When you head over to the Nashville Predators’ website and start clicking through articles, you will notice that there are two names that continuously appear in the title of each piece: Thomas Willis and Brooks Bratten. Willis, Digital Manager and Producer, and Bratten, Communications and Content Coordinator for the Predators, combine to tackle all written forms of online content seen on the organization’s website.
Willis and Bratten: Adding a Touch of Personality
Whether it be through their online content or their personal twitter accounts, Willis and Bratten are hard at work producing some of the best Predators info on the market. They manage to do this job while also keeping in touch with the humanly instincts that come with being a hockey fan. So often beat writing can become dry and somewhat boring to the reader when articles and content focus too much on facts and quotes and lack in creativity.
Creating engaging content appears to be one thing that the duo excels at. Whether that be going bananas online after a Predators goal, or adding a tasteful Matthew McConaughey reference to an article about Dan Hamhuis’ return to Music City.
Forsberg scores between the legs!!! 3-0 #Preds.
— Thomas Willis (@TomAWillis) May 8, 2018
W.
We’re tied. #Preds beat the Jets 2-1 in Game 4, tie the series 2-2. Game 5 is Saturday night in Nashville. Yeehaw! pic.twitter.com/laGLX7DXjq
— Brooks Bratten (@brooksbratten) May 4, 2018
On the Scene: Post Game Reactions and Inside Information
Acquiring post game quotes from coaches and players is something to be expected from media members covering the team. However, some go above and beyond, providing not only quotes but also player insight on contract situations and other important events for the franchise. I also personally love seeing a nice game day photo of an empty area waiting to be filled by thousands of hockey fanatics.
Something about an empty hockey rink creates a magnificent feeling for those who grew up around the game, and I enjoy when a member of the media showcases a vacant barn hours before puck drop. Following Willis and Bratten through the Predators’ website, and on twitter, will provide you with all of these things.
Passion For the Team
They say that you are at your best when you are passionate about the work that you do. Now I can’t say for certain, but everything I have seen from Willis and Bratten leads me to believe that they love what they do. And that fact alone should make them worth following.
I personally discovered the duo in 2017, when I was abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I, along with the rest of the hockey world, watched the Predators storm through that postseason in impressive fashion. And, despite how Preds fans may feel, I think this was the first time for many that Nashville could be taken as a serious threat to win the Stanley Cup.
That deep playoff run turned a lot of heads. And when people like myself began to develop a stronger interest in the Predators, we learned that the organization has some great people doing some real hard work to make the team shine. Willis and Bratten are a part of that promotional machine that should most certainly receive the readership of anyone interested in learning more about the Nashville Predators.
You can find the work of Thomas Willis and Brooks Bratten on the The Official Site of the Nashville Predators. You can follow Tom on twitter @TomAWillis and Brooks @brooksbratten.
