YOU are responsible for your organization’s “official” response.
This group of PR Nightmare assignments will challenge your Crisis Control ability to publicly respond to a specific type of case that impacts your sport organization. Your response should take into consideration the issue at hand, and provide a balanced and measured appropriate response to this breaking news issue. Consider that you are the VP of Communications, or the last person to sign off on any public statement. It is YOUR responsibility to make sure your press release fits the bill.
You can select which organization you want to report for. Are you a NY Yankees fan, or do you want to represent Liverpool? You can select any organization, or player for these assignments. Did Tom Brady do something wrong, or did Popovich mess up again?
Select any sport, or personality you want… Just be sure to take into consideration their team history with this type of issue, and any historical circumstances that should factor into the correct reply.
Select your favorite team, or favorite rival when completing this assignment. My advice is to pick a team you want to work for.
The assignment and your response go beyond just the “official reply” as these can be quite short, direct, or general in nature. We want you to consider some other elements when crafting your reply, and then think beyond what should happen next. What are some corrective actions that your organization can take to remedy this issue? Are there any ways to turn this into a positive? Please note the rubric below that will help illustrate how your assignment will be graded.
How to Submit:
Feel free to follow this general template when completing these assignments. You can submit your PR Nightmares in any format you wish. A quick video that addresses the assignment and walks the viewer through each of the associated questions can be used. Simply record and post to Studio and then to the assignment link. Likewise, you can also record an audio podcast version of your response and post the audio file in Canvas. You could create a Power Point, Keynote, Prezi, or any type of presentation, or simply use Word to write your answers down.
Project Template: Address and describe the items below in detail. Expand on your ideas, and provide perspective as how you believe your ideas will be effective. If you are recording video, or audio be sure to cover each of these elements in your response. Explaining more is typically better than brevity which can leave the viewer/reader unsure.
- Summarize
What is the issue at hand: Use the provided incident in Canvas, and customize the player or club you plan to help with your “official statement” Briefly describe what happened in your example issue.
- “Official Response”
This portion of the assignment will be the only information that will be released to the public.
- Copy Strategy
Summarize “why” you selected to say what you said. Why do you expect this to work, and what do you expect this will do? What type of impact will this statement make, and how does it either resolve the issue at hand, buy your organization time, save face for your team, or result in some sort of positive? Describe your decisions and ideas in detail.
Copy: The words that you used in your official response were used because?
Strategy: How will you release this information. official press release, Social Media (Twitter, Instagram, Youtube)
What should be included in the statement? What did you exclude and why?
- Stakeholder Impact
Who are the primary stakeholders in this situation? How does this approach help your primary and secondary stakeholders?
– Organization – Ownership
– Club/Team – Coaches
– Players/ Player involved
– Partners
- Solutions / Corrective Actions
What is the follow-up response from your organization? How does it:
– Appeal to Partners
– Appeal to Fans
– Prescribe corrective actions
– Potential for Positive Solutions or results of this issue
