Your PR Architect

I spent a few hours riding PR shotgun with several NASCAR drivers during my corporate career. Kurt Busch was one of them. Busch was driving for Roger Penske at the time, and Penske's organization knew how to partner with corporate sponsors, each of whom spends millions to affix their logos on race cars, drivers' fire suits, and so on. By U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman John Suits.Hutcher at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons Busch was then a previous NASCAR champion, but known for a fiery temper on the track. Yet, during a day's worth of local media interviews, meet-and-greets with corporate employees, and visits with hospitalized kids, Busch was consistently polite and patient. He posed for photos with strangers, did interviews that wouldn't be seen outside a small upstate TV market, and autographed die-cast cars for use in charity auctions. He was no hothead that day. And a pleasure to work with. He even let me d...

I vowed not to give more airtime to Roger Goodell and the National Football League's problems. So despite the headline, this isn't about Ray Rice, or Goodell, or the league's inability to utter two simple words: "Zero Tolerance." It's about using sports figures to promote consumer products. And whether it's time to end this practice. The cereal box here shows Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings running back who's accused of child abuse for injuring his young son. The most recent coverage appears here.  You'll struggle to find this Wheaties box on a store shelf. Maybe collectors snatched them up. Or store managers thought it wise to remove them. Maybe General Mills recalled them and shipped them to a country that never heard of Adrian Peterson. It doesn't matter. As a society, we deify our sports heroes, pasting their likenesses on or in automobiles, footwear, food products, and even pain remedies. And when they make mistakes or ca...

If Roger Goodell is still commissar -- er, commissioner -- of the National Football League by the time you read this, it's because he has 32 team owners who love him. And a legion of fans who'll buy anything with an NFL logo. Including balderdash. Roger Goodell,  By Staff Sgt. Bradley Lail, USAF [Public domain],  via Wikimedia Commons Last week, I led my public relations class through a discussion of the Ray Rice-hit-his-fiancee-now-wife episode. But I might as well have done the lecture in origami, because new details keep unfolding. Last Friday, Baltimore Ravens fans -- including many women -- were shown in USA Today wearing replicas of Rice's jersey in support of the banned running back. The story continues to change, but here's a reasonable snapshot of what's taken place. It's not pretty. Rice and his wife may be right in blaming the media for their woes, including his indefinite suspension. They both appear to have behaved with amazing stupidi...

Even in the off-season, the NFL's Buffalo Bills -- perennial pro football also-rans -- can't manage their operations. Buffalo Jills, Rich Stadium (c) David Kassnoff, 2012 Last week, five cheerleaders for the Buffalo Jills sued the Buffalo Bills organization, claiming they were under-compensated for their work on and off the field. And, they may have been sexually harassed in connection with their jobs. Their management company promptly cancelled the sideline entertainers'  2014-15 schedule. (Update: read this: http://nypost.com/2014/04/27/my-life-as-a-buffalo-jill/ ) I'm not a sports columnist. But this isn't about athletic success. This is about the damage to an organization's brand and reputation. The Bills are in trouble -- maybe more than any PR pro could fix. Besides the Jills fiasco, the Bills recently agreed to pay $5 million for sending too many promo messages to fans. Their head coach had a private cancer scare -- disclosed on the team's ...

One of PR's first rules: know your audience. Or, don't pitch a story about Manolo Blahnik shoes to Sports Illustrated. The NFL recently sent emails from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and ex-coach and current TV pitchman Bill Cowher, telling me all they're doing to address the issue of head injury and trauma among young and pro football players. Here's a link . People who play football experience head injury. No dispute there. There's a reason high schools with football teams hire a physician to attend the games. And TV news magazines have devoted airtime to stories of suicide among former NFL players whose behavior may have ties to head-to-head collisions on the field. Another of my basic PR rules: ask a reader to take one action. And here's where the NFL's e-newsletter strategy misses the uprights. First, I don't have kids, nephews or neighbors whose kids play league football. I've never coached a team. I'm not the right demograp...