Tag Archives: Sally Jenkins

Branding, Reputation Case Study, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

She may not have won last Sunday’s Daytona 500, but rookie NASCAR driver Danica Patrick definitely attracted the most buzz. Most of that attention focused on how she became the first woman to earn the pole position at Daytona. While some may still know her by her appearances in risqué GoDaddy.com ads than for her driving, a closer look at her story reveals just how much time, effort and planning has gone into her brand. According to an in-depth ESPN Magazine profile by Janet Reitman, it all started with “Plan Danica.” Reitman describes how Patrick caught the racing bug as a young girl and soon had her own “hero cards, the flashy racing version of baseball cards, as well as T-shirts featuring her name and picture.” After her father signed her up for a public speaking course, Patrick “blossomed into a polished pitchwoman,” said Reitman.

Off to the Races

When major media outlets came knocking a few years later, Patrick was ready, and her hard work both on and off the track continued to pay off. In 2002 she was picked up by David Letterman’s and Bobby Rahal’s Rahal Letterman Racing, and in 2005 she was named “Rookie of the Year” at the Indianapolis 500. Another major strategic decision was Patrick’s move from IndyCar to NASCAR. Her recent success will surely be a boost for the racing league, which is already a huge industry. “Right now, the spotlight is on Danica Patrick, someone who has no problem making headlines and handling same,” writes Forbes’ Darren Heitner. “Her 720,000+ followers on Twitter do not mind the attention Danica is demanding.  Neither does NASCAR.” An early start isn’t the only factor that has contributed to Patrick’s success and high profile. Her gender has made her story unique in the racing world, but her management of that story has been the key. Sally Jenkins’s Washington Post column sums it up perfectly:

“What’s most interesting to me about Patrick, though, is not her womanness, but how she deals with it. Watching her walk through her fledgling career as the only female in NASCAR is not unlike watching a driver adroitly pick off cars, negotiate curves and avoid trouble in a crowded field. It’s an essay in control. In talking to her about this larger performance, what you get is a blast of cool intelligence, a fundamentally composed whip-smartness.”

Shifting Gears

After earning her place at the front of the pack, she has begun tackling her next challenge: getting major wins on the racetrack and refining her brand. “Patrick finally seems ready to shed her reputation as a model and finally contend in races this year,” writes The Sports Quotient’s Will Hayman. Her success at Daytona was a big step, and she’s also been letting the public see more of her genuine self. “The difference between the Patrick of old and today’s version is the newer one appears to be more open and less guarded,” observes NBC Sports’ Tony Dizinno. Another smart move was picking up a Coca-Cola sponsorship last year. “It’s amazing how much my message aligned with [their brand] so well,” she told USA Today. “I feel you really can have it all in life if you do it right and work hard enough.”

 
 
Crisis Management, , , , , , , ,

Though the uproar over replacement referees actually boosted television ratings, the swift end to the NFL referee lockout last week demonstrated how important integrity and quality is to the league and its millions of fans.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was at the center of the controversy, not only because he is the “most powerful man in sports,” but also because he has “made protecting certain aspects of the sport’s good name his consuming aim,” according to the New York Times’ Judy Battista. Elevating the league’s standards both on and off the field with moves like a strict personal conduct policy and heavy punishments for New Orleans’ ‘Bountygate,’ Goodell has bolstered the NFL’s excellent brand and helped it become “America’s premier sports league by sheer entertainment value, a demand for perfection, and a hard-earned reputation for integrity,” according to the Christian Science Monitor’s Patrik Jonsson.

Controversy showed the importance of referees to NFL’s integrity

The lockout controversy showed how important the referees are to that integrity – and how undervalued they had been from that standpoint. Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins offers a fascinating account of how officiating has been an integral part of American football since its beginnings, distinguishing it from the traditional “honor code” of British rugby. Given its fundamental role in the sport, its not surprising that less skilled officiating had a significant impact on the level of play.

Goodell and the NFL were criticized for coasting along on fan loyalty and replacements until they could negotiate a better contract with the referees. They didn’t appear to realize that loyalty is based on certain expectations, among them quality officiating. “For the NFL to lack integrity based on the replacement officials quickly became a big problem for them, because people expect perfection and the product to be seamless,” USC Sports Business Institute David Carter told the Alaska Dispatch. The regular officials sometimes make bad calls, too, but “the difference in those cases was that fans, players and coaches knew it was a mistake and did not think that the league had allowed incompetence to determine games in the name of a more favorable business deal,” according to the Times’ Battista.

Fan outrage & endangered NFL reputation was the turning point

The turning point was the controversial ending to last Monday’s Seahawks-Packers game, which sparked widespread outrage that registered on social media, in an ESPN fan poll, and even reached the White House, with President Obama calling the game-deciding call “terrible.” With its reputation clearly in danger, the NFL and the referees quickly returned to the negotiating table and hammered out a compromise. “No matter how money-driven fans think Roger Goodell and the owners are, they are human beings,” writes ESPN’s Darren Rovell. “They do have pride in what they do.”

Both sides were hoping that they would emerge from the lockout with the best deal, but it looks like each ended up putting their sport’s reputation ahead of getting exactly what they wanted. The deal showed that the NFL “is willing to share its prodigious wealth to protect the reputation of the game,” according to the Washington Post’s Tracee Hamilton, but she also highlights the referees’ agreement to let the league hire additional officials and fire underperforming ones. “This was a concession by the union, and an important one,” Hamilton says. “If the league wants to protect its image, and the officials want to be regarded as an integral part of the NFL, they have to be held to a high standard.” Goodell defended the league’s decisions in a letter to fans, but he also acknowledged that the lockout’s damage would require mending. “We always are going to have to work harder to make sure we get people’s trust and confidence in us,” he said.