Public Relations Strategy of Josh Gordon - Essay Sample

Introduction

Joshua Caleb Gordon, tagged 'Flash', is an American football wide receiver for the New England Patriots of the NFL (National Football League). Gordon previously played university football at Baylor, where he was then scouted by Cleveland Brown's head hunters in the second bout of the 2012 NFL Supplemental Draft. Currently, Gordon is under indefinite suspension by the NFL for violating the terms of his conditional return, under the league's substance abuse laws. The suspension announcement came shortly after Gordon publicized that he was taking a break from the NFL to center his efforts on his mental health.

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This has left behind a PR nightmare, as the wide receiver has now missed almost three seasons and is rumored to have mounting substance and financial issues. There is pressure from the Patriot fans to drop the wide receiver as his personal conduct is tarnishing that of the team. As the lead P.R.O (Public Relations Officer), I have received numerous requests from media houses and freelance journalists to interview Gordon and also, as the Patriot's communication lead, to be interviewed on his behalf. To this regard, the Public Relations team at New England Patriots has categorically stated that there will be no interviews with Joshua Gordon, however, as the P.R. team, we are to prepare for media requests. Outlined are ways in which the department is preparing for media requests.

First is by seeking to establish the angle an interviewer or media house has in mind during an interview. This aids in giving us a rough direction in which the interview may go.

There are media houses that wish to tarnish Gordon's image as bad publicity sells better than good publicity, whereas there are those that wish to have interviews for the sake of informing the public of the reality currently. Albeit there is no true way of judging an interviewer's intention, this was a broad stroke the P.R. team established as it would give us a general direction on which interviews to accept and which to deny.

Handling the Media During Interviews

There is a myriad of things that one should watch out for whilst undertaking an interview with any form of press (Max, n.p). First, is the off-the-record comment, usually made by journalists which may or may not be meant. The Patriots P.R. team is versed in handling this particular remark and the answer to it is to say "I do not want to go off the record". At times journalists say off the record and go ahead and publish information that was given to them in confidence. Thus, by staying 'on-record' the P.R. team is always on their guard not to say anything that may damage the reputation of both the Patriots and Gordon further.

The second aspect of handling interviews is not succumbing to deadline pressure. This refers to last-minute calls from any media outlets, emphasizing that they have a story or lead on Gordon that they would wish the team's management to comment on or give further information. The P.R. team at Patriot is trained in this as well and the remedy for such situations is telling the press outlet that we have received their notification and that the P.R. team will respond to the allegation/information/queries after considering the full vector of information at our disposal. This not only gives the P.R. team time to get the best angle to meet the situation but also alleviates any pressured responses.

An additional method of handling interviews is doing background checks. Not all interviews happen in front of a television broadcast and a live audience (Marx, n.p). Some are conducted by journalists who assume aliases and sometimes may even target teammates or other personnel that may have knowledge of Gordon's situation. The remedy to this is acquiring the person's information then doing a background check to see if they say they are tallies with what we find out. This will prevent the leakage of information to the press unknowingly.

The final methods of handling interviews are watching out for trick questions by journalists. Trick questions usually put the interviewee in a 'safe' place hence they feel any information they divulge is considered private while this is not the case. Such questions, as per Marx usually start with or have the phrases; "Who's going to inform us, the public, about this if you don't?", "Don't you think it's appalling that ...", "Just between you and me ..." Such questions are usually deceitful and should be watched out for by any P.R. officer.

Press Release to Handle the Situation

A press release is an official statement from an organization or individual, giving official information about a particular issue. With regard to Gordon's situation, the press release we would release will have the following characteristics; first is a strong headline that emotionally invokes the audience or prompts them to support of the wide receiver. For Instance; Patriot Fans are pivotal to Gordon's continuing recovery, or Flash set to make a comeback! All these are emotive statements and predispose the audience favorably towards the player and further, make them want to be involved in the player's recovery. Second is making the press release as brief as possible, this is by answering the; who, what, when, where, why, and how questions in the first paragraph. This quickly gives the impression that the press release is newsworthy and thus media outlets are likely to publicize it.

In addition to this is using quotes within the press release. Quotes add a human feel to the press release and make the audience feel like it is news that affects them and it is not just another sports agency or team seeking the limelight. This will make sports fans want to hear the contents of the press release and to a large extent, relate positively to it. Next is by using visuals in the press release, this is because the human mind processes visual information 60,000 times faster than it does text and sound. Thus using images like Gordon' catching the ball or making a touch down will most likely get people to want to read the press release. In addition, the press release will be kept short and to the point, as Comcowich suggests.

The last paragraph of the press release should be a call to action, this will spur the reader to do a prescribed action. For instance; come out to the field as support the returned Patriot! Or Share this widely if you're a Patriots' fan! Or let's run with the Flash! All of these are emotive and connect to the audience, motivating them to do a particular action.

Works Cited

Wendy, Marx. 10 Press Release Best Practices That Will Skyrocket Your PR. B2B PR sense Blog, Marx Communications. (2018). Accessed from https://b2bprblog.marxcommunications.com/b2bpr/10-press-release-best-practices, on 20th March 2019.

William, Comcowich. 9 Sneaky Media Interview Tricks and How to Respond to them. Glean.info, Media Relations Publication. (2018) Accessed from; https://glean.info/9-sneaky-media-interview-tricks-and-how-to-respond/ on 20th March 2019.