Of Football and Forgiveness

Brian Hall
August 24th, 2009

I love this time of year. The first hints of fall begin to show, and I start to really look forward to the upcoming football season. This year I am looking more forward to it than usual, since my beloved Cubs are in a total freefall and show no signs they will make the playoffs. So, go Bears!

Even before the first game of the regular season, the NFL is proving to be quite a spectacle from a PR perspective.
It began with the Philadelphia Eagles signing of quarterback Michael Vick, fresh off a prison stint for his involvement in an illegal dog fighting operation. I happen to believe the guy deserves a second chance professionally. But no matter how you feel about that issue, you can definitely appreciate the PR challenges having him on your team creates. Vick began his image re-building campaign with what seemed like an overly rehearsed interview on 60 Minutes (they even showed the team that media trained him for the interview!). He is also working with the Humane Society to educate the public about the issue of dog fighting. But if you want a glimpse of the PR challenge he faces, just check out the comments on the 60 Minutes site.

The Eagles have responded by introducing him at a very controlled press conference; since then, the Philadelphia Daily News reports, they have kept him away from the media. I have to agree with writer John Smallwood, who says that’s not a very sustainable scenario. Eventually, he is going to have to do what every athlete does — face the media on an ongoing basis. Eagles fans will likely judge him based on his performance on the field. The general public will judge him according to how well he plays in front of the cameras.
Then there’s Brett Favre, who decided to suit up again (surprise, surprise), this time for the Vikings. This guy waffles so much he has absolutely no credibility left. Yes, at the end of this season he will tell us once again he is retired, and at the beginning of the 2010 season he’ll probably be putting on the pads for yet another team.

As a Bears fan, I’m not supposed to say this… but I actually used to like Brett Favre. But saying one thing and doing another over and over again has definitely tarnished his image. Has he also now alienated his most loyal fans by playing for an arch-rival of his former team the Green Bay Packers?

Like professional football, business can be an unforgiving sport. Some successful executives are like these two stadium warriors. Some have colossal egos, say one thing yet do another, engage in illegal activity, and can generally make life difficult for those of us charged with protecting and enhancing reputations of organizations, brands or individuals.

As a football fan it will be interesting to see how these two guys perform on the field. As a PR pro, it will be equally interesting to see how their performances in the arena of public perception may hasten or derail their journeys toward reputation redemption.
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Keeping it Real on the Back Porch

Brian Hall
August 18th, 2009

I took a road trip last weekend to visit a couple of life-long friends. Both are very successful professionals — one is a mechanical engineer at a major manufacturing company, the other is a financial planner who owns his own practice.

 

As always, we had a blast together; in fact, we really let loose. We sat on the back porch for hours eating great food, drinking a few too many beers, telling stories and laughing about old times. Reminiscing really got to the financial planner, as he channeled his inner Bon Jovi, “rocking out” via Guitar Hero on Wii. It was quite sight.

 

On the four-hour drive home, I thought about my buddies as I finished reading “World Wide Rave” by David Meerman Scott (yes, my wife was driving). He says that building a big loyal audience through social media requires an approach that both engages and entertains audiences in a manner that compels them to share our story with others. If you succeed, they will spread your message to others through blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.

 

OK, that concept seems easy enough. We’ve all seen great marketing campaigns that have become “viral” or as Meerman Scott calls it a “World Wide Rave.” But very few campaigns — especially in the B2B world — actually achieve that level of success.

 

Why is that? Have we in the B2B community grown to accept the “we’re boring” label and condemned ourselves to uninspiring geek speak?

 

We need to think of those two professionals I so enjoyed hanging out with all weekend. To remember that an engineer we may be targeting with a PR campaign isn’t just a professional who needs technical specs and details. He may also be the guy who enjoys barbecuing on his ultra-fancy grill and talking football. The financial professional isn’t just a numbers guy. He may also be the weekend rock star who enjoys jamming to power ballads on the Wii. [Insert your own audience reference here!]

 

Yes, our B2B audiences all have a job to do. At the same, they also want and expect to be entertained and have fun.  

 

I mean, how many of us actually look forward to sitting through PowerPoint presentations crammed with data presented in miniscule font sizes and 27 bullet points per slide?

 

As communicators, we embrace our responsibilities to inform and educate. But the next time we prepare a keynote address or develop an internal communications strategy, let’s remind ourselves about connecting with those guys chilling out on the back porch.

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Emerging from the Downturn with a Little Advice from Robin Williams

Brian Hall
August 10th, 2009

Robin Williams gave his students in the popular movie The Dead Poets Society? A couple things I’ve been reading the past several days have me thinking that same advice may be very apropos for B2B PR and marketing communications professionals right now.

Last week, the Institute of Supply Management reported a solid increase in its manufacturing index for July. And while economic indicators are still somewhat mixed, it seems everyone agrees that we may be seeing some glimmers of light at the end of our long, dark economic tunnel.

No doubt this is welcome news for PR and marketing communications pros. Many — especially in the Advanced Manufacturing & Energy sector — have been diligently working to do more with less for longer than they care to remember. I’ll bet some would really like to take the positive economic indicators as a reason to relax a little, cruise through the next few months and dream of better budgets and resources for 2010. And why not — they’ve earned it!

I’ll tell you why: because their competitors might just follow the advice I read recently on the PRWeek Insider blog from Gibbs & Soell president Luke Lambert. He observed that some companies are wisely starting to more aggressively leverage their strongest brand assets now to catapult market position ahead of the full economic turnaround.

Lambert offered this advice for our profession, encouraging us to be in the moment and act swiftly: ”Be bold and seize a larger share of voice in a less cluttered market, and explore new, non-traditional, focused, and cost-effective ways of communicating with potential customers.”

Or as Robin Williams said in the movie: Carpe Diem! Seize the Day!

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