Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Is the Tiger Woods Brand in Danger?


No athlete has experienced such a drastic fall from grace as Tiger Woods. From being on top of the sports world to becoming a punch line on late shows everywhere, Tiger finds himself in a public image nightmare. A notoriously private personal life is now under the spotlight of the tabloid circus, which flips and shapes the story to fit every new claim made by a Hollywood waitress.

No doubt this is a trying time for the superstar athlete. But does he deserve such intense media scrutiny? And is the multi-million dollar brand that is Tiger Woods threatened?

As much as Tiger says this is a “private” matter, it is not. While he himself didn’t open the doors to his private life, his position as an immense public figure warrants the attention. Unfair as it may be, his golf skills made him a superstar; his private affairs will bring him back down to reality.

Tiger himself never asked to be framed as such a squeaky-clean persona. The media and his endorsements painted him as such. Consequently, in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, perception = reality. With millions made from selling that flawless public image, he now has to defend it against the same people who just weeks ago did nothing but sing his laurels. That’s just how it is.

The chance of Tiger losing his corporate sponsorships is still unlikely. However, the volatility of this continuing saga may be beginning to catch up with him. Bloomberg reports advertisements featuring Tiger Woods have disappeared from prime-time broadcast television and many cable channels following reports of his extramarital affairs, according to data from Nielsen Co.

The longer the tabloid-driven story continues to gain momentum, the greater the danger it has of permanently tarnishing the Tiger Woods brand. As many PR gurus have suggested (who I won’t even pretend to be in the same league as), Tiger needs to get ahead of the story and come clean. The devil is in the details, and right now the tabloids are filling in the details. Staying silent will only continue to fuel the fire.

In the end, Tiger can take a page from Kobe Bryant and Michael Phelps – by putting as much as possible out in the open, apologizing, and then immediately begin rebuilding himself and his family.

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Monday, November 23, 2009

Jordan's Best On-Air Moments

All the best moments from the hottest show on Ann Arbor Community TV, "Senior Moments!" Enjoy.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Net Neutrality: Both Sides of the Issue

Net neutrality is a hot-button issue on the web and in the media, pitting the FCC and companies such as Google against Internet service providers like Comcast and Time Warner. But what does net neutrality mean?

The debate centers over whether an ISP’s ability to “discriminate against” certain data on its network should be regulated by the government. This debate reached my Electronic Media Operations class (by me arguing with my professor) after the TA showed the following video and proclaimed, “All corporations care about is money.” Check it out...and beware the evil corporation spaceships.



The video makes some very legitimate points, but blatantly expresses an ideological point of view. (Did you catch it?) If you missed it, here’s some knowledge…

Free Press, a so-called non-partisan media advocacy organization founded by Robert McChesney, sponsors “Save the Internet.” McChesney is a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the former editor of the socialist Monthly Review. Here is an example of what McChesney believes, taken from his article, “The New New Deal Under Obama.”

"These gains will only be made through an enormous class struggle from below. If won, they will not, we underscore, eliminate the evils of capitalism, or the dangers it poses for the world and its people. In the end, there is no real answer but to remove brick by brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles."

A radical far-left statement, if I could say so myself. And I can. While it is perfectly understandable to support net neutrality, the previous comment does not help the cause, and is extremely concerning.

Regardless of personal opinion, I only ask of my professor to show all sides of the issue, not just the one he or she deems correct. So I’m going to do something my teacher didn’t, and allow people to make their own decisions about the issue. Take a look.




Monday, November 9, 2009

Proud to be a Detroiter


The past few years have not been kind to Detroit, most evident in the fact that its unemployment rate sits at 28.9%—the highest in the country. That figure, along with a government full of corruption, doesn't give Detroiters a lot to brag about. The city has become the brunt of many jokes in the media and its reputation as a graveyard to those outside the city seems to have spread.

So where is the light at the end of the tunnel?

Detroit is looking to become the epicenter of the green job revolution. The Green Jobs Initiative, as it is being called, will invest $6 million into training for jobs that can be classified as energy efficient. However, unlike the energy sources this initiative promotes, green jobs themselves have yet to be proven sustainable in our economy.

Still yet, Ford recently posted a surprise third-quarter profit of $997 million, its first profitable quarter in North America in more than four years.

Finally, Forbes recently released a study that places Detroit as the 12th safest city in the U.S., ahead of Chicago and Pittsburgh among others. This announcement comes just six months after the magazine named the Motor City the most dangerous city in the United States. For a place that used to have the highest rate of violent crime in the country, that ain't too shabby.

Detroiters have always been a proud and hard-working people, and this attitude continues to shine through in the face of adversity. Detroit is still the beating heart of the auto-industry, the birthplace of techno, and Hockeytown.

The next time someone makes an unwarranted comment about my city, I may have to call up the boys down on 8 Mile and Gratiot to pay them a visit.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Move over hand sports, here comes soccer!


Americans love fast things- NASCAR, running backs, and EZ Mac- all ingrained in the American psyche. So it’s understandable why soccer hasn’t enjoyed the popularity other sports have. Frankly, the mention of soccer usually makes the traditional U.S. sports fan cringe. Times are changing though, and soccer’s momentum is slowly gaining…and advertisers are taking notice.

With the World Cup fast approaching, ad campaigns showing soccer are targeting more than just mini-van driving soccer moms. The male young adult demo, usually dominated by football and basketball ads, is also being reached by soccer. AXE shower gel, among others, has most noticeably embraced this notion with its “Beautiful Game” television ads and website contest.

The increased attention towards soccer can be attributed to a few things, namely an increase in television viewership for pro soccer events. According to majorleaguesoccertalk.com, Major League Soccer has seen a 15% increase in viewership on ESPN2 this season and a 60% increase in viewership on Fox Soccer Channel. Matches involving David Beckham averaged over 400,000 viewers on the network.

The ever-expanding Latino population (and their buying power) is another reason soccer is seeing the light of day. In the latest annual report on minority buying power by the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business, Latino buying power is due to surpass $860 billion in 2007 and exceed $1.2 trillion in five years. At this rate, Latino buying power will be the largest multicultural market by 2012.

What ever your opinion of the “beautiful game,” recognizing the increasing advertising power soccer possesses is something marketers will need to recognize in the near future. As T.V. ratings keep going up- and with no end of Latin influence in sight, soccer is going nowhere...fast.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Social Media Bandwagon

Do you remember life before Facebook? Life before you could share your thoughts and pictures with the rest of the world?

The social media revolution, while good for keeping up on what your favorite celebrity is having for lunch or for stalking a ex-girlfriend, is also having a profound affect on important issues in our lives. Australia’s Griffith University has made Twitter a required class for journalism students, citing an increase in demand from employers for new hires who are well-versed in social media. Still yet, dissemination of info on Twitter and the Internet helped drive the momentum of the recent green revolution in Iran.

So what’s this mean for you?

It’s time to start taking Twitter and other interactive media seriously, especially if you’re looking to get into PR or business.

From reputation management to branding, social media is getting its sticky fingers into all aspects of the business honey jar. Social media is being used to increase brand awareness, influence a consumer’s decision-making process, and to help position companies as leaders in their respective industries.

For PR people, knowing what the public is saying in the blogosphere about your company or client is something that needs to be dealt with head on. Social media is a word-of-mouth campaign on crack, where the message is traveling through numerous media in a matter of minutes.

Where ever your focus, knowing how to properly utilize social media will give you a leg-up on the competition. So get on LinkedIn, open that Twitter account, write a blog, and start sharing (preferably not the picture of you taking that keg stand like a champ.)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

New Website

New Website Launch - Take a look!

www.jordanfylonenko.com