campaign for brackets on ESPN.com this year. What was the strategy behind that and what are the goals?
March Madness is inherently social, and bracket games truly engage the masses. Fans love to brag about their picks and no matter if you are male or female, young or old, sports fan or not, everyone can fill out a bracket and anyone has a chance to win. We want to capitalize on this natural social conversation around the Tournament and connect it back to ESPN and our bracket game. The goal is to drive record sign-ups for Tournament Challenge, which we hope to do via social extensions that provide opportunities to grow our audience further.

How did the collaboration between ESPN, SoulPancake and Kid President come about? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on March 8, 2013 12:35 PM

Travel around the world of sports in 14 hours via ESPN3, home to 86 live events Saturday

Inside the ESPN3 “nerve center,” ESPN Transmission.
(Joe Faraoni/ESPN Images)

ESPN3 is gearing up for a long day tomorrow, delivering a total of 86 live events from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. ET — more than a third of which are exclusive to the live, multi-screen sports network.

That’s an average of more than six events per hour happening simultaneously, spanning 10 sports categories from more than 20 conferences being delivered live from around the world. On Saturday alone, sports fans will find:

• College Sports: Championship Week men’s and women’s basketball, the Whitman’s Sampler Independence Classic for lacrosse, NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship, ACC Wrestling Championship, ECAC women’s hockey, regular season NCAA baseball and softball

• International Soccer: Dutch Eredivisie, Liga MX and the Soweto Derby

• Tennis: BNP Paribas Open

• High School: Iowa Boy’s State Basketball Tournament

ESPN Transmission
(Joe Faraoni/ESPN Images)

And with access across multiple screens including computers, smartphones, tablets and Xbox, fans will have no problem finding a way to tune into a live game on Saturday. Front Row went behind the scenes to the “nerve center” with Paul Gavalis, ESPN’s senior director, Digital Video Technology & Operations as the ESPN3 team prepares for the big day:

Can you take us through what you anticipate the day to be like on Saturday for you and your team?
Although we are on track to offer more than 5,500 live events this year, handling 86 live events in 24 hours is a significant effort involving teamwork, communication and a focus on the details from everyone involved. Working together with Programming, Remote Traffic, Production and Transmission, the WatchESPN Content Operations and Technical Operations teams are coordinating each event from start to finish.

The teams are monitoring the status of the event itself, the acquisition of the signal from site, ad insertion, encoding, publishing and distribution to fans’ computers, tablets, smartphones, and Xboxes. We also message users in our experiences and via social media of delays, schedule changes or other issues which impact our event schedule.

How many events can you accommodate at any given time and how does a network like ESPN3 do that? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, ESPN3

posted by on February 5, 2013 8:00 AM

Chris Isenberg of artist collective No Mas on work with WatchESPN’s new ‘The Clutch Way to Watch’ campaign

ESPN introduced its newest brand campaign for WatchESPN across television and digital platforms that focuses on the heart of what WatchESPN delivers: clutch moments in sports fandom.

The campaign titled “The Clutch Way to Watch” — created in collaboration with 72andSunny — introduces viewers to Steve and Vic, avid sports fans not unlike millions of others who live for those big moments in watching sports, no matter where they are. The characters were brought to life by artist collective No Mas, an award-winning creative team that includes James Blagden and Chris Isenberg.

Front Row spoke to Chris Isenberg about their latest work with ESPN.

This actually isn’t your first project with ESPN. Your impressive portfolio of work includes animations and illustrations for the 30 for 30 films as well as Grantland. How did you approach this project differently compared to your other projects with ESPN to visually illustrate WatchESPN as “The Clutch Way to Watch”?
This is our fourth time working with ESPN: Straight Outta LA, Story Time with Jalen Rose: Stealing Patrick Ewing’s TV with VCR attachment, and You Don’t Know Bo which was illustrated by James and our mutual friend Mickey Duzyj — he’s actually the one who originally introduced me to James.

James and I first really connected with ESPN at Sundance a couple of years ago because [the No Mas film] Dock Ellis played as a short in front of [the 30 for 30 film] Winning Time, so we got to meet some great people on the ESPN Films side. We also watched the Jets lose to the Colts in the AFC Championship at the ESPN party, which was profoundly not clutch. “Clutch Way to Watch” is different because the other three projects have been documentary and this is fictional and an ad, so it’s completely different challenge with a lot of freedom. It feels like the characters we are working with, Steve and Vic, have a lot of legs so it’s going to be fun to put them in different situations as the year goes on.

What’s your definition of clutch? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on January 15, 2013 4:52 PM

NCAA men’s basketball coaches come together for third annual Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge

What would bring top caliber coaches like Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Mark Gottfried, Tubby Smith, Tom Crean, Brad Stevens, Matt Painter, Bob Huggins and Ron Hunter together off the court?

The answer is the third annual Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge, launched yesterday allows fans to vote amongst 48 coaches from the nation’s top NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs over an eight-week period. On Mar. 11, the winning coach’s designated charity will be announced as the recipient of $100,000.

To support the Challenge, ESPN debuts the first of four integrated content pieces tonight during the Tennessee versus Kentucky game (7 ET, ESPN). Each piece offers a humorous take on how great coaches still can struggle with things like fundraising — selling cookies, hosting a car wash, running a marathon and playing a round of golf together.

ESPN CreativeWorks senior director Ashley Smith spoke with Front Row about the concept behind the pieces: continue reading…

Filed in: Announcements

posted by on January 2, 2013 4:15 PM

Q&A with David Gaston, $1 million winner of ESPN.com’s Primetime Payoff MNF Pick ‘Em Game

Primetime Payoff winner, David Gaston's profile page.

Primetime Payoff winner David Gaston’s profile page.

Centennial, Colo. native David Gaston rang in 2013 with $1 million worth of winnings in his pocket*, thanks to ESPN’s pick ‘em game based on the events of Monday Night Football (MNF), ESPN Primetime Payoff presented by Best Buy.

The 23-year-old was randomly selected as the winner when his 33 points earned him 33 chances to win the grand prize.

David Gaston (credit?)

David Gaston

Front Row spoke to Gaston about his big win:

How did you first hear about ESPN Primetime Payoff?
I read about the ESPN Primetime Payoff game while playing fantasy football on ESPN.com. I read through it and the game sounded like it would be fun to play during Monday Night Football games, so I decided to register and play.

There were some entries that had as many as 245 points. With your 33 points, did you ever think you’d be the one randomly selected for the grand prize of $1 million? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on December 31, 2012 2:30 PM

WatchESPN now available on Kindle Fire Android devices

WatchESPN on the Kindle Fire

WatchESPN on the Kindle Fire

It’s been a big year for WatchESPN in 2012, and in addition to the multiple platforms it is currently accessible on, the app is now available on Kindle Fire Android devices (Fire HD 8.9” 4G LTE Wireless, Fire HD 8.9”, Fire HD and Fire).

The WatchESPN app is free to download and delivers live access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN Goal Line/Buzzer Beater to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider anywhere on the go. It is currently one of the top sports apps in the Amazon Best Sellers list and available for download here. continue reading…

Filed in: Announcements

posted by on December 20, 2012 4:40 PM

Inside ESPN’s innovation team

ESPN has positioned itself as a leader in sports media, and now more than ever, it is also considered a leader in technology.

From the early days of ESPN3, to the launch of ESPN 3D, to being one of the first out of the gate with authenticated networks on WatchESPN, embracing emerging platforms long before they have proliferated has been at the core of what ESPN does best — serving fans whenever and wherever they consume content.

That forward thinking is what drives ESPN’s Technology division and its use of the Research & Development lab located in Building 13.

In the video above, Front Row sat down with the Innovation team led by vice president Rob Hunter along with senior director of content systems Tony Gentile, and associate director of project development Andrew Budd to learn more about how the “Hacker Lab” works and how the company fosters idea generation.

In addition to the Hacker Lab, employees are showcasing in the ESPN Digital & Print Media’s 3rd Annual ESPN Global Hackathon taking place in Bristol today. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on December 20, 2012 11:14 AM

NFL stars Ray Rice and Ahmad Bradshaw visit Bristol, herald debut of ESPN Sports Connection

Charissa Thompson (L), Ray Rice (Baltimore Ravens), Ahmad Bradshaw (N.Y. Giants) and Colin Cowherd on the SportsNation set. (Joe Faraoni/ESPN Images)

On Tuesday, NFL star running backs Ray Rice and Ahmad Bradshaw visited ESPN’s Bristol, Conn. headquarters for appearances on such shows as SportsCenter, First Take, NFL Live, SportsNation, a live chat on ESPN.com and more.

As part of their visit, fans were able to interact with Baltimore Ravens standout Rice and New York Giants star Bradshaw via social media with a chance to win giveaways and prizes.

Throughout the day, any time Rice or Bradshaw said “Sports Connection” on-air, ESPN gave away a copy of the family-friendly sports game to fans that tweet at the ESPN show’s Twitter handle with “ESPN Sports Connection” and hashtag #BradshawandRice.

The results:

·At its peak, the hashtag was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter nationwide
·Hundreds of tweets sent with “Sports Connection” mentioned
·In total, 20 copies of ESPN Sports Connection were awarded via Twitter, with SportsNation giving away the grand prize that included a Nintendo Wii U console and autographed memorabilia

Here is a recap of their day on ESPN’s campus:

ESPN Sports Connection marks ESPN’s debut presence in the casual multi-sport gaming space and its first collaboration with Ubisoft. It is available exclusively for Nintendo Wii U in stores now.

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on December 17, 2012 11:35 AM

Newly redesigned XGames.com launches in Beta

To align with the X Games’ global expansion, ESPN has soft launched its newly redesigned XGames.com online and on the mobile Web.

Accessible at http://xgames.espn.go.com/, the site will replace ESPN.com/Action as a leading cross-platform destination for action sports and lifestyle content.

With a focus on experiential features and enhancements, ESPN is serving passionate action sports fans like never before. Adam Deutsch, Senior Director of Digital Product Development, spoke to Front Row about the importance of digital to the X Games franchise and what fans can experience now.

What about the X Games lends itself so well to digital?
Several things make it great for digital. The first is digital video. We rapid fire the delivery of highlights to the web, mobile web and apps usually in three minutes or less. It is all in an effort to satisfy fans’ appetites to see the best tricks and near misses in as close to real time as possible. We enjoy full rights and access with the content and can serve it to the fan on the screen of their choice. Next is social connectivity and the ease of sharing great content in one fast click. And finally, I think the global nature of X Games events makes fandom borderless. The video and stunning photography cut across cultural and language barriers and access via digital platforms accelerates fans’ connections to X Games.

What new features can fans experience starting today? continue reading…

Filed in: Announcements