Blacknbengal
Well-Known Member
Birmingham's no place to promote NBA game at VBC
07/25/02
My favorite story about ineptness in promotions and public relations:
It was Dec. 22, 1998, and it was a great early Christmas gift for a smart-aleck columnist.
The Tennessee Oilers were becoming the Titans. They were on this grand ''outreach'' quest to generate enthusiasm in places other than Nashville, so they went to various cities to introduce their fancy new logo. They set up a stop in North Alabama. They invited me to the ceremony.
At 10 a.m., the Titans - whisk! - simultaneously revealed the logo, at the Parthenon in Nashville and in Knoxville and Chattanooga and Bowling Green, Ky.
And in Athens, Ala.
On the radio.
Live and in color, they unveiled the logo on the radio. Doesn't it sound pretty? The radio guy fumbled to describe it, like explaining hieroglyphics.
I wrote that the Titans promised a secondary logo, and that I spoke for Titans fans everywhere when I said I couldn't wait to hear it, too.
That was my favorite P.R. klutz story . . . until Wednesday.
The Atlanta Hawks, Huntsville Flight, NBA and NBDL, comical co-conspirators all, held a press conference Wednesday morning.
They were inviting us to the event to promote the Hawks-Indiana Pacers exhibition to be played Oct. 19 in Huntsville's Von Braun Center.
They held the press conference in Birmingham.
The Hawks dispatched their director of basketball operations Billy Knight and center Theo Ratliff to Birmingham ''to meet the media.'' It might as well have been Gladys Knight and Theo Huxtable.
Our newspaper did not attend. I hope none of my colleagues in the local electronic media attended, either; since no free meal was assured, I suspect they didn't.
The geography is both inept and an insult.
Though the media advisory didn't mention it, the Hawks have a game against Miami on Oct. 17 in Birmingham. Hence the location.
Still, what does it say about all the co-conspirators and the way they feel about Huntsville, which, unlike Birmingham, has a NBDL team and spent substantial money and ruined many other relationships to snatch the franchise?
Is this city not worth the extra effort to bring the Hawks personnel here?
Is it, then, worth our effort and money to go to the game?
Is the NBA suddenly being run by the same people who run Major League Baseball?
Let me make this clear. I have been an advocate for the Flight. I enjoyed the games. I thought the players were good guys and played hard. I think the world of coach Ralph Lewis. I wish more people went to games.
By the same token, I have also been loudly skeptical about the NBDL's future and its overall operation. I have been loudly skeptical about this area's overall interest in basketball.
This Birmingham soiree was a slap in the face to Huntsville. It says more than Knight and Ratliff could ever say in a press conference.
And this time, I can certainly wait to hear what comes next.
07/25/02
My favorite story about ineptness in promotions and public relations:
It was Dec. 22, 1998, and it was a great early Christmas gift for a smart-aleck columnist.
The Tennessee Oilers were becoming the Titans. They were on this grand ''outreach'' quest to generate enthusiasm in places other than Nashville, so they went to various cities to introduce their fancy new logo. They set up a stop in North Alabama. They invited me to the ceremony.
At 10 a.m., the Titans - whisk! - simultaneously revealed the logo, at the Parthenon in Nashville and in Knoxville and Chattanooga and Bowling Green, Ky.
And in Athens, Ala.
On the radio.
Live and in color, they unveiled the logo on the radio. Doesn't it sound pretty? The radio guy fumbled to describe it, like explaining hieroglyphics.
I wrote that the Titans promised a secondary logo, and that I spoke for Titans fans everywhere when I said I couldn't wait to hear it, too.
That was my favorite P.R. klutz story . . . until Wednesday.
The Atlanta Hawks, Huntsville Flight, NBA and NBDL, comical co-conspirators all, held a press conference Wednesday morning.
They were inviting us to the event to promote the Hawks-Indiana Pacers exhibition to be played Oct. 19 in Huntsville's Von Braun Center.
They held the press conference in Birmingham.
The Hawks dispatched their director of basketball operations Billy Knight and center Theo Ratliff to Birmingham ''to meet the media.'' It might as well have been Gladys Knight and Theo Huxtable.
Our newspaper did not attend. I hope none of my colleagues in the local electronic media attended, either; since no free meal was assured, I suspect they didn't.
The geography is both inept and an insult.
Though the media advisory didn't mention it, the Hawks have a game against Miami on Oct. 17 in Birmingham. Hence the location.
Still, what does it say about all the co-conspirators and the way they feel about Huntsville, which, unlike Birmingham, has a NBDL team and spent substantial money and ruined many other relationships to snatch the franchise?
Is this city not worth the extra effort to bring the Hawks personnel here?
Is it, then, worth our effort and money to go to the game?
Is the NBA suddenly being run by the same people who run Major League Baseball?
Let me make this clear. I have been an advocate for the Flight. I enjoyed the games. I thought the players were good guys and played hard. I think the world of coach Ralph Lewis. I wish more people went to games.
By the same token, I have also been loudly skeptical about the NBDL's future and its overall operation. I have been loudly skeptical about this area's overall interest in basketball.
This Birmingham soiree was a slap in the face to Huntsville. It says more than Knight and Ratliff could ever say in a press conference.
And this time, I can certainly wait to hear what comes next.
