When Sports PR Goes Too Far

First off let me start by saying sports media relations or public relations is not at all like everyday PR. You can get away with more in the arena of sports PR. But when a sports PR stunt manipulates one of the coolest exhibition sporting events of all time, I have to say enough is enough.

I don’t know if anyone watched the 2009 NBA All-Star Saturday last night or more specifically the Sprite Slam Dunk contest, but the fix was in. Normally the contest features eight players and there are three rounds. During last night’s competition, there were only four players: Rudy Fernandez, Dwight Howard, Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith. It was evident that during the first round, the judges already knew to give Robinson (winner three years ago), and Howard (last years winner), high scores so that the final would pair both former champs up against each other. Fernandez’s dunk in the first round was far better than Robinsons, and Fernandez was robbed of a chance to go to the finals. One blog said this about last night’s contest, “In what was one of the worst judged contests I have ever seen, Rudy received the lowest scores for both of his dunks, when he should have been among the leaders.”

During last years dunk contest, Howard wore a Superman’s cape while performing his final dunk. He did it again this year, and this is where I think PR robbed fans of a true champion. Right before the final round, Robinson went into the locker room and moments later came out in an all green uniform. The announcers called it “Superman’s Kryptonite”, so obviously it was a staged publicity stunt. Why would Robinson have a green uniform made for the finals against Howard when he didn’t know he was going to be in the finals? The answer is everyone involved in the dunk contest knew that they would be there. So if the NBA and Sprite just wanted those two in the contest, then why did they let the other two no-names to compete at all?

If it were my decision, I would have just let Robinson and Howard compete so the NBA wouldn’t have to rig the contest. I know it’s about money and it always will be, but the NBA made a bad decision last night. Don’t get me wrong, Robinson and Howard were really entertaining and they had some amazing dunks, but no one likes the wool pulled over their eyes.

So here is my proposal for the 2010 NBA Slam Dunk Contest; make it LeBron James vs. Kobe Bryant and the whole world will watch. People will compare it to Michael Jordan vs. Dominique Wilkins in the 1987-88slam dunk contests.

This way everyone is a winner. The NBA, sponsors and the network will benefit from the amount of viewers and the fans will win because the two best basketball players on the planet would be duking it out in the dunk contest. It’s a win-win situation, and isn’t that the essence of public relations?

Becoming Familiar With Various Media Outlets

I found a blog written by a PR student at the University of Oregon and I thought it brought up a valuable point, one that I am often guilty of.  That article is called Naming Your Media and it points out the fact, that as PR professionals it is our job to thoroughly familiarize ourselves with various media outlets.  The article pokes fun at Sarah Palin and her interview with Katie Couric, when she was not able to name the media that she follows.  I think that we can learn from Palin and not make the mistake of embarrassing ourselves in our professional jobs.  The article also makes an important point, that in order to make our pitches effective, we must know media inside and out.  This means doing the research and most importantly building relationships!

Clearly, media relations is a very important part of our professional skills.  If we are not consumers of media, then how do we expect our target stakeholders to be.  I know that it is hard with our busy schedules, but it is very important that we are familiar with newspapers, magazines and television and radio shows both on the national and local level.

Another bell tolls for the press release

Sheila Scarborough, at Every Dot Connects, says she can’t imagine ever sending out another traditional press release. Announcements that the press release is dead are hardly new or blogworthy. However, she does explain how she plans to go about publicizing some of her own upcoming events, so students should find this post worth reading.

Her approach won’t work for every situation, but it’s something to think about.