Public RelationsPublic Relations

HSS 3000/5263

Sport Marketing

Dr. Brian Turner

Public Relations Defined

• “… the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest, and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.”

Public Relations Defined

• “… the profitable integration of an organization’s new and continuing relationship with stakeholders including customers by managing all communications contacts with the organization that create and protect the reputation of the organization.”

Public Relations Defined

• Media relations

• Community relations

Media Relations

• Reactive

• Proactive• Interactive

Community Relations

• To achieve corporate public relations objectives related to enhancing public understanding and gaining public approval and acceptance, and hopefully leading to public support

Community Relations

• Player initiated

• Team initiated

• League initiated

Public Relations Functions

• Inform and communicate

• Shape and enhance image

• Promote employee relations

• Gain political or popular support

• Recruit and develop business

• Launch new products or innovations

• Generate and collect feedback

• Cope with crisis

Public Relations Functions

10 point crisis control plan (NFL)

• 1st response should be “no comment”

• Convene an immediate meeting of the crisis team

• Formulate a statement that can be distributed to the media

• Develop talking points and send them to allies who will be speaking to the media

Media Impact on Sport PR

• Athletes get real

Electronic MediaElectronic Media

HSS 3000/5263

Sport Marketing

Dr. Brian Turner

Electronic Media Landscape

• Information is encoded as electromagnetic impulses and sent via satellite, wire, or over the air transmission to a receiving device that decodes the impulses and reproduces the information in usable form

Television

• out of 100 million US households own at least 1 television set– own 2 or more sets

• Television set is on an average of more than hours per day– Women watch hours/day; men hours/day

• Advertisers paid billion to reach viewers in 1997

• More than commercial stations in US

Television

• Knowing the market– Ratings

– Share

Television

• Sport and television– Sport audience is attractive to advertisers– Sport has played an important role in driving

new technology– Sport managers need to realize how the

broadcasting industry works

Radio

• commercial FM stations

• commercial AM stations

• Advertisers spent nearly billion on radio in 1997

• Average American spends more than hours/day listening to the radio– Medium reaches of the population in a week

Digital Technology

• million North Americans over the age of 16 were using the internet (1998)

• A well-designed, interactive web site should be the 1st step that most sport organizations should take