Aug

31

Taking a Quick Break

SPRB will be on a very brief hiatus this week as I move back to Ann Arbor and may be without internet for a couple of days. I hope to kick off my “Sports PR 101″ series next week so you have that to look forward to upon my return on Monday.

If you come across any interesting PR or sports business news, feel free to leave it in the comment section to pass it along to other SPRB readers. Thanks to all of my readers for making this summer such a successful one! SPRB’s unique visitor numbers has increased 200% since May and I can’t thank you guys enough!

Update (September 7): I apologize for the lack of posting. I moved to Ann Arbor last Wednesday and was without Internet until Saturday. Unpacking and decorating a new house with five other people took longer than expected. I don’t have any new content just yet, but I will hopefully be able to start working on it tomorrow (Tuesday). Thanks for your patience!

Aug

31

NJ Devils use social media to promote Martin Brodeur Day

Filed Under Social Media, Sports PR | 1 Comment

PR Week did a brief piece that looked at how the New Jersey Devils used social media and other marketing strategies to promote Martin Brodeur Day (June 18th), which the state legislation had named in honor of the netminder setting the all-time record for wins by a goalie back in March.

As part of the celebration, the New Jersey state legislature declared June 18 Martin Brodeur Day, inviting the goalie to the State House in Trenton to accept the honor. Rather than sending Brodeur alone, the Devils’ in-house PR team, Rock Entertainment Management (which is also the PR team for the Prudential Center, the Devils’ sports arena), gathered New Jersey Devils alums, members of the Devils’ broadcasting team, and 300 fans onto a New Jersey Transit train ride to Trenton to share the experience.

The organization wanted to emphasize its social media so they live-tweeted the ceremony and also updated their official website and Facebook account with video and photos throughout the day. The Devils deemed the event a success with local broadcast stations and newspapers covering it as well as bloggers like In Lou We Trust. Not only was it a fun idea, but the fans and alumni gathered on a train for Marty was a great visual and unique concept to pitch to broadcast media or print media for photos.

Aug

29

Job Opening: Philadelphia 76ers Public Relations Internship

Filed Under Job Openings | 1 Comment

Want to intern in the Philadelphia 76ers PR department? Now is your chance as the staff is looking for five game-night interns for the upcoming season. For those interested, please check out this website to apply. Good luck!

Reports To: 76ers PR Staff

Number of Openings: Up to 5 students

Hours Required: Approximately six hours per game night worked, arriving three hours before game-time and ending approximately one hour after game ends. Schedules can be adjusted to meet needs of student’s internship program. Student should expect a maximum of approximately 120 hours. In spring semester, preference given to applicants with availability through the end of the NBA Finals, as late as the end of June.

28

Colleges continue to drop print media guides

Filed Under Social Media, Sports Business News | Leave a Comment

The Washington Times took a look at how college athletic programs continue to turn from the traditional media guide in favor of a more multimedia-friendly guide on their website.

Off in a side hallway at the ACC’s Football Kickoff last month sat one of the long-standing fixtures at preseason media events. Stacks of freshly printed media guides - 208 pages of high-stock paper each - were available, a tangible resource for all but one team in the conference.

That school was Maryland, with a stack of notes replacing a shiny book. The school discontinued printing media guides this year, a decision that saves the department $150,000, said Brian Ullmann, Maryland’s senior associate athletic director for external operations.

“We had been wanting to put some more resources into our multimedia stuff online for a while and had a tough time harnessing those resources in terms of finances and personnel,” Ullmann said. “Clearly, the way things are going, in a couple years nobody is going to do a media guide. If they do, they’ll be minor.”

It’s no surprise that Maryland has joined universities like Michigan, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. Once a big college athletic department made the announcement that they were halting their production of print media guides, I expected others (but not all) to quickly follow suit.

There is a challenge trying to appease older fans and media members while trying to help the bottom line. It’s certainly nice to allow reporters and fans to view their guide online with player statistics updated after each game. However, it’s just not the same and doesn’t allow reporters to refer to a hard copy right in front of them without having to print out a page. It will certainly be interesting to see what media guides look like (if they even exist in print) in five years.

In Other College Athletic News:

The Buffalo News discusses how athletic departments can use Twitter to manage their message.
According to Editor & Publisher, the AP and Gannett have refused to sign SEC’s new credential policy. Dr. BS blogs about how it puts these two sides on a collision course.

Aug

27

Job Opening: Los Angeles Clippers Public Relations Internship

Filed Under Job Openings | 1 Comment

The LA Clippers are looking for some new PR interns to work game nights and even during the day in the office. If you are a local candidate and meet their qualifications, visit this website to apply. Good luck!

Applicants must be detail oriented, have customer service experience, strong communication and organizational skills and have an outgoing personality. The ability to handle multiple tasks efficiently and in a timely manner, work well in a team environment, perform under tight deadlines and exhibit sound judgment on a consistent basis is required.

Individuals selected must also have a flexible schedule that includes availability starting at 3:00pm Monday through Friday and all day on weekends. (ONLY APPLICANTS THAT MEET THE SCHEDULE REQUIREMENTS AND QUALIFICATIONS NEED APPLY) Internships will begin in the last week of September 2009 and run through May or June 2010, averaging two to three games per week. Game night interns will be required to attend all home games and special events.

26

Interview with Ramsey Poston - NASCAR Managing Director of Corporate Communications

Filed Under Blogging, Interviews, Social Media | Leave a Comment

For the first time on SPRB, we have an interview with someone who does PR in the auto racing industry. Ramsey Potson is today’s interviewee and as NASCAR’s corporate communications managing director, he has plenty of knowledge and experience regarding the PR industry.

1) How did you get your current position as NASCAR’s Managing Director of Corporate Communications? What are your day-to-day responsibilities?

In 2001 was working at the public affairs firm of Powell Tate in Washington, DC when we were hired to assist NASCAR with the crisis surrounding the death of Dale Earnhardt. In 2003 I was hired fulltime as the Managing Director of Corporate Communications. My day-to-day role is to manage all aspect of the company’s communications including the on-track competition communications for all 11 NASCAR series; business communications; lifestyle communication and the issue management. The PR department consists of 31 employees that are divided up into five teams: Competition/Print; Broadcast; PR Services (which handles new media); Business; and, strategic writing. Each team is managed by a senior manager or director.

2) You personally have a Twitter account as does NASCAR. What is the upside of using Twitter both on a personal level and a league level? On the other hand, what are some concerns that NASCAR may have about Twitter and how are those issues being addressed?

Social media is the new frontier for the 21st Century - we’re all learning everyday about the impact of online media including Twitter, Facebook and other outlets. The immediate upside is that the traditional media outlets are no longer my only hope of getting out my message. I can now communicate directly with my audience without being filtered. This is an especially great tool for athletes - look at what Shaq and Lance Armstrong are doing; with the push of a single button they can instantaneously reach a million fans each. That’s power. That’s something that the news industry has to compete against.

The concern - like all things - is responsibility. Whether someone is talking to a reporter or tweeting, what is said has to be truthful and factual - we’ll all see examples of rumors and mis-information extended through the social media sites, it’s happening now. However, the other key word in this new media world will be credibility -everyone wants it but those sources that get the facts wrong will lose credibility and won’t have the kind of influence as those who get the stories right.

25

Job Opening: Manager Communications & Pari-Mutuels Marketing - Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots

Filed Under Career, Job Openings | Leave a Comment

The Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans is looking for a manager for their communications and marketing. Interested and think you have what it takes? Please visit this website to apply. Good luck!

Responsible for developing and administering all pari-mutuel marketing programming, including loyalty program execution, VIP customer communications and promotions for the Thoroughbred/Quarter Horse Live Meets and Simulcasting. Lead Public and Media Relations efforts, as well as internal communications, for all Fair Grounds business units, including Slots and OTB/Video Poker businesses. Also, must possess 10 years experience in Communications or Marketing. Bachelor’s degree in Communications or Marketing required, Master’s preferred. Pari-Mutuel experience preferred. Must be able to obtain a Louisiana Non-Key Gaming Permit and a Louisiana Racing License.

25

Washington Nationals host Bloggers Day

Filed Under Blogging, Sports Media | 3 Comments

The Washington Nationals hosted their second Bloggers Day this season on Tuesday according to Sports Business Daily. The Nationals invited 16 bloggers to the event.

As The Washington Times notes, participants were able to interview the team’s interim manager Jim Riggleman, GM Mike Rizzo, team president Stan Kasten, and some of the players and other team personnel. Similar to the New York Islanders’ blog box, the bloggers watched the game from a bloggers suite. As mentioned in the article, all of the bloggers came with notebooks while some toted laptops and recording devices.

“They’re clearly a presence on the Web, which is clearly a presence in our lives,” said Kasten, who pays close attention to things written and said about his team. “They are out there doing things. I think we’re all better served when they have as much good information as they can have.”…

“I don’t know if we’ve gone too far or we haven’t gone far enough,” Kasten said. “All of us in sports are learning, feeling our way through these developments. A year ago we didn’t do things like this. A year from now we’ll probably have a better fix on what’s appropriate or what’s not appropriate. We’re trying to figure it out.”

For an idea of what the bloggers did with the access, you can visit Nationals News Network, Federal Baseball, NationalFanBoyLoosers, The Nationals Review, and Fire Jim Bowden.

Aug

24

Job Opening: National Premier Soccer League Communications/PR Internship

Filed Under Career, Job Openings | 1 Comment

The National Premier Soccer League is looking for a communications/PR intern and that could be you! Interested and meet the qualifications? You can e-mail Ryan Knapp your resume or to get more information at rjknapp19@gmail.com. Thanks to Ryan for passing this opening along.

The National Premier Soccer League is currently looking for Communications/PR Interns to assist the Director of Public Relations as we promote the fastest growing soccer league in the United States. We are looking for creative individuals who are ready to get their hands dirty in the real world, work with real people/teams and develop real stories/angles for soccer clubs throughout the United States.

The main goal of the internship is to assist the Director of Public Relations in developing and implimenting a league wide public relations plan using a variety of sources (print, TV, Radio, internet), with a large focus on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Digg, MySpace, blogging). Some canidates may work with a specific club to develop their public relations plan specifically and then assist that club in implementation, while others may be work with the league as a whole, assisting in efforts centrally from the league.

24

SEC revises its new media policy

Filed Under Sports Media | 1 Comment

Earlier this month, there was an uproar among media outlets and bloggers about the SEC’s new media policy (and ticketholder policy). Since then, the conference has revised its policy.

A recent article in The New York Times helps to explain who this policy is truly trying to target:

The rules are aimed not at the casual fan who might post a few pictures of Saturday’s football game on a personal Web site, but rather those who copy television broadcasts, create their own highlight reels and post them on sites charging for access or advertising.

Bill Smith of Dr. BS can’t blame the SEC for wanting to protect its rightholders:

Enter digital. The ability to harvest video at a high quality and repost forces the rights holder to begin to consider pursuit. When people sell ads on such pages, it’s no longer “fan” oriented, it’s a business. And when that video is placed on line, it becomes discoverable.

Increasingly, there is real money in The Long Tail of old highlights backed by Google ads. Is anyone really surprised that the rights holders are now asking for their part of those proceeds?

Darren Rovell of SportsBiz understands that they are trying to protect their rightholders from bloggers and website owners making money off of their websites, but disagrees with that approach.

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Aug

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