PR Move of the Day:Sports Illustrated used a great opportunity going into Sunday's NFC Championship game to drive interest in a cover that was away from the ones (Athlete of the Year, Swimsuit, Specials etc.) that ususally garner interest. The magazine seized upon the ardent following of the Packers in Green Bay and strategically alerted media going to cover Giants-Packers about excess demand, and the lines that went with it, for fans to get a copy of SI last week with Favre on the cover. Hence, a host of media looking for an angle actually covered the fans looking to get a copy of the magazine (including some great shots in the Daily News in New York), resurrected the myth of the SI cover jinx (along with Favre having his worst game of the year only a few weeks earlier after he was on the cover), and got the magazine some nice placement. Great job by the SI PR team (led by Scott Novak) to seize the opportunity and build brand awarness for the magazine by alerting media and effectively making a nice fan story with strategic placement.
Juxtapose that effective work on what was a run of the mill idea with Golfweek, and the attempt at shock value by putting a noose on the cover of the magazine to further hype the issue of Kelly Tilghman's comments on the Golf Channel regarding Tiger Woods (nice piece Friday by Rich Sandomir on the issueshock value in trying to drum up interest in a story that had been covered ad nauseum (and handled well by The Golf Channel PR staff by the way). The backlash by a sport which is very traditional and by the media, was severe. The website includes a full apology by the publisher, who did do a good job in crisis management t.get things back on track.
SI took the strategic approach to bring attention and it paid off with positive exposure…Golfweek went fo.shock and got burned in a story that was already well played out.
