There is a story I heard this year during the US Open. A media colleague of mine looked at the expanses of empty seats in the massive Bud Collins Media Center and harkened back to when it was opened way back at the end of the last century…aka before 2OOO…and sighed.
‘This was state of the art for media members from when it started, and although it is still vitally important for amplifying the messages of all these great athletes, the reality is, if you do a search for the most media attention during The Open the place where most people are going isn’t USA Today or tennis.com or The Athletic or even AP…its usopen.org and usta.com. People view those as the trusted and best sources of news and deep storytelling around the tournament. It doesn’t mean you stop making sure your message is amplifies and stories are told across every possible platform as well as every social media platform to reach the audience where they are. It does mean if you are a team, a league or even a brand, you need to make sure you keep YOUR platforms authentic and robust, because that’s where your audience is coming and that’s where you stand the best opportunity for reaching them.’
I thought about this a great deal this week during our travel through Italy as I saw the PWHL making the smart move to create PWHL Media Hub…a new venture where they will rely largely on their own multimedia storytelling to amplify their message and what their fans want. It is investment in themselves to make sure that they can accurately, and in a very deep way, make sure their best and most interesting stories are reaching the audience they want to reach. It DOES NOT mean that they rely solely on their own media channels, that would run the risk of not reaching a larger audience. It also does not mean they snub big media outlets, especially across Canada, when stories need to be told and news needs to break. What it does mean is that the league is making the financial and editorial decision to make sure there is a repository of great editorial for their fans, at a time when they can’t always rely on platforms outside of their core to always be available and interested.
Now you may say that’s the same as what most leagues already have…nfl.com, mlb.com, mls.com, wnba.com and so on, and it is somewhat correct. However if you look at many STARTUP leagues or sports coming along, the reliance is often on chasing others to tell their story. Rarely do new or growing ventures that the deep time…outside of social in most cases…to make a calculated early investment in things like print, audio and video. It is often seen as an expenditure, not an investment, and the PWHL’s leaning in to tell their stories, enhance the robust work of their teams, and even enhance brand partnerships will only grow. Now it also can’t be all propaganda, and that can always be a challenge. But even with difficult decisions, the media hub platform gives the league a fair chance to make sure their story on any level gets out in a fair and authentic way, without compromising the integrity of the league or in most cases, jeopardizing the credibility or the usefulness of both proactive and inbound media opportunities.
Sometimes, the best way to tell the story is to do it oneself.
In a world where we more and more have to rely on our professional, authentic and thoughtful selves to make sure the message gets out…after all its what BRANDS, political campaigns, media companies…who succeed do best, the PWHL Media Hub is a solid first mover example of not waiting for people to find them. They are leaning out and finding their audience, and the requisite media platforms to amplify their stories.
As another hockey legend, Wayne Gretzky said “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,’ and the PWHL is taking a solid shot here, by not relying on anyone to tell their stories.
