Tuan’s Revelations

I swear every time I turn on my television to watch ESPN I hear about another doping scandal.  So just the other week Floyd Landis carried on the tradition of Lance Armstrong by having another American win the Tour de France.  Then all of a sudden he has abnormally high testerone.  Next, Justin Gatlin, the co-world record holder in the 100m with Asafa Powell, is tested and has abnormally high testerone.  This is not the first time he has been tested positive either.  Gatlin tested postive earlier in his career after he tested for a banned substance that he did not realize was in the adderall he was taking at the time.

It seems as though every athlete is taking something, or that is how the media seems to be portraying it.  The baseball steroid issue is obviously what jumps out when you think about this.  The U.S. government had to get involved is how big it became.  So what can athletes do to try and change this image that is being portrayed upon them.  Should they just get lazy and not be precisionly created athletes?  Maybe take a few days off from the gym and not look so muscular?  I am not sure what they can do to try and change this image, other than showing people that love to play for the love of the game.  You can’t take the love of the game out of someone, it’s the heart and soul behind sports.  It is just like Bobby Jones, he stayed an amateur in golf for that love of the game and never turned professional.  What’d he do in his career, well he just won the grand slam of golf that’s it.  Too bad you can’t judge an athletes heart to see if they are being honest and wanting to play the game in its most natural form.

So, it is July 24th, another day for most people but for me it is another birthday. That’s twenty-two of them now I have been lucky enough to live through. I woke up just wanting to go back to sleep like I do every day. Nothing has really changed, age is just a number right? So, I go through my normal routines and check my email and notice that I have an email from Moe’s Southwest Grill. The email contained a coupon for a free entree on my birthday and the two days following it. Since I love a nice Homewrecker burrito I enjoyed one for lunch today.

Ever since I as a little Tuan I have signed up for little birthday membership programs. The one I remember most is Baskin Robbins. Talk about something kids love, ice cream was as wonderful to me back then as it is today. But the Baskin Robbins Birthday Club gave me another reason every July 24th to return. If there was one in Auburn I would be there collecting my 2.5 ounces of joy right now.

This causes me to think of how restaurants do birthday promotions. It is something to give back to the customers for just filling out a tiny little card. It is always nice when the customer feels like they are getting something back in return for spending their money at your establishment. If the customer is happy then the business is likely to establish a loyalty with the customer. That is the goal for any company, a loyal consumer base that will return for repeat business. Putting out your best product can give the company pride in knowing it is the best and the client will be happy with that. If it is that great then the word will spread and word-of-mouth marketing, when positive, is cheap and successful.  So just a free entree or ice cream scoop can help spread a companies name.  That one free item causes you to slightly forget all that money you have already spent there on the other 364 days of the year.  A little customer satisfaction can go a long way for any company.

When it comes to baseball when you think of professional baseball and the number 94 you would think that is the speed of a pitch, right? Well in this case it is the age of the oldest professional baseball player. John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil signed a one-day contract to play for the Kansas City T-Bones.

It seems as though independent league baseball teams are looking for gimmicks to draw crowds to games. I have previously written about how the San Diego Surf Dawgs signed Jose Canseco, seems as though the T-Bones are following in their footsteps with their own gimmick. But the T-Bones have a little spin to theirs, instead of hiring a former Bash Brother they have hired Buck O’Neil. In an article posted by ESPN, it admits “nobody disputes that O’Neil’s involvement in the game borders on a gimmick…[but they] hope it also provides a boost in their quest to get him into Cooperstown.”  That is the catch and it seems to actually seems to be for a good cause.  The T-Bones website even has a banner on it to petition O’Neil’s admittance into Cooperstown.  If you look at the petition page on the T-Bones website it will list all of O’Neil’s credentials and will cause you to think”Why isn’t he in Cooperstown already?”

“His exclusion from the Hall of Fame caught nearly everybody by surprise. Players including Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks and Brock took aim at the selection process, and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, said the vote had left ‘a community in tears.’”  That is another excerpt from the ESPN article about O’Neil’s minor league deal.  With names like that backing someone up, there has to be a good reason they believe he should be in and so should we.  A publicity stunt with more than a short term goal and an actual good cause, I would love to see more of these.

Just answering a few questions for Shoppersaurus Rex in London.
1 If you have a blog, have you ever written critically or negatively about consumer brands or products on your blog?
Y/n/I don’t have a blog
Yes

2 If you have a blog, have you ever written positively or favourably about consumer brands or products on your blog?
Y/n/I don’t have a blog
Yes

3 Has your opinion of a consumer brand or product ever been changed by something you have read on someone else’s blog?
Y/n
Yes
4 Do you read corporate blogs?
Y/n
Yes
5 If yes, have they improved your opinion of the company/brand/product that the blog covers?
Y/n
Yes

6 Which source of information about consumer brands or products are you most likely to trust – please rank in order?
a) Personal blogs
b) Corporate blogs
c) Company websites
d) newspaper/magazine editorial
e) Other independent website editorial
Best to Worst: D, E, A, B, C
7 If you have any general comments about the overlap between blogs and consumer public relations, please make them here.
They are a good idea, but definately not always reliable. Sometimes people aren’t transparent and will praise something in their blog and don’t tell you that they represent that client. It is good to check on blogs, but don’t rely on them, they aren’t 100% credible.

So Dippin’ Dots ice cream has been around for quite the while now.  It is a novel ice cream too, tiny little flavored ice cream balls…who else does that?

The reason I am talking about ice cream is because this past weekend I enjoyed two large servings of Dippin’ Dots while I was at the beach.  They sure do make a killing for something so simple, a small serving was $4 and it went up $1 each size.  So, I spent $12 on ice cream…pretty ridiculous I know…but the enjoyment factor was worth it.  The slogan for the ice cream brand is “The Ice Cream of the Future,”  but when is the future?  Why has this type of ice cream not caught on yet?  I still remember eating these things as a child of single digits and now I am about to be twenty-two.  So was this really the best slogan?  Great idea for when the company first started, but shouldn’t they reinvent themselves now?  It has been quite some time with that slogan, they need something else to convey their product.  How about “Bite size flavor bursting in your mouth with joy”?  Just an idea, but they should pitch a contest of some sort for this and get the consumers involved.  Just a thought, but no matter what I will still love that over-priced flavor celled ice cream.

Another World Cup has come and gone and as always it is a beautiful game the world loves so much. Italy now holds second place in the records for having won four World Cups, one behind Brazil. Though this was the stage for heroes, legends and champions, one in particular tarnished his story.

Zinedine Zidane headbutted an Italian player in the 110th minute of the match. In what Zidane has said will be his final match he started it out magically scoring the first goal for the Les Blues of France. It all came tumbling down though while he and Marco Materazzi exchanged words during the second overtime period. Physically unprovoked Zidane turned around and headbutted Materazzi in the sternum. For someone of this stature with such love from his country and respect from players around the world to do this is unthinkable.

Now more than ever does Zidane need to handle his image, his legacy, in general his P.R. He does not want to go down in the books as being known as some with a short temper. But otherwise known for the greatness he possesses. To right his own ship he needs to hold himself accountable for his action and apologize for it. Everyone has their weak moments, especially people giving their body and hearts on the field for their country. People are known to forgive, so with a heartfelt gesture and apology to Materazzi and to France the healing will begin already. It doesn’t take a PR practitioner for Zidane to figure out how to handle his press. With an apology he will be remembered as the man who led France to their World Cup victory over Brazil in 1998 and to become a living legend.

Talk about someone who needs a lot of PR, Jose Canseco definately does. As it turns out Jose Canseco is back in baseball once again. I just wonder if he is doing this for publicity or if his new team the Surf Dawgs are doing it publicity. Canseco was once an AL MVP and the Rookie of the Year so he had to have some type of skill. But these days all people remember him is for steriods and infamously for having a baseball bounce off his head for a homerun.

The winner in this publicity stunt would seem to be the Surf Dawgs to me. I am sure Canseco can still swing a bat decently and lets hope he does not make anymore foolish plays. Hiring someone infamously viewed in baseball is already giving the team press. Who has really even heard of the Surf Dawgs before this? They are an independent league team without a high salary, the maximum a player can make in a month is $2,500. With this move the Surf Dawgs will seemingly try to appeal to the entertainment value of baseball. With people wanting to see the circus act known as Jose Canseco that means more sales in tickets, more sales in concessions and more sales in souvenirs.

Out of all of this though it could be a very risky move. Financially, what if none of the sales goes up and they are paying the maximum for an infamous player. What if this all backfires and Canseco does something to tarnish the image of the team.  I suppose we won’t really know who will win this publicity stunt until the end of the season.  So go ahead and Play Ball!

As I was driving to class the other day I noticed a radio commercial that was talking about the benefits and goals of the Auburn Parks and Recreation services. It was not a fancy commercial, just listing their goals out to the public. Then I was reading the Auburn Villager and there was an article about one of the parks Auburn is working on, Town Creek.

Subtly, the Parks and Recreation service is handling some of their PR but keeping the community updated. This is a good step to keep the community updated because, well lets face it, some of their money is going into this also. If you have the community to back you up it is much easier to accomplish your goals. Like many of the case studies I had to do last semester you do not always have to have the consent of your community but many cases made it a priority. You do not want to bring negative attention around yourself by having people potentially protesting against your goals. Smooth transitions are made when you are backed by the community.

Community relations or community affairs is just one aspect of public relations. Being able to handle different type of publics is crucial in this profession I believe. Being able to adapt to each type and seeing their perspective of a situation will help the practitioner find better ways to approach issues. Keeping the community involved in a situation, such as parks, makes them feel more like a community when they are informed.

It is actually quite odd how you hear subtle things about public relations. They are in TV shows, like in The Hills when the concept of public relations was off base, then apparently it was the profession of Samantha in Sex in the City. Most recently though I heard a mentioning of public relations in my favorite show, Entourage.

Public relations was referenced when Ari’s daughter had a 13-year-old boy over who was a movie star. The boy then said, in reference to the opening of an Aquaman ride, that it would be good PR for him to show up at Six Flags for that.

This struck me oddly, that people think PR is nothing but publicity sometimes. Grant it that media impressions play an integral role. But that is just one aspect of a long chain of things. Positive media impressions are obviously what any positive practitioner. Media impressions are one of many methods to evaluate your campaign and see if goals were accomplished.

It also slightly disheartened me when I realized how the media seems to have made being a publicist the same thing as being a PR practitioner. When I get asked what my major is and I say PR people respond by saying, “Oh, so you want to be a publicist then.” It would be nice if they showed on television what PR really is, instead of showing celebrities at the right events to boost their images.