We are always learning, especially from those who carved the path which we have followed.
So it was with great pride I got to catch up with one of the communications and marketing industry’s true pioneers and one of its best storytellers, Alan Taylor. Alan, now living in Florida, recently penned a book called A Perfect Pair; Public Relations And Event Promotions, which takes us from his sports writing days in Florida and California to an award winning public relations career in New York where he made sports public relations and event marketing a specialty in the 1980s.
It has scores of stories and tips that never get old, so we asked Alan to catch us up on some memories and more importantly, some best practices that never stop being useful.
As someone who has been in the sports comms business for a long time, lots has changed, what are the two or three things that haven’t?
There are several areas that have not changed for sports communications. Biggest areas continue to be the need for sponsors to activate their sponsorships in order to generate a stronger ROI. With the digital platforms available today, there are many more opportunities to build relationships with the appropriate constituents and further generate incremental ROI.
The other area that has not changed is the need to be a storyteller in whatever sports promotion or sports sponsorship opportunity the PR/Communications department/agency creates. The need to humanize the events or sponsorships still exists even today with the unfettered use of digital media. The sponsorship or program designed by the PR agency has to come alive.
What makes for a good sports business story?
A good sports business story could be a case history study as to why a company entered into a sports relationships/sponsorships on their own or through their agency. This includes laying out the strategy for the investment, the objectives of making the investment and the tactics to show that the goals were achieved. That type of case history plays well not only with the sports business world, but for the vertical trades in which the sponsor/clients are involved.
Why do companies pay big money for naming rights of stadiums? Well number one, they get “guaranteed” exposure, which helps branding. But the sponsor could also get more exposure by developing ancillary programs that tell the company/product story and further maximize the sponsorship.
Who are some of the business executives who have done storytelling the best, both past and present?
One of the first storytellers I encountered from was Cope Robinson, Vice President, Advertising for Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company where I learned that exposure just didn’t stop with the press clippings or video tapes. You needed to merchandise the results not just to the corporate officers but also to the field sales force. Others that helped me along were Jim Lamie, Peter Spengler and Marvin Koslow, both at Bristol-Myers. I learned early in my career that you have to give the media something unique in order to get the client’s name/product into print or on the air; just mere sponsorship would not cut it with the media. In building the agency, we had a number of talented people who understood the importance and value of creating a unique storytelling idea or events to support the client’s goal, namely Howard Dolgon, Mark Beal and John Liporace.
ROI is a tough thing to measure in communications, what’s the best way to explain to a novice how return can best be measured?
The return on investment (ROI) is still one of the toughest areas for PR to prove. Today, clients are loaded with metrics, analytics, the Internet. In my generation, we reported on impressions for print and broadcast using a variety of methods to increase the exposure (see next question for Gillette’s answer). I do not think there is a sure fire way to prove the value of a PR promotion, but there is a certain amount of product movement, corporate branding and consumer-hands on with the promotion.
We created a unique event for Yukon Jack Whiskey—a series of arm wrestling events held in bars. This not only “forced” distribution into bars, but also enabled the brand to sample the product. This gave the brand’s sales team another talking point in trying to convince a bar owner to stock Yukon Jack. On top of that, we scored major national exposure with ESPN, NY Times, USA Today and many others. Sales went up.
What are some of the more fun campaigns you helped launch in your career?
Among the more memorable programs my agency developed was the support of the MasterCard sponsorship of World Cup Soccer, a relationship that ran many years with the agency playing a major part of the success. The program, for which the agency won a Silver Anvil from PRSA in 1994, maximized not only the sponsorship, but also MasterCard’s “Moments” advertising campaign. We created a Greatest Moments campaign for the World Cup (and other sports as well). The services of great World Cup Players like Pele and Sir Bobby Charlton enabled us to promote the sponsorship through a series of events, the Greatest Moments in World Cup Soccer history. We carried that same theme through other sports, including Major League Baseball and the PGA.
Another campaign that was memorable was the PR support for Gillette’s Million Dollar Sweepstakes. This was a typical advertising insert in major market newspapers. A winner was selected from the millions of entrants and the agency was charged with promoting the winner in his attempt to make a three-point shot during the Final Four in New Orleans. Had he made the shot, he would have earned $1,000,000. He didn’t make the shot, but became a media star. When the agency prepared its final report for the client, we did the traditional dog/pony show with fancy media numbers.
After the presentation, the VP Advertising for Gillette said: “don’t play the PR numbers game with me. I can buy advertising more efficiently than your PR numbers tell us. But what you gave this advertising promotion is something money cannot buy: credibility. There is no price tag on this credibility provided by the editorial coverage.
But the early success of the PR program gave the Gillette sales team enough ammunition through pre-event news coverage that they were able to sell more products into the retailers before the Final Four.
When doing the book, what was the biggest surprise you had?
The biggest surprise in writing the book was how my “memory” worked. One former colleague who read the book asked: “how did you remember all of those stories”. When I started writing, the stories just flowed out whether it was my days as a sports writer, boxing promoter or the owner of the agency. At 3 a.m. the memory kept pouring out the past. Even after the book was completed, more stories kept on coming to light. When you love what you are doing and I did what I loved, it was easy to recall those memorable moments…like working eight Olympics and still not winning a medal.
For young people coming into a communications field today, what are the two or three things you tell them that are essential for getting started?
As one professor at FAU announced to the class after the mid-term, “please learn how to write English.” That is still a major factor despite the new “slanguage” of the Internet. That is a primary necessity. Know the client objectives, understand the client’s business is extremely important in developing a program. And with the opportunities presented by the Internet—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat—thinking out of the box is much more important. Your program has to rise about the clutter and stand out more than ever, even though there are more opportunities. Storytelling and creativity in relationship to the client’s goals/objectives are paramount. It is not what the client can do for you; it is what you bring to the table that the client can’t.
