AASHTO TransComm2014 Skills Contest
Entry Form
ENTRY INFORMATION
Division #
Category #
10 Social Media
10 e
Title of Entry* Best Video Channel
*This is the name to appear on the award if selected
CONTACT INFORMATION
Entrant/Organization Name
Arizona Department of Transportation
Contact Name
Kim Stafford
Title
Video Production Project Manager
Street Address
1655 W. Jackson St.
City
Phoenix
State
Arizona
ZIP/Postal Code
85007
Phone
(602) 828-6605
Email
kstafford@azdot.gov
ENTRY PROFILE
1) Situation, goals and objectives of public relations activity
Video production plays an important role in the Arizona Department of Transportation’s communication
strategy. Through the use of video and our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/ArizonaDOT),
ADOT is able to connect with the driving public, the media and other stakeholders around the state, offering a
visual understanding of construction projects, traffic-related incidents, public safety campaigns and agency
services.
ADOT videos are produced to achieve three goals:
1) Communicate – Effectively communicate agency messages to a wide and growing audience, including
information about construction projects, traffic-related road closures, public safety issues and more through
agency social media and websites.
2) Visually Explain – Offer a visual explanation of what the transportation agency does and how it does it.
3) Educate – Educate our audience by exposing them to new information, project updates and insights from
transportation leadership.
The ADOT YouTube channel has evolved a great deal since its creation in 2010. By utilizing the latest
YouTube.com tools, we have posted a video highlight trailer on the ADOT YouTube home page. We have also
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AASHTO TransComm2014 Skills Contest
Entry Form
organized videos into 16 playlists, allowing viewers easy access to specific information about construction
projects, public awareness campaigns or interesting footage worth “checking out.”
Our main playlist, Keeping Arizona Moving, contains the majority of our videos. ADOT Communications wants
people to understand their personal connection with the transportation system, so we’ve produced these videos
to inform them about what we do and why and how we do it.
Two other playlists of note are Pull Aside Stay Alive and US 89 Landslide. Pull Aside Stay Alive is a dust storm
awareness campaign for which ADOT has produced seven videos. Housing all of the videos in one playlist not
only creates a handy queue for our audience, it also allows all of the videos to be embedded on the campaign
website. The 2013 US 89 Landslide forced the closure of a highway heavily travelled by tourists on their way to
Lake Powell. ADOT video has currently produced 15 videos in an effort to keep our audience informed. With
nearly 140,000 views, this playlist continues to be the most watched on our channel.
We utilize all social media sites to promote ADOT videos, including the ADOT Blog, Facebook and Twitter.
Based on Facebook comments, we appear to be connecting with our audience:
2) Target audience
All drivers of commercial and private vehicles that travel the Arizona highway system, including rural and urban
areas, and who speak, read and understand English or Spanish.
3) Measurable results
By simplest measure – the number of channel views – the ADOT YouTube channel is succeeding. At this writing,
channel views are nearly 330,000, but that number, as well as the number of channel subscribers (455),
continues to grow with each video produced. In just the past year, our channel has accumulated 127,334 views
and 166 news subscribers, and analytics show that we are reaching beyond a statewide audience; we have both
national and international followers as well.
In the past 12 months, our video about the US 89 Landslide: Proposed Long-Term Solution has been viewed
36,941 times, with the majority coming from within the U.S., but we’ve had views from 110 other countries as
well: 1,961 views came from Germany, 1,351 from Canada, and thousands more from around the globe. Again,
US 89 is an important highway for Arizona tourism (both national and international) because the road leads to
Lake Powell. When the landslide occurred, ADOT Communications began producing videos to inform people
about the closure, and we believe our analytics from these videos alone emphasize the value of the ADOT
YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/ArizonaDOT) in the agency’s communication strategy.
Entry form may not exceed two pages
Visit TransComm2014.com for more detail