NBCUniversal Holds GIF#TNFHandoff Relay As Part of Comprehensive Social Media Campaign Beginning Today

The only network with two primetime NFL packages, NBC debuts Thursday Night Football tomorrow, Thursday, November 17, when Cam Newton and the NFC Champion Carolina Panthers host Drew Brees and the division rival New Orleans Saints. Coverage starts at 7:30 p.m. ET with Football Night in Carolina on NBC.

NBC Sports Group is surrounding the kickoff of Thursday Night Football with a comprehensive social media and marketing plan, including around-the-clock content across all of NBC Sports' social media accounts.

Following the success of the #NBCUTorchRelay leading into the Rio Olympics, NBC Sports is once again enlisting the networks of NBCUniversal to participate in a GIF relay using the hashtag #TNFHandoff. Beginning today on Twitter with @NBCSports (available here), a football emoji will be incorporated into GIFs posted on social media accounts from networks and shows including NBC Sports, NBC Entertainment and local NBC stations including Charlotte and New Orleans. A new post from a different network will be shared throughout today and tomorrow, culminating with the emoji football being "passed" to @SNFonNBC at 7 p.m. ET.

To help celebrate TNF on NBC and NFL Network, a different celebrity Twitter ambassador will live-tweet the game each week. World-renowned chef and New Orleans Saints super fan Emeril Lagasse will be live-tweeting tomorrow during NBC's first TNF game from his handle, @Emeril. Lagasse is the chef/proprietor of 13 restaurants, and as a national TV personality, has hosted more than 2,000 shows on the Food Network.

NBC Sports has created custom TNF Snapchat filters that will be available tomorrow at NBCUniversal and NFL business locations throughout the country, including 30 Rockefeller Plaza and THE TODAY SHOW studios in New York City, the Universal Lot in Universal City, Calif., CNBC headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Telemundo headquarters in Miami, Fla., and NBC Sports Group's International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn. NBCUniversal talent and NFL fans will be able to use the custom filters on their Snaps as excitement builds leading up to the game.

In addition, fans that see the SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL bus on the road and at the stadium for TNF games will have the ability to unlock special filters by scanning a Snapcode located on the bus. Each location that the SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL bus travels to during the week of the game will unlock a different filter, which are exclusive to fans who swipe the bus' Snapcode.

Facebook.com/SNFonNBC - At more than 3 million LIKES, the SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Facebook page provides news, custom graphics, animations and videos exclusively behind-the-scenes at TNF and SNF every week. The page will feature regular Facebook Live Q&As with Football Night and Thursday Night Football talent. The Facebook page also aggregates all TNF-related content found within the NBC Sports digital network, including NBCSports.com, ProFootballTalk.com, and Rotoworld.com.

Using tweets, photos, Vines and videos, @SNFonNBC provides unique content with TNF talent, production crew and NFL players. Fans on Twitter can use #TNF to follow all of the conversation around Thursday's match ups on NBC and NFLN.

The SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Instagram page will give TNF fans a look at behind-the-scenes content from on the road, on the SNF Bus and on the Football Night set. Fans get a look inside the production trucks, the locker rooms, on the field and around each TNF city. Fans will get an exclusive look through Instagram of what life is like on the sideline, as our social media producer captures posts in real time the best photos each Thursday night.

NBC Sports' Snapchat account will be creating content on the platform at each Thursday night game, taking fans to player interviews and around cities where Thursday Night Football comes to town, in the production trucks and around the stadiums, utilizing lenses and filters to customize content specifically for the Snapchat audience.

Image courtesy of NBC.