The NFL has grown past a sports activities league. Now, it’s a information outlet, a social media hub, and a key influencer for a variety of social traits, together with trend and music.
“It’s a cultural phenomenon,” stated Holden Hill, media relations supervisor for Taylor, a frontrunner within the sports activities and leisure PR trade that had labored with the NFL on varied promotions.
Hill admitted that the NFL, and sports activities advertising and marketing generally, is exclusive. “That degree of emotional funding is simply actually laborious for many manufacturers to domesticate, and it’s exceptionally uncommon to have the ability to leverage it as a PR skilled.”
However there are nonetheless useful classes to study from its method, Hill stated, specifically its “relentless mission to succeed in, entice and interact with new audiences,” whether or not it’s via a social media marketing campaign or an American soccer sport performed abroad.
Management the message
Regardless of its immense recognition, the NFL, like several model, has confronted challenges and controversies.
Forward of the beginning of the season, the Washington Commanders fired its vp of content material following the discharge of footage of him calling gamers “dumb as all hell” and referring to followers as “high-school-educated alcoholics.” And this week, a girl got here ahead to allege that Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson sexually assaulted her prior to now.
To deal with these troublesome PR conditions, the NFL has developed a cautious technique that not solely goals to alleviate fears of advertisers however to maintain and entice followers.
Dan Lobring, whose previous expertise contains serving as senior director of the Chicago Fireplace in Main League Soccer, highlighted the NFL’s shift in the direction of a extra trendy, proactive method to addressing controversies, whereas nonetheless sustaining its status as a tightly managed, message-aligned group.
Within the Watson scenario, the league directed Browns coaches and gamers to refer reporters to normal, factual statements about Watson’s standing that the league and group launched. No extra, no much less.
“We are going to respect the due course of our authorized system affords relating to the just lately filed civil swimsuit and observe the NFL’s tips on this matter,” the Browns assertion reads.
When confronted with unfavourable headlines, PR execs ought to concentrate on fast, decisive motion coupled with clear communication to determine or rebuild belief.
“Clearly, that is one thing that the NFL is absolutely good at, and I might argue that it’s additionally true of the stronger performing groups, each out and in of sports activities,” stated Lobring, at present senior vp at Chicago-based Stretch PR.
There isn’t any offseason
The NFL is all the time on.
At one time, the league primarily targeted on selling its on-field product. However over time, its technique has advanced to be year-round, in response to Jackie Reau, CEO of Sport Day Communications, a sports activities and event-centric PR agency based by former ESPN anchor Betsy Ross.
The league has adopted a multi-channel method to PR together with its personal tv community, social media channels and its personal reporters who cowl video games. The league additionally maintains sturdy relationships with broadcast networks, influencers and main advertisers, guaranteeing fixed visibility.
One of the vital notable examples of that was final 12 months when the NFL’s potential to parlay Taylor Swift’s relationship with Kansas Metropolis Chief tight finish Travis Kelce. Swift’s followers may not have beforehand been conventional soccer followers, however the league was in a position to align itself along with her model and introduce itself to a youthful, largely feminine viewers, and that technique has paid dividends.
An everyday-season matchup between the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and New York Jets that Swift attended drew 27 million viewers — making it the most-watched Sunday TV present for the reason that final Tremendous Bowl.
PR execs can study to construct and maintain narratives that stretch past a single occasion or marketing campaign, guaranteeing fixed engagement with their viewers.
“(The NFL’s) PR success comes from a mix of controlling its narratives, leveraging star energy, and proudly owning key moments just like the Tremendous Bowl,” Reau stated.
New methods to ‘defend the protect’
The guts of the NFL’s PR technique has lengthy been to “defend the protect” – a mantra that emphasizes the league’s model and status above all else.
A method they’ve achieved that, Lobring stated, is by making it clear who the designated spokesperson is for a given scenario. In lots of circumstances, that’s Goodell, resembling throughout the announcement of the NFL’s plans for worldwide growth, in addition to its choice to permit non-public fairness to take as much as 10% possession of groups.
Having clear spokespeople permits for higher settlement and consistency of the messages being delivered.
“With any high-performing group, or unified group, you have got clear strains of communication, in addition to a transparent chain of command when it comes to communication,” Lobring stated.
This dedication to the basics of excellent PR – consistency and readability of message, and consistency and readability of who’s delivering that message and to what viewers – is sweet recommendation for many who work exterior of the NFL, too, Lobring stated.
Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Every day. Observe him on LinkedIn.
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