Redskins Face Biggest Loss Yet- Their Trademark

(source: USA Today)

Not long after the Donald Sterling scandal, the sports industry is experiencing yet another scandal rooted in racism. It was announced yesterday that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will cancel the Washington Redskins trademark, among a recent flurry of controversy over the name. The office made the ruling arguing that the team name “disparages” Native Americans and is considered offensive.

Though controversy with the Redskins’ name began in 1992, the issue has been garnering more negative media attention over the last few years. With the recent ruling by the Patent Office, the tension is likely to grow. It raises several issues for the organization, namely the potential need to rebrand an 82 history. In addition, they will likely need to rebuild their reputation, with the team potentially losing value in this scandal. There are a few steps the Redskins organization should take in order to ease their current public relations crisis.

• Identify a spokesperson. They should designate a spokesperson to be the face of the team during the crisis, whether it is the owner, coach, or other. This allows for more consistent messaging coming from the organization.
• Identify stakeholders. Who, both internally and externally, matter to the team and how are the decisions of the organization going to affect these stakeholders.
• Use social media. The team should utilize their social media to update stakeholders, fans, and the public. This is the first place they are going to check to find out what is happening and what actions are being taken. The team is, in fact, doing just that. Wednesday morning, the official account tweeted a press release regarding the Patent Office’s decision.
• Be transparent. If the team establishes open communication with the media and fans, it will ease any backlash. This will also help repair their relationship with the public as well.

In order to avoid similar controversy, other sports teams, like NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and MLB’s Cleveland Indians, have begun phasing out their Native American mascots while still retaining related symbols. 

The NFL & Social Media: For the Fans, By the Fans

I absolutely love football. Everything about it. The jerseys, the stadium, the weather and the game itself – everything. You can catch me every Sunday with a game on and a plate of hot wings in front of me.

I also really love how the NFL taps into its audience through the use of social media. I follow the NFL and multiple football players on Twitter. I am a fan of the NFL Facebook page. But I was most delighted to hear about another way the league is reaching out to its audience and integrating them into the game itself.

If you’re a big NFL fan like me, you have probably noticed on Thursday night games there is a lot of fan footage. Being the PR investigator I am, I turned to the internet to find out if this was a new marketing campaign. Turns out I was right! The videos of fans used during the games are actually crowdsourced.

The NFL is now encouraging fans to record their favorite team’s “fight song” for a chance to be featured during the opening video montage during a Thursday Night Football game. Through the NFL’s Fanchise site, viewers can upload their fan video from their house, a bar, the stadium or even at the tailgate! All you have to do is pick your team, record your video, upload it and voila – you’re on your way to 15 minutes of fame.

From a public relations perspective, this is a really smart move. Not only is this marketing the NFL in new and different ways on the web, it is also increasing the league’s social media presence.

So, if you have a favorite team and are ready to sing loud and proud, upload your video today! I know I will be for my favorite team (The Eagles if you haven’t already guessed it, I’m a Philly girl!).

College Football and the PR Pro

On Saturday, Temple lost to one of it's biggest rivals in football, Penn State. While this was definitely a blow for us, there are a couple lessons we can take from the college football game, thanks to "What college football teaches us about PR":

• The coach/CEO sets the tone: think of all of your favorite teams, and then think of their coaches. You can probably name all of them. The coach is the heart of the team in a lot of ways, he motivates and disciplines and can often serve as a father figure to some of the players. The dynamic of the team depends on first the coach, which also effects performance. The same goes for companies. The CEO is the figurehead of the company and communicates the company's purpose and goals to the rest of the public. The rest of the employees depend on him or her to represent the company well and to their best advantage.
• Preparation is key: teams are always watching footage of past games. This is to strategize what they did wrong, or right, and devise a plan for next time, to do better. PR teams must do this as well, to prepare adequately for any kind of crisis. The more you prepare in advance, the less amount of running around you will have to do. Granted, things will always go wrong, but you can never be too prepared.
• Never underestimate an opponent (or reporter): The biggest mistake teams make is to be overconfident. Overconfidence clouds the mind and prevents players from really committing to the game and executing. PR pros must also be vigilant in trusting a reporter. Regardless of the situation, always be prepared for a reporter to ask your client tough, involved questions. Letting your guard down will leave an open window of opportunity for a reporter to get to your client.
• It's all about the team: no football team would be successful without the entire team. Every player is given a role in the team and without that one person, productivity would suffer. In the workplace, whether you are an intern or an executive, you are needed. Just giving someone a pat on the back or a "good job" may do wonders and will ultimately promote a team atmosphere.