Feb

27

Sports PR should emphasize salesmanship, creativity

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An opinion piece by Andy Furman, the man behind Publicity Enterprises, in the Feb. 1-7 issue of Sports Business Journal remarks on how the role of the sports public relations practitioner has changed over time. Furman comments that the role has changed from salesperson or “pitchman” to serviceperson.

“Every team has a leading scorer, and every team clamors for its proper place in media. But superlatives alone may not get the media drooling.”

He also referenced former publicist Joey Goldstein, who was known for his creativity and salesmanship, when others put out “corporate brochures” to demonstrate the value of those traits.

Furman argues that social media does not equal social contact, which he says is fundamental to the job. What do you guys think of his comments? I agree that social media can be a tool for PR practitioners and can offer means to be creative technologically speaking (i.e. contests, unique promotions), but building relationships with the media and other individuals remains critical to public relations.

Nov

12

WAC hires PR firm to promote Boise State

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The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) has hired a PR firm to promote Boise State’s football program as it makes a bid for a BCS bowl game.

The role of Scott Peyron & Associates is to keep Boise State in the forefront of the minds of the media. It does not lobby voters or coaches. It does email a weekly list of talking points regarding Boise State’s accomplishments to members of the national media. It also sets up interviews for WAC commissioner Karl Benson and prepares statistical information for him to use to make a case for the Broncos. …

“We made sure to let the national press know that a win against the 16th ranked BYU, which is now unranked, is not as strong as Boise State’s signature win against No. 16 (AP) Oregon, which is now ranked eighth,” Cole said. “Those are the types of things that dictate what our positioning is in terms of reminding media and getting stats in front of [the media] just so they can be honest and not ignore Boise State.”

When you think of the value that playing in a bowl game (or March Madness) can bring to a university like Boise State, it’s easy to understand why they would want to promote their football program with the hopes of getting into a bowl game. What tactics do you think this PR firm should use to best promote the WAC, particularly the Boise State program?

Nov

10

H1N1 vaccine causing PR problems for Canadian teams

Filed Under Crisis Communications, Sports PR | Leave a Comment

Sports Business Daily has followed this interesting storyline of Canadian hockey teams taking the H1N1 vaccine and the public controversy that followed. Why is taking a vaccine a big deal? Millions of Canadians who have been waiting in line to get this vaccine have yet to get the vaccine, while these professional hockey players seemingly jumped ahead in the queue line according to those angered by this situation.

Since there is a lot to this story, let me break it down for you by bullet points:

  • The Calgary Flames were the first organization to be mentioned by the media, but the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors (NBA) were later added to the discussion.
  • The Flames’ players were given the opportunity last Friday to take the vaccine. The players were not required to do so by the team, but it sounds like the majority if not all of the team took the shots. The same players did not realize that they were “jumping” in line or even how many people were waiting for a vaccine.
  • It appears that the Toronto Maple Leafs’ players were actually the first to receive the vaccine last Tuesday after a home game, but word did not get out until two days after the news about the Flames.
  • The provincial government is particularly upset, which the Globe & Mail suggests is due to the fact that they were already taking a lot of heat for how they have handled this vaccine allotment and seeing pro athletes get the vaccine over pregnant women and children just added to the flames.
  • High at-risk individuals are to be given the vaccine first and with the low supply should be the only ones to receive the vaccine in Canada right now. These individuals would include “children between the age of six months and five years, pregnant women, elderly people and health-care workers.”
  • So if athletes don’t fall under that umbrella, how did they get the vaccines for the team? Toronto says they did not go through improper means to do so and the Flames seconded that statement.
  • The Calgary Herald later reported that a mid-level manager in the province health superboard was fired after it was discovered he was why the Flames jumped up in the queue line: “Cooney said the manager was the most senior staff member involved, adding the person was senior enough that the Flames would have no reason to believe the decision to go ahead with the shots was inappropriate.” A second worker was also fired in the connection to this H1N1-Gate as some are calling it.
  • A column in The Toronto Star says that it’s no surprise professional athletes got preferential treatment over the Average Joe, which gets at the heart of this controversy and why this is such a PR problem for the teams.
  • The Ottawa Senators made it clear by Nov. 5 — the day that news about the Maple Leafs broke — that they had not received the vaccine yet and they would be waiting in the queue with everyone else and that the shot would not be a requirement for its players.

So how did these different sports teams respond to this unique controversy?

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Oct

7

Sports PR Roundup

Filed Under Sports PR | 1 Comment

I’ve gotten behind on quite a bit of my biweekly readings so I wanted to quickly link to some of the stories I should have blogged about but didn’t have the time:

  • Indiana University now has a National Sports Journalism Center. Their website has a collection of recent articles regarding sports journalism, which makes for a great read.
  • Speaking of journalism, the Boston Globe wrote a piece about journalism majors and the prospect of finding a job in what they are trained to do. The paper also has a fascinating read about a training camp for future sport broadcasters.
  • Mike Wise of the Washington Post has an interesting read about the Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis.
  • Darren Rovell has the top ten selling sports books of 2009 up on Sports Biz.
  • PR Week (UK) did a feature on the business of sport, particularly sports PR. The article dates back to July 22 so I’m a bit belated, but still wanted to share.
  • Mike Schaffer spearheaded a National Sports PR Chat with the first one taking place on October 1. He is thinking of holding the next chat on October 15 so if you are on Twitter, here is where you want to go for more information. You can view a transcript of the first chat here.
  • Sports PR 101 discusses how the NBA addressed the potential PR problems from an NBA referee lockout.

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

18

Vick signs with Eagles & the PR aftermath

Filed Under Community Relations, Crisis Communications, Sports PR | 1 Comment

The Philadelphia Eagles announced the signing of Michael Vick to a two-year deal last Thursday night, sending shock waves around the sports world. While it would take me way too long to try to roundup all the Vick coverage, I do want to address some PR-related articles and comment on the signing. Please feel free to chip in your two cents in the comment section, I’d love to hear what you are thinking on this situation.

PR for Vick

SPRB had previously linked to a blog post at Shutdown Corner that talked about what Vick needed to do upon leaving prison to get his career back in order. Gable PR also offered up some suggestions for Vick to help rehab his image.

The process began when Tony Dungy spoke with Vick while he was still in prison. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell learned of that conversation and asked Dungy to formally take Vick under his wing and help guide him as he returned to the NFL and life after prison. He has also been speaking with Boys & Girls Clubs about dog fighting and the importance of loving your pets. Vick agreed to do an interview with James Brown for 60 Minutes, which many deemed a success for both the athlete and the program.

The next step was to sign with an NFL team, which he did late last week. A press conference was held to address the signing with Vick, Dungy, and head coach Andy Reid speaking with reporters. The Phanatic Magazine has a transcript up of the remarks that were said.

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Aug

17

Interview with Nate Ewell - Director of Media Relations for the Washington Capitals

Filed Under Career, Interviews, Sports PR | 1 Comment

SPRB is pleased to post this interview with Nate Ewell, who is the Director of Media Relations for the Washington Capitals as well as founder/editor for Inside College Hockey. Not only does he get to work for an exciting hockey team and with a dynamic personality in star forward Alex Ovechkin, but Ewell and the rest of the Caps’ PR department has won the Dick Dillman Award three years in a row. The award is given to the  PR staff judged to be the best in each conference as voted by the Professional Writers Hockey Association. I want to thank Ewell for taking the time to answer my many questions for SPRB. Enjoy!

1) How did you get your current position with the Capitals and how long have you held that position? What previous work experiences helped prepare you for your position?

This will be my seventh season with the Capitals, my fifth in a row. I had worked in sports information and for the student paper at Princeton and after graduating took an internship with the sports information department at Michigan State. That evolved into a full-time position and I was there for three years, working mostly with the hockey team but also other sports (football, women’s golf, etc.). After Michigan State I had a brief stint with US Lacrosse before I learned about a position with the Capitals in 2000. I spent two years as a manager in the media relations department before leaving in 2002 to work for NBC at the Salt Lake Olympics. After that I worked outside of sports, editing home and design books and magazines, while launching a web site, InsideCollegeHockey.com.

After the lockout my boss Kurt Kehl invited me back to the Capitals and I was happy to take him up on it.

I think everything I’ve done has helped me prepare for this job – even editing home plan magazines when I wasn’t working in sports – but I probably learned the most during my stints in sports info at Princeton and Michigan State.

2) Your department has created its own Twitter account, blog, and Caps Today feature on the website to keep media members (and fans) abreast of any new Caps developments. When did you decide that these would be beneficial platforms to use and what has the reception been like from the media?

We launched each of those projects independently, but in general they fit the idea of the organization providing more original content, and our department reaching fans directly rather than relying on the media to carry our message.

Caps Today started two years ago as an email to our media with two main goals: give them the next three days’ practice schedule to help with planning and give them a good, timely storyline to try to convince them to come out (or to help bring them up to speed in case they did come out). It’s been overwhelmingly positive, with a big benefit we didn’t foresee – it starts a lot of conversations with media members who will reply to the email.

We started our @capsmedia Twitter account last year simply because we had members of the media ask to get practice schedule updates via text. We did some research and that seemed like the easiest way. As Twitter has exploded, however, we’ve been able to use it in other ways as well (releases, notes during games, even audio interviews using TweetMic). Some media have been slow to convert but I think those who are on Twitter appreciate it. I also have a Twitter account (@nateeewell) as does our assistant director of media relations, Paul Rovnak (@paulrovnak).

The blog gives us a chance to write a bit and share some behind-the-scenes stories, and to alert our fans of upcoming interviews or good stories. I’m not sure we’ve found the best uses for it yet – or if it has much of a readership – but it’s something we enjoy doing and hopefully some people find it useful or entertaining.

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Aug

14

Bloggers critique Big Ten football media days

Filed Under Sports PR | 1 Comment

I did not attend the Big Ten media days held late in July in Chicago, but some University of Michigan sports bloggers did and critiqued the event. Need to put on a media day event for your team? Take into consideration what these guys have to say.

Primary Complaint: Not enough time

  • Tim of MGoBlog believed that the two half-days were not enough time for the media in attendance. He argues that if you have all of these reporters traveling to Chicago for the weekend, why limit it to just eight hours over two days?
  • According to the bloggers, the first day consisted of 15-minute press conferences with each head coach. It’s not too surprising that some media members felt the press conferences could have lasted longer since there were so many reporters in attendance. MGoBlog writes that the SEC gave coaches 45 minutes to talk to the media. The SEC media day went three days. I do want to note that while the media day may have seemed short, Rich Rod was busy from 10 a.m. through 7 p.m. EDT on the first day.
  • Tim also mentions that on the second day when the media could talk to the three players representing their team, he only made it to just over half of his goal of asking each player a couple of questions in two hours. He didn’t even attempt trying to talk to the coach one-on-one because of the lengthy line to do so.

Positive Comments

  • U-M sports blog Maize N Brew commented on coach Rich Rodriguez selection of the three players representing his team. Dave thought he picked some “outstanding young men” to represent the Maize and Blue. If you are hosting a media day that will not have every athlete on the team in attendance, make sure you select the right players to go. Now you don’t want to pick obscure names that the media may not find interesting, but you want to ensure that the right people are representing your program.
  • Dave also remarked on how much he appreciated Rich Rod’s straightforward answers. While he would not discuss certain issues like why a player left the team, he was open and honest with the vast majority of questions. Reporters don’t want to just be fed a line. While every coach has their moments where they have to keep some tidbits to themselves, it’s important to have a coach that is professional but understands the importance of the media.

Every event is going to have its upsides and downsides, you just hope the upsides outweigh those downsides. What do you think makes for a successful media day? For those of you who read or watched the press conferences from this event, did you get enough information?

Aug

14

What is a media day?

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Photo By Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images

I uploaded another post on SPRB today about the Big Ten’s football media days last month and I wanted to address what a media day is exactly and provide an example from personal experience. (If you look really really hard, you can spot me in the back row on the left side of the press conference shown above.)

So what is a media day? Basically, it’s when you set aside X amount of time to simply assist the media. A media day can be before the start of training camp, the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup Finals, the draft or All-Star Game, or before the first practice. You want to hold a media day when there is a lot of interest and media inquiries (e.g. newspapers and magazines want to put out season previews so a media day gives them a chance to not just talk to the coach but players).

You’ll also find that TV and radio want to record spots or commercials for their programs (e.g. the Big Ten Network getting the coaches for a commercial during the Big Ten media day), which is easiest to do when everyone is right there. Whenever you see FOX go through the offensive players (where they say their name, college, etc.) or when CBC asked each of the Red Wings who their role model was growing up during the Stanley Cup Finals, that was likely done at a media day.

Photo By Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images

Locker rooms or your average media lounge aren’t the most ideal locations to host masses of people trying to interview various subjects. A media day can happen outdoors or in a large conference hall, but it offers enough room to accommodate all of the credentialed media members.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to work the NHL’s media day prior to the start of the Stanley Cup Finals in each of the last two seasons. The event lasts one afternoon and roughly goes as follows:

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Aug

9

Dave Schulthess inducted into Utah Valley PR Hall of Fame

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Unless you’re a BYU fan, you may be saying who cares? Dave Schulthess is a BYU sports information director and had been for an impressive 37 years before retiring in the late 1980s. Schulthess was inducted into the Utah Valley Public Relations Hall of Fame last month. Deseret News reporter Brad Rock uses the announcement as a means to write about Schulthess’ career and how the BYU media relations department has adapted from a one-man show in 1951 to today’s staff that must deal with seemingly new technologies every year.

Schulthess started at BYU in 1951 as a one-man sports P.R. staff and, over the next four decades, attended more than 1,500 Cougar football and basketball games. That doesn’t even touch on the swimming, soccer, baseball, track, tennis, wrestling and other Cougar events he staffed.

All in the name of getting out their name. …

It was apparent early on that the job was too big for one person. So gradually the sports information staff at BYU grew from one to what it is now — six full-timers and 10 part-time.

It’s an interesting look at how sports PR has changed since the ’50s, using Schulthess’ career as a foil for comparison.

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