Did you catch Honda’s Matthew Broderick-Ferris Bueller Super Bowl commercial? Some people believe Broderick sold out, while others see the commercial as a hilarious update on an iconic movie character. Either way, with more than 3 million views on YouTube in less than 24 hours, Honda has kickstarted the online conversation and sparked early buzz — around the water cooler and the internet.

This is just one way social media is impacting the Super Bowl watching experience. In fact, according to Shiv Singh, global head of digital for Pepsico Beverages, “Social TV is a massive phenomenon and a critical element of our Super Bowl campaigns.” With 60% of Super Bowl watchers expected to have a second screen — smartphone, laptop or tablet — running, advertisers are hoping to cash in on this massive, captivated audience.

What to Watch For

• The Super Bowl itself — for the first time — has taken a proactive approach to social media engagement and monitoring, leading a Forbes columnist to dub this the “Social Bowl.” From a “get connected” card available at the airport, to a 24-hour, 50-person command center, the Super Bowl host committee is going all out, using social media to deliver a better fan experience during the pre-game festivities and the game.
• Is “checking in” going mainstream? Last year, location-based-service Foursquare experienced a record-setting number of check-ins to the world’s largest, virtual Super Bowl party. This year, social TV app GetGlue, a service that encourages “checking in” for entertainment,  has partnered with NBC to create a special Super Bowl-sticker (there’s even a Coming Soon sticker if you check in early).
• Shazam, which began as a “name that tune”-type app, has been downloaded more than 175 million times. And, it seems poised to be the darling app of Super Bowl advertisers. Shazam recently reported that up to a third of all Super Bowl ads will be “shazam-able.” When viewers shazam an ad, they’re directed to a “branded interaction” — presumably some kind of premium mobile content. The company reports Shazam Social TV campaigns “deliver a 350 percent increase in engagement over ads with a social call to action such as ‘Fan us on Facebook’ or ‘Follow us on Twitter.’” (If you  haven’t downloaded Shazam, make sure you get it before Sunday’s game.)
• Coca Cola’s lovable polar bears will watch — and react — to the Super Bowl game and ads in real time. According to Mashable,

“The two animated bears, one sporting a red scarf signaling his support of the New York Giants, the other wearing a blue and grey scarf for the New England Patriots, will be featured in a microsite, CokePolarBowl.com, that will show their reactions to the game. If the Patriots score a touchdown, for instance, the Patriots bear might raise his hands for the touchdown sign, while the Giants bear will hold his head in his hands.”

• But, the big question remains: Which brands will truly embrace the two-way opportunities inherent in social TV by interacting, responding and encouraging conversations from their own social channels during the game? If companies encourage viewers to connect via Facebook and Twitter, I hope the brand’s social media team will interact with people throughout the game, whether it’s about their commercial(s), the game or other related topics.

When it comes to social media and the Super Bowl, what are you most looking forward to? Share your predictions in the comments.
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If you know me at all, you know I am a huge baseball fan. I love the strategy of the game. The records. The history. The pitch-by-pitch, inning-by-inning drama. The more I thought about it, I realized baseball can actually teach PR people a thing or two. Like how to step back up to the plate after a strikeout (or a failed press conference) … or that the ability to perform in the clutch can make or break your career. So, to commemorate the official end of this year’s baseball season (congrats, Giants!), here are nine lessons PR people can learn from baseball.

What other lessons can sports teach us PR practitioners?

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This is a guest post from Dan Farkas.

As a former sports anchor, I like football. As a former sports anchor, I LOVE good hair.

It should come as no surprise that I remember when Mel Kiper Jr., NFL draft guru, talked about a young kid from Southern Mississippi named Brett Favre.  A rocket for an arm who needs time to develop at the pro level.

Two decades later, both have laid claim to being the best in the world at what they do. Favre has every NFL passing record under the sun.  Kiper’s following and hair are Justin Bieber freaky. Yet when it comes to public relations, it amazes me how Kiper’s read on Favre still applies, especially when you consider what Kiper had to deal with last week.

A former NFL agent accused Kiper of giving preferential grades to draft prospects aligned with certain agents. If you’re not a sports fan, this is a big bad no no.

Around this time, word leaked that Favre allegedly sent inappropriate pictures to a female employee of the New York Jets while Favre was a member of the team.

Two PR nightmares. Two totally different ways of handling said nightmares.

Kiper went of the offensive, even as his bosses at ESPN conducted an investigation. Kiper did various radio interviews, denied wrongdoing and had supporting facts to state his case. It was quick. It was transparent. It had measurable data to support the argument.  Within days, ESPN ended its investigation. Kiper Jr. remains an employee of ESPN. How’s that for the value of proactive PR?

Then there’s Favre. When first asked about the issue, Favre said he wanted to focus on the New York Jet defense. I would too. They’re monsters.  Still, the story grows. The NFL begins an investigation.  Monday Night Football crews ask Favre again for comment.  The response is a non-denial and the “I hate to be a distraction” card which causes only more distractions.

Monday, Favre apologizes to his teammates, which leaks to the press. His Vikings lose, so much for focusing on the Jets defense. Then Favre spends the post-game press conference wishing reporters would ask about the play of his wide receiver when some of those reporters don’t even know what a wide receiver is.  I know. Even BP thinks this strategy is flummoxing.

Now Favre is meeting with NFL investigators and could face league discipline. Wrangler Jeans is limiting the scope and scale of its Favre commercials.  His team is a mess. God only knows about his personal life. Had Favre simply said, “This is an ongoing investigation. I can’t talk about it. When it’s over, I’ll talk with all of you about it,” how much of this firestorm would have gone away? Or heaven forbid Favre say exactly what happened to nip this digital frenzy in the bud.  Even if the behavior was wrong, this is a forgiving country.

Talk about the importance of transparency in a brand. If you can say something, say it. If you can’t say something, explain why. Then explain when you’ll be able to share your side of the story.  Seems simple. But wow can it be hard to deliver.

Mel Kiper Jr. isn’t always right about draft prospects.  But he was right about Brett Favre in more ways than one.

Dan Farkas is an Account Director at The Milenthal Group, a lover of web-based video production, and a proud parent to Leah. He’s also thankful for letting Heather give him a chance to blog on her site. You can find Dan @danfarkas on Twitter. Or just e-mail him through dcffarkas@gmail.com.

Not only am I a die-hard baseball fan, but I’m an avid New York Yankees fan. (You can take the girl out of Jersey, but …)

Some of my favorite childhood memories involve baseball — watching games with my parents, learning to keep score, attending dozens of games at the original Yankee Stadium. Heck, we took in a Giants game on our honeymoon! Bottom line: I heart baseball.

So, it irks me around this time of year when fans of small-market teams complain that championships can be bought. (I promise, there’s a social media point … go with me on this.) The notion that the Yankees or any other big-market team is buying a championship is just wrong. Of the teams with the top 10 payrolls in baseball, only two — the Yankees and the Phillies — even made the playoffs. The Mets, Cubs, Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, Mariners, and White Sox? All home, wishing their teams knew how to spend money. Because, as we know from franchises like Tampa and Minnesota, it’s not how much you spend on your team … it’s how you spend the dollars.

So, what does this have to do with social media? There’s a lot of importance placed on website traffic, RSS subscriptions, fans, followers and so on. And, to a certain extent, quantity does matter — otherwise, you’re spending a lot of time just talking to yourself. But, the size of the network isn’t the most important ingredient to success. Instead, success is determined by how you interact with and leverage that network.

In social media and in baseball, it’s not about the size of your wallet or the size of your network. It’s what you do with the dollars or followers that counts.

Photo credit: my honeymoon (and husband’s Flickr photos)

While a number of PR people – a band of leaders, headed by Katie Paine – decry the value of the ad equivalency report as a measure for public relations activities, there’s a reason it still exists. Most of the reasons for its continued use are bogus, but there is one that speaks volumes: Advertising is an “understood” medium in the boardroom … while PR is still misunderstood. Consequently, this leads to the devaluing of PR in far too many organizations.

Case in point: The uproar over General Motor’s decision to give a free corvette to Armado Galarraga, the Detroit Tiger’s pitcher who lost his perfect game because of an umpire’s mistake. From the New York Times:

A free sports car for a Detroit Tigers baseball player was not among the reasons the government saved General Motors from financial collapse.

Rep. Issa, a Congressman from California, has questioned whether this was an effective use of GM’s resources.. According to his spokesperson:

“Until G.M. has repaid the taxpayers in full for the money they have borrowed, every action that G.M. takes should advance them in that direction.”

Of course GM should do what it can to fully repay their government loans, but as GM pointed, that includes investing in public relations, marketing, sponsorships and advertising. If you watch the NBA playoffs, you’ve surely seen GM’s ads. Are watchdogs questioning this high-priced communication tactic (which, by the way, is costing the company far more than one donated car)? Of course not. Generally speaking, people believe that advertising will drive sales, which will enable the company to repay its loans.

Which takes us back to my original point: Management doesn’t “get” PR. How many people read articles that highlighted GM’s gift to Gallaaga? It’s hard to say for sure, but it’s safe to assume it was a PR “homerun” — reaching far more people than a $50,000 (the approximate value of the donated corvette) national ad buy. And, that does matter – even if it’s hard to quantify.

Don’t misunderstand: I’m not calling for a return to ad equivalency reports. To the contrary, I’m saying us PR pros need to step up our game. Do a better job explaining why media placements matter. Reiterate over and over again that PR is more than just media relations (and, for that matter, more than just social media!).

Two communication thought-leaders, Chuck Hemann and Amber Naslund – recently had an interesting back-and-forth on Twitter about PR. They weren’t discussing this topic specifically, but one of Amber’s comments resonated: “No issue is indicative of an entire industry. But, you don’t ignore its potential to impact it.” She very easily could have been helping me make my point. We can’t ignore the fact that advertising “speaks” more clearly to decision makers. They understand (or think they understand) it. hey don’t appreciate the value of awareness, friends/fans or even scores of media placements because we’re not explaining why they matter in business terms. Know what that means? We need to change. They’re the decision maker. They’re in charge. We need to develop a vocabulary that they understand. Otherwise, PR will continue to be devalued … and locked out of the boardroom. But, we know we do our jobs that much better when we have a seat at table.

What do you think?

Just over a year ago, the Phoenix Suns signed up for Twitter account. Now, it’s a valuable tool for the organization to have some fun with fans, giveaway tickets and memorabilia, provide team news, and share community relations updates among other things. They’ve amassed more than 20,000 followers and are widely regarded as one of the sports teams that really “gets it.”

So, what’s the secret to their success? Watch this video interview with Jeramie McPeek, the Suns’ VP of interactive services.

If you’re a sports fan, this has to be one of your favorite times of year — March Madness, the start of a new baseball season, the Master’s, upcoming NFL draft and impending NBA playoffs. For sports fans, it doesn’t get much better than this. Which means it’s also prime time for ESPN.

When it comes to sports media, ESPN is unquestionably the leader. And, while other large media conglomerates have struggled of late, ESPN continues to push the envelope. Last week, ESPN unveiled their latest project — a site dedicated to covering sports in New York. This goes along with ESPN’s other local sites for Chicago, Boston, Dallas and LA sports. While much has been said and written about hyperlocal journalism as the future of media, implementation and adaptation isn’t quite there … at least not yet. But, ESPN has found a formula that works. As one writer observed:

Within a month of the time it was launched, ESPN Chicago drew more unique visitors than the sports sections of the Chicago Tribune or the Chicago Sun-Times. This means that it took ESPN all of one month to overcome the Tribune and Sun-Times’ decades-long head start in building trust and authority and insinuating themselves into readers’ habits, and their 14-year head start in specifically covering Chicago sports online. One month, and all that was out the window.

So, what’s the secret?

• Subject-matter expertise. ESPN employs a cadre of traditional reporters and professional bloggers — people with connections to inside sources. They “go local” with a team designed to provide higher-quality information than what their audience can get elsewhere. Citizen journalism has its place; however, ESPN is showing that professional reporters still have a place, even in a hyperlocal approach.
• Brand consistency. ESPN is already recognized as the worldwide leader in sports. Now, they’re leveraging that brand equity to become the “neighborhood” leader in sports. The incorporation of local reporting doesn’t cause any brand confusion. In fact, the move strengthens the company’s position as the leader. Can the same be said for traditional media attempting to go local, or do these media organizations risk muddling their own brand?
• Minimal competition. When it comes to sports journalism, the competition is pretty slim. FOX Sports failed in their attempt to go head-to-head with ESPN. The magazine Sports Illustrated hasn’t been able to master other mediums. While the competition between traditional media outlets is fierce — and perhaps forcing outlets to be more conservative — ESPN can take more risks because without fearing a loss of dominance.

That’s just  a quick look at some of the factors that help ESPN effectively go local. Can you identify lessons that traditional media should learn from ESPN’s experience? Do you see more traditional media outlets successfully incorporating hyperlocal news into the mix?

Update: It turns out that most of us gave advertisers too much credit. Only a few commercials incorporated social media — and those that did took a very subtle approach. If you’re interested in learning more about which advertisers went social, the KBuzz blog recaps some of the “social” ads.

We all know it’s Super Bowl Sunday — which means some of the year’s best commercials will be debuted. While there’s some debate about the value of spending millions of dollars for 30-seconds of air time, no doubt tomorrow’s  water cooler talk will include lots of people discussing which ads were funny or memorable — and which ones were a hit … or miss.

Pepsi made news when it decided to skip the Super Bowl to focus more resources online. Clearly, marketers are getting hip to the benefits of social media. That begs the question: How many Super Bowl commercials will integrate with online/social media campaigns?

We already know Doritos connected its ad buy to an online user-generated campaign, Crash the Super Bowl. 30+ brands have paid for 50+ commercials. How many will incorporate a “new media” component (user-generated content, online contest, link to Facebook or Twitter in the ad, etc.)?

Take the poll and check back tomorrow for the results.

During Monday’s #journchat, moderator Sarah Evans challenged everyone to reach out to the person who currently holds their “dream job.” Welcoming any excuse to talk to someone in the New York Yankees’ PR department, I gladly accepted the challenge. Thanks to an assist from Tim Massie, I spent a few minutes on the phone with Lauren Moran, the media relations coordinator for my beloved baseball team. (Seriously. I’ve been a fan my whole life. I’m still a Jersey girl at heart!) The following is a summary of our conversation.

A little surprising, Lauren wasn’t a Yankees fan … nor a baseball fan. Until college, that is, when she watched the postseason with a friend. In 2006, Lauren toured the old Yankee stadium, when she saw a media relations department employee selling media guides. On a whim, she asked him if the Yankees hired interns — and he gave her the phone number to call for internships. Lauren didn’t get an internship that semester, but she was asked to assist during the postseason. Then, she was asked to come back for opening day. One day led to another … then an internship … and then a full-time job in November 2007. Today, Lauren is part of a seven-person department, where her primary responsibilities include compiling and coordinating the statistics. Occasionally, she helps coordinate media interviews.

Working for baseball’s most storied team isn’t always glamorous. The hours are grueling and the season is long. During the season, she arrives at work around 8:30 or 9 a.m. and stays until home games are over (frequently after 11 p.m.), or until around 7 p.m. when the team is traveling. The off-season isn’t much slower, when Lauren works about 11 hours a day. Most of that time is spent working on the upcoming season’s 500-page media guide, which includes team history, bios, records and statistics. Despite her lack of free time, Lauren loves her job — which is evident in her enthusiastic voice.

Yankees’ Media Relations

When it comes to handling interview requests, the media relations department is constantly busy, receiving at least a couple dozen requests a day. An impossibly high number, they can’t grant all the interviews. But, the clubhouse and field sidelines are open to credentialed media before and after games, so reporters can try to talk to players then as well.

Because of so much ongoing media interest, the department doesn’t spend a lot of time proactively pitching additional stories. As Lauren explained, the Yankees create their own publicity. Stories take care of themselves. The media relations department does their best to keep the media informed and provide accurate facts. That said, when new programs are introduced, such as last year’s HOPE Week program, the director does proactively reach out to media.

Exploring Social Media

It’s the age-old question: Are bloggers media? Due to the high demand of media requests the Yankees receive, they can’t logistically provide credentials to bloggers and traditional media. It’s a gray line, because many of the beat reporters and “traditional” media are also bloggers. Bloggers whose primary mode of content distribution is online don’t receive access. That said, Lauren acknowledged that the Yankees revisit this challenge multiple times a year. They understand that  some bloggers receive more traffic than “traditional” media, but for now the line needs to be drawn somewhere. (It’s worth noting that this policy probably differs from other teams that may not be inundated with as many media requests.)

Social media is run out of a different department, but Lauren was able to share some bits of information. For example, the team doesn’t have an organization-wide social media policy. The manager and coaches provide guidelines about when players shouldn’t be using social media — for example, probably not during practice. Generally speaking, they just want everyone to be smart about it. The team uses Twitter to provide updates about player appearances, rain delays, signings and trades, etc.

The Woman (Non)Issue

While public relations tends to be a female-dominated field, I’d heard that sports PR skews male. But, four of Lauren’s co-workers are men, compared to three women in the office … not much of a gender difference.

I did ask Lauren about her comfort level regarding the locker room. She explained that female staffers on some teams choose not to enter locker rooms at all; however, Lauren says she goes in sometimes, mostly when it’s open to the media (meaning the players know that women will be coming through). Lauren will venture into the locker room by herself if she’s on deadline or has no other choice, but she tries to avoid it so not to catch the players off-guard or make them feel uncomfortable. All in all, Lauren sees her gender as a non-issue.

Advice: Talk to Everyone

Lauren offered some advice for people considering sports PR:

• This isn’t a 9-5. Be prepared to not have a lot of time on your hands. You give up your freetime.
• Talk to as many people in the industry as you can. You could make a good connection anywhere. (Remember, Lauren got her internship after approaching someone selling media guides!)
• Don’t hesitate to ask questions.

So, what do you think? Ready to go work for your favorite sports team? What do you think about the blogger credentialing issue?

Thank you so much to Lauren for spending a few minutes chatting with me.

Practice makes perfect … at least that’s what we’re told. But, when it comes to crisis communication, PR people don’t often have the luxury of practice. There’s nothing quite like being in the midst of a real crisis situation. For starters, you need to keep a level head, be strategic, think quick and act even quicker — not exactly skills someone teaches you in a classroom.

Over the weekend, Tiger Woods found himself in the midst of a crisis situation. (I’m talking about this from a pure communication perspective. It’s none of my business if he and his wife are or aren’t having marital issues.) Thus far, Team Tiger has communicated virtually nothing to the general public. Meanwhile, Florida Highway Patrol revealed that Woods was in “serious condition,” leaving people to wonder what exactly happened at 2:30 in the morning to the one of the world’s most recognizable athletes.

A crisis situation like this won’t just go away. And, in the absence of information, the rumor mill starts churning and misinformation takes center stage. Already, reporters and PR people have started explaining what they think Tiger should do next. It’s impossible to say with any kind of authority what Tiger’s strategy ought to be, because we don’t have the facts. That said, this does present PR people with an opportunity to say to themselves, “If this were my client, what counsel would I offer?”

So, whether you’re an crisis communication veteran — or a new pro wanting to try to be prepared for your first crisis — recognize this as a learning opportunity. Based on the information that we know, if you were part of Tiger’s inner circle of advisers, how would you suggest he proceed?

UPDATE: Tiger Woods just issued a statement. Check it out. See if that’s what you would have advised him to say. Keeping with the “workshop” theme, what’s the next move?

Photo credit: pshutterbug