We are progressing back to more and more normalcy in our business, but it remains unclear about how access for media as we once knew it will come back if at all. Teams and leagues found out last year that you may even be able to spread, and obviously control, access to storytelling using technology that can bring news to media vs. the traditional mix of having media of every size and shape come to a venue.
Now while this is great for targeted outreach to reach an audience in real time, there is still much deeper, even casual storytelling which only happens when those who are tasked to do the telling have the ability to look, and find, the nuance on their own. If you are not there, building relationships, witnessing history, following the daily goings on, the visuals, the words, can start to become homogenized. What we are hoping for is balance…the idea of “the scrum,” a large pack of media members huddled around a locker pushing for access, is probably gone forever, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use technology to present bigger names, while granting access to areas where media of any size are there to do a job and create great stories on their own. This has been the growing question, do you need access to locker rooms and fields for countless hours, or is there a happier, safer medium.
That will start to play out, as rules relax and are revisited going forward. Without that casual access, there will be opportunities missed unless those at the helm of the storytelling…communications and social media staffs…are there looking for those treasured little things that we can see, feel and learn, and what a discerning public are looking for to learn about our teams, our leagues, our athletes and our coaches.
Case in point from this past week. The Detroit Tigers communications staff are some of the best at the nuance, doing the little things to tell a bigger story. The team had decided to continue to honor their late star Al Kaline, but keeping his locker as it has been for decades during spring training. The locker, with his jersey, is in the same spot it has been for every year that the Hall of Famer had been to Lakeland. Florida until he passed away last year. Without media access to the clubhouse, no one would have noticed the nuance, and it would have fallen on deaf ears and closed eyes because those who would normally report such a gesture, could not see it. However, the Tigers social team shared the image, which was caught by Kaline’s son, which turned into a national spring training feel good story. Great quote from M Live summed it up.
“For the next 66 years, the Tiger clubhouse has had a locker with a uniform ready to go for number 6, whether while he was a player, a broadcaster, a special assistant to the team President, or an ad hoc hitting or fielding coach. This year, we all know he will not be there to wear his number 6, but out of their deep respect for the man, the player and their friend, the Tiger clubhouse staff readied his uniform and a locker as they have done for so many years. No fanfare. No big deal. Just the way dad would have wanted it. On behalf of the Kaline family, I would simply like to say thank you for such a thoughtful act of kindness and respect.”
Now was this some kind of message control by the team? No. Was it major news? Nope, it was one of those subtle things that an organization does, things that go unnoticed sometimes without media members around to notice that the consumer, especially the diehard fan, loves. It is that type of subtle storytelling, a note, a picture, a short video, that is going to be invaluable as we return to a sense of normal, and access opens up just a bit more. It needs to be consistent, strong, authentic and unique for those doing the telling, and that only comes with a fair balance of access and ability.
Nice hit for Detroit, more of these things are needed, and the subtle can’t be lost.
