It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business.

Bud Selig, Major League Baseball's commissioner, has been under some pressure lately regarding whether he'd try to attend Barry Bonds' record tying and breaking home run games. It's no secret that Bud doesn't like Barry for all the steroid hullabaloo. However, Bud made a move last week for the good of the game he's responsible for leading & selling... he said he was going to start attending Barry's games in the hope of seeing him break the record. That was the right thing to do. It was a good PR move and in line with his responsibilities as MLB's chief executive.

Unfortunately, Barry's struggling in another slump, and now, after 8 days of following Barry, Bud's had enough. He described his arduous journey (spending a week in SF and 2 days in LA) as a "Herculean effort". Watching 8 baseball games was Herculean??? This coming from the guy responsible for leading baseball??? You want your employees to be open and honest, so you don't want him to lie, but wouldn't you expect that the MLB commish should be singing a different tune? He should be saying "I'm happy this has given me the opportunity to get out of the office and to the ballpark" and he shouldn't need a PR person to tell him that.

Bud has let his personal opinions get in the way of doing his job, and that's something that no professional can ever let happen.

PR Survival Handbook - #318

Lesson #318 - What to do when your top employee is indicted for staging dogfights

I can't tell you how many times I've seen it happen... business is cruising along and then your top employee gets caught staging dogfights. No, that hasn't happened in your business? OK, well maybe Michael Vick's situation is a bit odd, but what isn't strange about it is the issue of getting negative press as the result of actions of your employees. Just take a look at what happened last week with Whole Foods CEO John Mackey or with Don Imus and the Rutgers Women's BBall team.

The NFL has been struggling with a ton of negative PR issues lately, and only in case of the Chicago Bears releasing Tank Johnson did a team take action that was more severe than the league. In Michael Vick's case, I'm wondering what everyone is waiting for. Will Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons and founder of Home Depot, treat Michael Vick like any of Home Depot employees? Will he live by the values that built Home Depot into an American success story, one of which states "We exercise good judgement by "doing the right thing" instead of just "doing things right." We strive to understand the impact of our decisions, and we accept responsibility for our actions"?

Any organization with a strong set of values is able to deal with these issues quickly, without emotion, and ultimately, correctly for the long-term health of the business. However, if profit is the only value of your company, you'll remained flummoxed when bad things happen. This is not a case of guilt or innocence, but rather one of professionalism. If actions and associations of employees embarrass the organization and destroy value then you need to take action (the quicker, the better). At the very least, the Falcons need to suspend Vick without pay until this situation is resolved. However, if they live by their values, they'd just fire Vick and move on.

"It's exhausting being fabulous" - Posh Spice

I lived in London from 2000 through 2004, and David & Victoria Beckham were like royalty there... they were loved by the people, but they remained distant. After watching Victoria's Coming to America special tonight, I'm convinced that she and David are going to be bigger than ever. She was smart, genuine, clever and quick, and America is going to adore her. David always impressed me as being a very good public speaker in interviews, but he's gotten much better. His performances during and after the press conference last week were superb. Keep an eye on these two (and their manager, Simon Fuller) because there are many lessons to be learned about speaking, PR, branding, and marketing in general, in the things that they do.

UPDATE: The show got trashed in the reviews, but that's probably a positive sign (not surprising that the US press doesn't understand a bit of Brit humour)... everyone that I've spoken with loved it.

Goooooooal!!!!

Is this great marketing of a so-so product, or what?














As an LA Galaxy season ticket holder, I was at the David Beckham "unveiling" this past week (when sports teams make a big free agent signing they hold press conferences, however, when they acquire a world icon, they have unveilings). Look behind the scenes and you'll find two of the very best marketers on the planet and some great lessons. Philip Anschutz and his AEG, owners of the Galaxy and the Home Depot Center that they play in (as well as numerous other sports teams and venues), were the people with the vision and guts to pull this move off. It's a move they laid the ground work for several years ago when they partnered with Becks to open up his David Beckham Soccer Academy here in LA. On the other side of the table was David's representation, 19 Entertainment. Unless you're in the entertainment industry, you probably haven't heard of them, however, just about everyone knows who the brains are behind 19... none other than Simon Fuller, creator of American Idol and manager of the Spice Girls.

Every step of his arrival to America has been orchestrated and executed with unbelievable precision. It started as soon as the deal was signed several months ago. Although David was still under contract with Real Madrid until June 30th, Victoria started making high profile appearances such as lunching with Katie Holmes at The Ivy in Hollywood, throwing out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium, and appearing at the MTV music awards. And, it's culminating in a well coordinated roll out that began with the arrival of David, Victoria and their kids on Thursday night at LAX in front of close to 1,000 people and just about every important outlet of the world press.

The press conference on Friday morning was again, superbly executed. His wife, Victoria Beckham (aka Posh Spice), was the first to appear, dressed to the nines in a stunning fuchsia dress, striking a perfect pose for the hordes of photographers. The conference itself was flawless, with everyone saying just the right things (they also had the right people speaking as well... Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas, AEG Prez Tim Leiweke, Galaxy Coach Frank Yallop, MLS Commisioner Don Garber and LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa). The arrival festivities continue with Victoria's reality show tonight on NBC, and then wrap up with Beckham's first game on Saturday against English powerhouse Chelsea (which will be broadcast on ESPN).

The crowd of 3,000 season ticket holders was buzzing (not bad, that's about 20% of the season ticket holders showing up for 10am Friday event), singing songs and chanting "There's only one David Beckham". More importantly, the fans were buying the newly released LA Galaxy jersey (a release that was delayed from the beginning of the season to coincide with Beckham's arrival). Tim Leiweke has said that they've already sold 250,000 shirts. At $80 a pop, that's $20 million in revenue before Becks has even put on one those of shirts. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Real Madrid claim that they sold 1 million shirts within the first 6 months of Beckham's arrival in 2003, and that total merchandising income for the 4 years he was with them was in excess of £300 million.

So, although there may be much debate over the subject of David Beckham's soccer skills and whether his arrival is the beginning of a new era for US soccer and the MLS (or the beginning of the end, like when Pele arrived), there can be no debate over a few things here...

• So-so footballer... maybe; so-so soccer league... maybe; but David Beckham is a first class product being managed by first class marketers. He's in a class of marketable people that includes maybe only 2 or 3 athletes and 2 or 3 actors. He is one of the most recognizable faces on the planet, with a following that has demostrated their willingness and ability to support his commercial partners. The financial reward to AEG, 19 Entertainment and the Beckhams will be significant.
• The introduction and rollout of David and Victoria in America has been handled superbly. They've gotten major exposure, but, and this is hard to believe, they have not been over-exposed. There are still many significant opportunities to continue building the brand and reaping the reward. The Spice Girls have already announced a reunion tour (at AEG venues), and, regardless of whether the LA Galaxy win or not (Real Madrid, the most famous and most successful soccer team in the world, didn't win a thing with Beckham until this past month), the team will continue to be a financial winner through increased ticket & merchandise sales and sponsorship/partnership opportunities.
• This rollout is a great example of a perfectly timed and coordinated marketing activity. Months of preparation and focus are resulting in maximized promotion that is tied to commercial opportunities. There has been no waste in this marketing effort, as the opportunity available is optimized and seized.

As a Galaxy fan I'll be watching the wins and losses (in my nice new Beckham jersey), but as a marketer I've already seen a win.

Update: The Marketing Maven: THE MARKETING PHENOM - DAVID BECKHAM has a great post on this subject.