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Why Lockouts Are Bad PR

Friday, November 18th, 2011

The National Basketball Players Association announced this week it had rejected the latest offer regarding its collective bargaining agreement and now it will be up to the courts to decide the fate of this year’s NBA season. Like the NFL lockout earlier this year, the NBA and the Players Association are arguing about who should get the biggest piece of the pie. When are professional sports going to learn that these lockouts are a huge PR nightmare? Not only are they losing fans and affecting thousands that depend on the business of the games, but in this oversaturated sports landscape, where is the guarantee that everyone will come back when they do return?

And this is coming from a huge NBA fan. I grew up on the San Antonio Spurs and spent several sleepless nights in Boston rooting for my team during the NBA’s last lockout season when the Spurs won their first Championship.

A fellow PR colleague asked me recently, “Who will care if the NBA doesn’t return?” And that’s the key question. Even die-hard NBA fan Bill Simmons told the SportsBusiness Journal’s “Sports Media & Technology” Conference attendees last week that he doesn’t think anyone will care if the lockout gets settled. Simmons continued saying, “You’ve got pro football and college. You have the holidays coming up. Nobody is going around thinking ‘I can’t believe the NBA’s not here.’ ” And he’s one of the sport’s biggest proponents.

And while I disagree with Simmons that fans simply don’t care (ask the thousands in the seven NBA-only markets like San Antonio if they care), I do think he’s got a point that with so many other sports options, will consumers truly miss the NBA? Probably not. They will find other ways to spend the money they would’ve otherwise spent on tickets, concessions and merchandise. And that’s where the NBA and NBPA have a PR crisis on their hands. The NBA is one of the best-marketed sports leagues in the world and has done so much to build up its brand globally and the brands of its players. Yet, it is willing to put all that at risk. And for what? Billions of dollars that they can’t figure out how to divvy up? A 50/50 split isn’t fair? Try explaining that to your average fan who is struggling to pay his or her mortgage or find a job. That’s not an easy sell. Not when this is the third sports lockout in the past six years and by now, everyone has lost sympathy for professional athletes and team owners.

While personally I’ll be sad if there isn’t an NBA season, the true losers in this scenario aren’t the players or the team owners, but the thousands of arena workers, local businesses and team staff that have no say in the lockout and who are affected by this decision. They are the ones who do truly care about the lockout because for them, it’s their livelihood.

Tell us what you think: Do you think fans will come back to the NBA? Why?

Posted by Courtney Megliola | Share: Twitter, Facebook, Del.icio.us, LinkedIn

Tagged: branding, Courtney Megliola, lockout, NBA, NBPA, PR, Public Relations, San Antonio Spurs, sports, sports business

Netflix to its Customer: It’s Not You, It’s Me.

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

The apology on Sunday by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings reminds me of a long overdrawn breakup. Two months ago, Netflix announced a change in its pricing and has been inundated with unhappy customer response since. Then on Monday, Hastings made another announcement that stunned the marketplace. Its well-branded DVD services will be called Qwikster and Netflix brand will be reserved for its streaming service.

The company will separate everything into two different websites without any pricing packages or loyalty discounts for customers that want the combined service or integration between sites, making it even harder for customers to access their services. Talk about confusion. The lack of communication and now the half-hearted response is a PR nightmare.

Netflix has thumbed its nose at the first rule of running a business: it’s all about customer service. This is a company that built its business and brand on making it easy for customers to watch movies. No need to go to a store or stand in line, it delivered the DVD of your choice directly to your home. And with the advances in technology, it moved into streaming content, which should make everyone’s lives easier. So why is everyone so upset?

Like my mom always said, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. After two months of no response, a blog post and letter to customers “apologizing” is too little, too late. There may be business reasons behind the splitting of the company (sell one division off?) but poor communications has created customer confusion and aggravation.

Netflix did not keep its most important audience – its customers – in mind when making and communicating its changes. It rolled out a pricing structure change without thinking about how it would affect their customers. With the economy still in flux and millions still out of work, increasing prices in an oversaturated entertainment landscape may not have been the wisest decision. But if it was a business decision and had to happen, then there should have been a comprehensive communication plan, including customer service support, in place to insure it was understood and ultimately accepted. Had these steps been taken, we wouldn’t be seeing this apology two months later and Netflix probably wouldn’t have lost more than one million subscribers or 7.4% decline in its stock price.

I’m not sure if its too late, but if Netflix doesn’t learn its lesson and start to think more about its customers those very customers will continue to abandon this once novel company.

Posted by Courtney Megliola | Share: Twitter, Facebook, Del.icio.us, LinkedIn

Tagged: branding, cause marketing, Courtney Megliola, Customer Service, Netflix, PR, Public Relations

Celebrity Endorsers- Effective Advertising or Just Wasted Money?

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

Celebrity spokespeople in advertising is nothing new. Nor do we blink at product placements in movies and TV shows.

So when Arrested Development alums Jason Bateman and Will Arnett created a company last year, dumb dumb, which produces short web videos promoting products, it seemed like a no-brainer. The videos would marry celebs and products and appeal to a young, digitally engaged audience. The company’s latest venture announced this week is for Denny’s, called “Always Open.” (The title is meant to remind people that the restaurant is open 24 hours. Except you wouldn’t know that because the interviews appear to happen in the middle of the day in a booth by a wall.) Always Open features character actor David Koechner (Todd Packer on The Office) talking to celebs, including Bateman and Arnett, while eating at Denny’s.

Trying to reinvent yourself and become relevant to a young audience (i.e. this year’s Oscars debacle), is among the hardest moves to master in marketing. Would hiring well-known actors eating at Denny’s appeal to a younger demographic? Maybe if the celebs appealed to that audience, or if the segments were simply hysterical. The videos are meant to be web sensations like Will Ferrell’s hits from funnyordie.com. Watch it, love it and pass it on to your entire social network. The problem? The one that debuted this week isn’t funny. Or at least I didn’t think so, and I love Arnett and Bateman.

The second problem is message. As simple branding it’s fine. But by creating a title meant to convey a value proposition Denny’s was obviously hoping for something more. Convenient hours are important (especially when the clubs and bars close) but what makes Denny’s appealing to a younger demo is its convenient locations and inexpensive menu. Neither get so much as a nod in the videos.

Since I am a little out of the 18-24 audience segment, though, I polled some of my younger colleagues. Their reactions? Mixed. A few thought it was funny. Everyone knew who Jason Bateman was and the other guy looked “familiar.” But no one wanted to send the video to his or her friends and it didn’t make any of them want to eat at Denny’s. So as a marketing vehicle? Time will tell if the campaign is successful, but we’d send it back to the kitchen. Still needs some seasoning and more to time to cook.

Posted by Courtney Megliola | Share: Twitter, Facebook, Del.icio.us, LinkedIn

Tagged: branding, David Koechner, Denny's, dumb dumb, funnyordie.com, Jason Bateman, Oscars, Product Placement, web videos, Will Arnett

Brand of Bieber

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

From Glee and a heralded Super Bowl spot to MVP status at the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game and leading the Billboard chart, Justin Bieber is everywhere. Why? A dose of talent and a whole lot of smart brand marketing. What can brands learn from this Canadian teenager?

Know your audience. It’s one of the first things we discuss with clients. There are many companies out there that don’t exactly know who their audiences are. But Justin Bieber does. His audiences are teenage girls and the parents of teenager girls. He speaks their language and through their channels. He engages the teenagers through Twitter. His perfect Klout score of 100 shows his immense social media influence. Bieber has over 7.3 million Twitter followers, which makes him one of the most active celebrities on Twitter. His more than 7,700 tweets promote his movie, TV appearances and songs. When Bieber tweets, teens listen. For the parents, he makes the rounds on shows like Ellen, The View, Oprah and Saturday Night Live looking all cute and adorable while promoting a squeaky clean image that the parents can digest.

Establish a signature look. And invest in a good haircut. Ok, so maybe it’s not just about the hair, but you have to admit it, Bieber has a signature look and everyone knows about it. His hair is like his logo and it’s part of his brand. Last fall, when sports media were comparing Tom Brady to Justin Bieber because Brady was growing his hair long, you knew Justin Bieber had permeated across lines when even crusty old sports writers knew about him and his hair. His hair is his trademark. He just cut it on Monday so only time will tell what the reaction will be (almost immediately 80,000 fans unfollowed him on Twitter as a protest). Messing with his trademark look could be a good thing or a very bad thing. Just ask the folks at Gap about changing your logo and getting a reaction. Too many times, companies pay big bucks for a new name or logo when, in fact, they have built brand loyalty and recognition around their logo. They shouldn’t mess with it.

Avoid controversy. It’s not always easy in this 24/7 media cycle where everyone with a cell phone is a journalist. The closest Justin Bieber has come to being controversial, though, was when Kim Kardashian said she had a crush on him. Sure there was that German thing, but since it came down to a language barrier, it doesn’t really count. It’s common sense that brands that avoid controversy or refuse to align themselves with controversial spokespeople are always stronger in the long run. If he does take a minor misstep – who doesn’t? – he has done a nice job of building insulation. Likely, millions of fans will have his back.

So next time you’re in that marketing meeting and the talk centers on reinventing your brand, consider Justin Bieber for a minute. The better route may be to do what you do best and drive it home.

Posted by Courtney Megliola | Share: Twitter, Facebook, Del.icio.us, LinkedIn

Tagged: Billboard, branding, Glee, Justin Bieber, Kardashian, Klout, NBA, PR, Rolling Stone, social media, Super Bowl, Twitter

CTP hits CES 2010 with Kurzweil’s Blio

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

It was quite a week, to say the least. We took a product that didn’t even have a name just two months ago and launched it to great acclaim at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Along the way, we gave it a brand name and positioning, a fully developed web presence and a public relations blitz that made the product the talk of CES among tech bloggers like Gizmodo and Engadget, and traditional media outlets like CNET, CNBC, MSNBC, PC Magazine, Popular Science, Wired, CNN and NPR.

You can’t open your laptop today without reading news about the exploding popularity of e-Readers. In November, Kurzweil Technologies, founded by inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, asked us to help them introduce their new e-Reader product on January 6th at CES. (more…)