It’s safe to say ‘Super Bowl Sunday’ has become a national holiday. As soon as the Christmas decorations are packed away and New Year’s resolutions broken, it’s time for January’s bright spot: the Super Bowl party. Sports marketers, however, began planning for this year’s Super Bowl as soon as the Guy Lombardi trophy was awarded…
Tag Archives | national football league
Lombardi a Success for Broadway and Sports PR
Mention the name Vince Lombardi and images of a hard-nosed, demanding and driven football coach with a distinct gap between his front teeth, come to mind. Add to that, the Green Bay Packers, which he made famous worldwide, multiple national football championships and the same name on a trophy that now bears the name, and…
Overtime Post – Thanksgiving for Sports Fans
It was business for me as usual this week since I celebrated Thanksgiving last month, although I wouldn’t mind a second helping of turkey. Regardless, I want to do a short list of things that I’m thankful for this year as a sports fan. Vancouver 2010 Olympics: Not only was it the time of my…
5 NFL Twitter Accounts I’m Thankful For
Ah, Thanksgiving… Family. Turkey. Beer. Pumpkin pie. And football. For me, Thanksgiving is a day to spend with people I love, and to take a step back to think about all the things I have to be thankful for. What are you thankful for? At the top of my list are good health, happiness, family,…
Interview with Retired NFL Player Levar Fisher on Business and Family
Levar Fisher is a retired NFL player for the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints. He now travels the country as a motivational speaker for youth, business, churches, and sports venues. While working with Levar and his wife Jacinta as their copywriter, I have observed how beautifully supportive they are of each other and how…
The Minnesota Vikings PR Soap Opera
The Minnesota Vikings are grateful for two things this week: Wade Phillips, who became the former Dallas Cowboys’ coach when owner Jerry Jones pulled the plug on his tenure, Monday. Vikings’ quarterback Brett Favre’s career performance of 466 yards and a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday. The former is what bumped the…
Demise of the Dallas Cowboys
What’s wrong with the Dallas Cowboys? Why can’t a team with extraordinarily talented players get it together? Maybe several reasons pop into your head but I simply want to give my perspective since I’m a lifelong, die-hard Cowboys fan. Never mind what you’re thinking…I take a lot of guff when I mention ‘America’s Team’ but…
Top 5 ‘Back to Business’ Basics
Remember the Rocky III movie in 1982 when Rocky goes back to Apollo Creed’s “old” gym to train for the big fight with Clubber Lang? Of course you do. Apollo takes Rocky back to basics to polish his fighting style and prepare him for the “big” match in which he knocks Clubber out in the third round.
The same thing happens in the NFL. The hours of mindless, but necessary, stretching, drills, and weight training. The team meetings pouring over playbooks. Sports massages and physical therapy. These are the basics that teams and their players positively need to do regularly to prepare for the “big” game. It’s in the crucible of basics that we poise ourselves for victory.
If the fictitious Rocky Balboa, and the NFL, benefit from the basics, then as business owners and entrepreneurs, we absolutely need to do the same.
Here are my top 5 ‘Back to Business’ tips that will take you back to basics and will set the tone for future success:
5 Ways the National Football League Can Use Geolocation Apps
Geolocation apps are the latest craze in social media in the sports industry. Just last month, the National Hockey League launched its own official Foursquare branding page. Just this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the National Basketball Association is developing its own geolocation application for the iPhone and Android smartphones. “Turnstile,” the NBA’s application, will allow fans to check in at NBA arenas and while watching NBA games on television this season. It is expected to be released later this month.
While the NHL and NBA have embraced geolocation applications like Foursquare and Gowalla, the National Football League and its teams have yet to join the geolocation frenzy. Indeed, the Washington Redskins are the only NFL team with an official Foursquare page and badge.
Here are five tips that NFL teams can use as they embrace the mobile geolocation frenzy currently sweeping the sports industry.
Text Messages Aren’t Good for PR
Nothing is sure in this world except death, taxes and text messages that will come back to bite you in places that will hurt.
Right now, future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, Brett Favre, is smarting from even the suggestion that he texted a former game-day reporter for the New York Jets (there is no verification of these stories and the investigation by the NFL is in its infancy). This news evolves as golfer Tiger Woods continues to reel from released text messages, voice mails and his eventual admission to infidelity that cost him millions of dollars in endorsements and his marriage during the past year.
My guess is that phone companies are vetting each future endorsement prospect like never before.
There is a lesson here for everyone, however: everything we record in type or voice and transmit via Internet, phone or cable, is forever traceable and transferrable. The messages are also resilient to destruction. They are the movie ticket stubs that we keep for years as mementos or prom dress that hangs in a closet decades after your big night. The big difference is that texts, emails and voice messages tell stories. There’s little to guess about what’s being communicated because it’s out there for people to read and hear if that once-special someone chooses to share what you may have assumed to be forever private.
Run Your Business Using Referee Signals
They are referred to as zebras but their ‘real’ title is official or referee. They stand right in the middle of the chaos and decide when someone breaks the rules, goes out of bounds, or catches the ball.
Referees all follow the same basic signals which tell us what went wrong or right. As entrepreneurs, we can learn how referee’s signals can help us in our businesses. The various signals let us know when something has gone wrong, when we’re making progress, and when we’ve made a touchdown.
Crowd Noise Signal
Are you spending too much time on non-business related conversations or out on errands when you should be working? Do you spend half your day opening, reading, and responding to emails? Excessive crowd noise in a game creates a virtually impossible situation for the visiting offense to communicate. It may be time to hush the crowd noise in your home office by focusing on tasks at hand first. This same signal can also mean dead ball. When you foolishly waste your most productive time doing non-productive tasks, it can mean a dead ball as far as your time. Quiet crowd noise and focus on your priority list.
Secrets to Working with Pro Athlete Clients
In my work with current and retired pro athletes, I’ve made a few discoveries along the way. Basically, working with pro athletes, specifically NFL athletes, requires the same principles and ethics as needed for any other client. If you are currently working with, or have aspirations to work with, pro athletes in any sport, here are a few tips I’ve learned and regularly practice in my own business: