Elizabeth Lambert might be a nice person. She might genuinely feel bad about what she did in a soccer game that now lives online for all the world to see. Again and again. (ESPN has more of the video, and analysis, here).
But thanks to letting her emotions “get the best” of her, she’s now forever the “angry soccer player” from the University of New Mexico. With the evidence prominently on display on YouTube for who knows how long.
You want her coaching your daughter on a youth soccer team in 10 years or so?
Aside from the obvious idiocy of her actions – calling it “poor sportsmanship” doesn’t seem to cut it – Lambert’s 15 minutes of fame provides yet another study in how a university’s media relations/communications team has to put together an apology for an athlete who decided to play dirty.
While New Mexico’s damage police at least used the “uncalled for” phrase in the statement below – No, I don’t think Lambert wrote this – I don’t think it goes far enough: Read the rest of this entry »
If a Chicago-area pastor’s goal was to create a little buzz, it has certainly worked.
But will that buzz around his church’s cash weekly giveaway lead people to a meaningful, personal relationship with Jesus?
Only time will tell. Maybe the real goal is to raise awareness of the church itself and its impact on its community. In any case, not unlike many PR and marketing campaigns, you can’t always measure it and judge it while it’s still in play.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I have have zero patience… for crappy customer service.
Usually, I let the offender know via a nice old-fashioned letter. Feels good to get it all out, stick the stamp on, and see what happens. 100% of the time I get a call or letter seeking to remedy the situation.
I’ll be doing the letter-writing thing again for what I experienced today at a Verizon store in Apple Valley, Minnesota.
But… I also want to let it breathe a bit here on my blog. Because an online rant seems fitting for a company that tries so hard to get it right in its ads and in what it does online. And, is trying so hard to compete with Web favorite, Apple. Case in point, the whole iPhone envy “There’s a map for that” campaign.
Well, as Yoda said, “Do or do not, there is no try.”
By the way, I’m not holding my breath for a response on this one. Because I simply don’t think the particular store manager on duty today cares, or is informed enough about the phones Verizon sells.
Before I tackle some PR-related points about Brett Favre’s return to Lambeau Field this Sunday, let’s make something clear right off the bat:
I bleed Viking purple.
And I’m not thrilled Brett Favre is on the Vikes right now. I’m just not big on one-year fixes with 40-year-old quarterbacks. But that’s just me. While I’m pleased the Vikings are winning, and I realize they wouldn’t be 6-1 with any other quarterback on the roster at the helm, I’m also preparing for a playoff collapse like any good pessimistic Minnesotan.
If you’re one of those goofballs who went out and bought a Favre #4 Vikings jersey, you and I couldn’t have more opposite takes on his place on the team.
That said, I do think Brett Favre has a will to win, and an ability to win, unlike any other quarterback in NFL history. He’s fun to watch. Win or lose.
So it puzzles me why the Green Bay mayor felt the need to spend his and the city’s time on a photo-op campaign dubbed “4 Days to Victory.” Read the rest of this entry »
Now there’s a blog headline that can’t be ignored, right?
With just four words it proves the case of the marketing effort I got a chance to learn more about at the annual workshop for the National Association of Bar Executives (NABE) Communication Section – in Las Vegas, appropriately enough.
In a session titled “Marketing Las Vegas in the Pasta Economy,” Terry Jicinsky, the senior vice president of operations for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, talked about the “What happens here, stays here” campaign.
Before I go into some details, I’ll explain the pasta reference. Jicinsky defined it as an indicator of the choices Americans are making in terms of discretionary income. That is, the number of people/families staying home on a Saturday night eating a cheap pasta meal versus going out for dinner.
Makes sense.
Las Vegas clearly is a discretionary destination. And that distinction requires a different approach to marketing and public relations.
Jicinsky outlined his case to the professional communicators in the room by considering the challenges we have in common: Read the rest of this entry »
Clearly, the approval process at the U of M for carefully crafted media statements must be a nightmare. Or at least demands that several people massage the words and sentences before it sees the light of day. That’s certainly typical in the corporate world, and painful.
Because this statement released by the U of M after that insanely stupid Goldy Gopher incident at Penn State reeks of too many cooks in the media statement kitchen. I could be wrong, but have a look:
“The life of a mascot at a sporting event is fast-paced and enormously high-energy. This was plainly a mistake.”
Okay, get past the “fast-paced” and “life of a mascot” nonsense, I think we all agree there was nothing fast-paced about the endzone prayer. Focus on the “mistake” part.
This was no mistake.
I make a mistake when I don’t realize that I just threw in a red shirt with the whites in the laundry, and wash it on hot water. It’s not a mistake if I know I’m doing it.
The goof inside the Goldy head knew what he was doing. At the very least, he thought it would be entertaining. I’ll give him that. But it wasn’t.
And don’t get me started on the cheerleader who fist-bumped Goldy after his “mistake.”
Please.
The U’s statement also clearly struggled with trying to address the faith angle, but failed:
It certainly wasn’t his intent to offend anyone or trivialize their religion… …On behalf of Goldy and the University of Minnesota, I want to apologize to the Penn State player involved and anyone else who may have taken offense from this incident.”
What’s so hard about actually calling the prayer-mocking what it is, offensive?
Here’s my version of a statement:
“The actions of the students involved are inexcusable. They showed poor judgment. Mocking prayer is offensive to many of our University of Minnesota students, alumni, staff and administration and we apologize to them for this incident. We also apologize to Jerome Hayes and the entire Penn State community.”
It’s offensive to many of the people you’re depending on to fill your new stadium every Saturday. So call it that.
Did you catch the latest episode of The King and Us, a Burger King-sponsored cartoon that airs during the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show?
While the first few of these have at least been mildly amusing for the Fox football fan audience (including this from Week 1), the latest clip was just plain lame and an example of a brand letting a network have a little too much leeway:
Apparently, the script for this gem was written months ago, when it was trendy to make jokes about singer/actress Jessica Simpson’s weight gain after breaking up with Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.
Seriously, even Jay Leno has moved on.
The clip above featured cartoon versions of Cowboys coach Wade Phillips and players Jason Witten, Marion Barber and Romo discussing Simpson.
Fake Witten says, “Unlike Tony, at least Jessica comes up big when it counts.”
Fake Phillips says “Is Jessica around? We could use a defensive tackle.”
A fake Simpson even appears in the cartoon, standing next to a fictional Kyle Orton of the Broncos, saying “Sorry boys, I only lose weight for winners.”
Har, har har.
I doubt that Witten or Phillips signed off on those witty zingers. You’d think the NFL Player’s Union would require some involvement by the players in something like this, the way they do for video games like Madden, etc…
You’d also think BK would have some say in at least reviewing the spots before they air. But apparently not – or they don’t care – according to the AdvertisingAge Adages blog which got little input from Burger King’s Katie Boylan in its wrapup of this waste of network airtime:
…Boylan confirmed that the chain sponsored the skit, but Fox created it. She declined to comment further. A Fox Sports spokesman said that Burger King does not approve the sketches before they air.
Fox apparently doesn’t realize the clip missed the mark. As you saw above, they include it on their YouTube channel. You’d think BK would have told them by now to take it down if they sensed the criticism of the spot would hurt them.
Last I checked, you could gain a few pounds eating at BK. Man or woman. So I guess they’re the perfect sponsor for what passed for comedy on Sunday.
No such thing as bad publicity, right?
This is the same BK, as the DailyFinance points out, that had an ad this year for the “Super Seven Incher” (as seen on PopWatch on EW.com).
Nice.
For her part, I think the now-slimmed down Simpson is missing a chance to say something, anything, on her Twitter account. Apparently, her reputation and a chance to get the public on her side isn’t as important at the moment as her dog being snatched by a coyote. But I digress.
News of President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize – roundly mocked as being a bit premature (Saturday Night Live had a nice take) – got me thinking a bit as to how it might relate to some other award-worthy things in life.
Think about it.
-Gosh darn it, Aaron Rodgers is really trying hard for the Green Bay Packers this year, let’s give him the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.
-You know, a lot of teenage girls saw that Jonas Brothers movie it must have been good, let’s give the boys an Oscar.
-Company X wanted their crappy, unfunny and poorly-acted “viral” video to truly go viral and get a million-plus views on YouTube. So what if it only got 500, let’s give them a national online video award.
Look, good intentions get you nowhere. It’s a lesson we all learn in life. You have to do the work. You don’t get an “A” if you turn in a half-done test. You have to start, do, and finish the job to the degree that your peers say “Wow, nice work.”
Awards are about actions, not intentions.
I guess that’s what makes Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize all the more puzzling. Where’s the work?
Awards are not “a call to action” as Obama said in his remarks after winning the Nobel. They should reward the action.
From a PR standpoint, I suppose Obama and his team did what they could. (Though, he could have turned down the award). Michael Sebastian outlined some of the PR strategy options Obama seemed to follow on Ragan.com in “PR quandary cloaked in a global honor.” To me, the Nobel committee has the PR problem.
Awards are not for people or groups who “strive” to do something. They need to do something worthy of an award.
If you work in corporate communications, you’re probably at the point where your company is at least talking about using the various tools of social media, if they haven’t implemented something already, right?
Wrong?
Oh… no. Not good.
I pity you if you can identify with one of these five scenarios.
1. A manager in your corp comm department asks you… “What’s RSS?”
2. A mid-level executive says… “Why should we be on YouTube, there’s nothing but Diet Coke and Mentos clips on there.”
3. An any-level manager/executive says… “I really don’t think we need to worry what bloggers say about us.”
4. A marketer for one of your company’s products asks you… “Have you heard of Twitter?”
5. Your CEO says… “I’d like to start my own blog, can you write it for me?”
The recent 60 Minutes story titled “America’s New Air Force” caught my eye for a couple reasons. One, I’m always interested in learning about the cutting-edge technology employed by our military. And two, the story clearly would not have seen the airwaves or the Web without a strategy and a PR reason for the Air Force to allow CBS to tell it.
The full story is on the CBS website, linked above, and on YouTube:
The story details the latest innovation in what the Air Force calls “unmanned aerial vehicles,” or UAVs. 60 Minutes showed how the “pilots” of the new $11 million a piece “Reaper” and the “Predator” sit in a room on a Nevada air base, controlling its quiet – almost undetectable – flights above Iraq and Afghanistan by satellites, providing real-time protection for troops on the ground. Very video game-like. Maybe a job for my 12-year-old son, someday.
Amazing stuff.
But from my perspective in the corporate communications world, I also marvel at how the Air Force got the favorable story out there.
Sure, Lara Logan tried to hit on the chances that UAVs don’t always get things right. And that’s certainly a valid point when it comes to any technology and the human factors that contribute. But the story is, the Air Force has the capability to get it right, an incredibly high percentage of the time.
I like those odds.
And I like the protection and secrecy the UAVs provide.
Kudos to the Air Force and CBS for getting this out there. Extra credit to CBS for getting the Air Force to cooperate for this cool shot of Logan and her crew on the ground, from a Predator camera, for a demonstration during the story:
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Wheel on the Web
This blog covers developments and discussions in news, business, social media, digital media and PR. It is written by Kevin Hunt, a digital media/PR professional and former TV news executive producer in Farmington, Minnesota.
The opinions and content expressed here are in no way connected to my employer or clients. They're mine. Period.
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