Saving the Chargers Stadium Campaign for the National Football League

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Saving the Chargers Stadium Campaign for the National Football League
Part 3 of 7: Internet Strategies

This supplement to the June 12, 2002 "Saving The Chargers Stadium Campaign For San Diego," details how to dove tail traditional media/PR with Internet/PR to create community dialogue leading to a successful "Save the Chargers" and "New Stadium" Campaign.

Communications Strategies Campaign Goals

Generate fan awareness and interest in the Chargers’ 2002 Season
PR campaign for Spanos family: going from loathed to loved, from condemned to celebrated
Generate fan interest in new Head Coach, his record, and the Chargers’ future
Begin process to make Chargers rivals to the 49ers and Raiders in the hearts of California football fans
Begin human interest stories re team members, players and coaches
Begin campaign to average 60,000 fans/game in the stadium
1. Increase number of season ticket holders
2. Create ticket give a way plan to generate more single game ticket sales
Begin the process to double the value of the team within four years
Generate support for a new stadium among all tax payers (fans, officials)
Generate support for the no new taxes financing of the new stadium
Begin the process to generate $200 million/year during first year of new stadium
Hammer on the "Three J’s" of the Campaign: Jobs (which contributes mightily to the economy), Juice (which the money involved to finance, build, and pay workers), and the Joy (which is the reaction of fans knowing they will not lose their team)
Dispel the belief that the Chargers are leaving and therefore shouldn’t be backed with support of any kind, including season tickets and single game ticket holders.

Recommended Themes

The Chargers are the People’s Team.
The Chargers Can Be Saved Without Needing New Taxes.
Stay united, not divided, and open campaign to all citizens as the Mayor has requested.
The stadium issues address all of the tough economic times ahead for most cities in the future, promising jobs, revenue, economic growth, pro-team quality of life for all citizens.
The best problem solving discipline is communications.
There is no Teflon, whether in the private or public sector, even for the formidable.
It is true for all: you cannot not communicate. Everything said and done is a communication.

Overall Strategy Setting Up the Internet Strategy for Communications Success

Openness with the press and regular press conferences.
Clear Gideon-like commitments and alertness by all staff and volunteers.
Use the proven communications models suggested by PeterJessen-gpa.com. Use different ones for different campaign purposes.
Hold backgrounders for media representatives who are straight with the facts and information. Don’t let rumors or suspicions build.
Develop a communications target list for the first 100 days in office. Each week review and change as needed and add seven more days. At the end of 60 days, do so for the fourth month, etc.
Take advantage of the INTERNET, as outlined below, with an interactive, flexibly changing web page and Email communications.

Suggested Uses of the Internet end Email Strategies

Take advantage of the Internet with an interactive, flexibly changing web page, such as www.chargersstadium.com and www.chargers.com.

Develop email lists of all reporters, print and broadcast and cable in San Diego, and, as appropriate, San Francisco, Oakland, and Sacramento, as well as selected national ones (especially those with whom good relations already exist). Create buzz.
Put an auto responder on each web site for instant responses to emails, with those to actually respond to with more to be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Have explanatory paragraphs for most issues for use in selecting email responses.
Have all email responses end with "Support Save Our Chargers Campaign"
Send out a short one paragraph statement every day, with reference to longer pieces on the campaign web sites
Use the 1-2-3-4 knock out punch of the Internet of reach of audience/exposure; richness of content (quantity and quality); affiliation for loyalty, and navigational control/influence (which is changing things faster than we can sometimes comprehend, so why not create a parade rather than follow someone else's), with interaction in ways that are still being explored and discovered, in order to impact positively on the "Save Our Chargers" new stadium campaign.
In other words: Exploit the differences in communications channels by adapting to each accordingly: the far-reach-here-for-a-moment-and-gone-just-as-fast-TV and radio; sound-bite and highlight needs of TV, the extended debate needs of talk radio, the reach and information richness of local newspapers, the vast reach and lesser richness content format of national print media, the excitable point needs of columnists (take the offensive and turn controversies into positives, and the Internet, as noted above, which brings three new dimensions/dynamics to the communications strategy party:
1. transparency (all is open)
2. speed (blur)
3. the 1-2-3-4 knock out punch noted above of reach, richness, affiliation, and navigation.
Develop and add to WEB LOGS, which can run on any site, and which run in reverse chronological order, including listing relevant web sites, so people can follow the history of the development of the "Save The Chargers" campaign.
Web Stream news conferences and game highlight on the web site, so media, fans, etc., can hear from the organization's key people, and talk about subjects close to their heart without having to be edited to a too short piece or edited by media where the message is considerably different from the unedited version.
Maintain an updated new stadium pamphlet on both web sites that can be quickly Emailed (quicker, cheaper, easier) to provide any news outlet or fan that asks.
The Web page can also create the "perfect" periodic, easily changeable pamphlet to reflect the Communications Strategy approach being followed at the moment, as well as enable the providing of "examples" of what is undermining and sabotaging the otherwise fine relationship between the organization and the people.
Use an intranet for the Charger organization and its consultants, on which can be placed schedules, commentaries, favorable media pieces, and provide navigational links to appropriate information related to the campaign (see layout of www.ceoexpress.com).
Have a chat room on the Internet site to discuss the campaign and to keep up with the debates in the community and among the voters. Chat rooms are the biggest "value" AOL provides to its users, and creates it "stickiness" (return visits).
Have a designated consultant from PeterJessen-gpa.com provide input into any continuing negative thread that might appear on one of the major newspaper’s web site, in order to provide a positive response. Keep an eye out for others and respond to them as well.
Develop a FAQ list, updated regularly on the Internet site.
More interactive website: include streaming footage of the Chargers (owners, head coach, players) about subjects close to their hearts.
Create a database of visitors that will receive regular Charger news emails, etc.
Get 3rd party spear carriers/water carriers: prominent businesspersons or government officials, columns or lead stories in local/national/world newspapers and magazines. Place their positive statements about the Chargers in general and stadium in particular on both web sites.
Use selected printed materials:
1. "Tradition Book" and video/DVD to tell the story of the organization, accomplishments and glory and significance.
2. "Tail Gate Guide" for use by fans to celebrate, with advertisers limited to those with products, services, stations, or publications that could be used at a tail gate party.
Use the "Work Out" method of GE to get the message to all in the organization, top to bottom: three books to look at: one on Jack Welch, one on GE, one on using the work out method.
Use the Internet medium to provide rapid responses to negatives news/columns about the organization: Use parallel columns. In the column to the left = falsehoods. Column to the right = the facts, citing the source for each. Archival research would be prominently displayed, and added to as new material is developed. When this is a sensitive issue, hold a truth on-line contest to see which voter can find the most blatant and obviously false statements.
Net Gain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities: Hagel and Armstrong make the case that business success in the very near future will depend on using the Internet to build not just relationships, but communities. They also discuss how noncommercial Web communities could use content, chat, and bulletin boards to promote e-commerce. In our case, it is to promote acceptance of a new Governor.
Hosting Web Communities: Building Relationships, Increasing Customer Loyalty, and Maintaining A Competitive Edge: Figallo shows the advantages businesses can gain from creating or supporting online communities, plus what types of expectations are unrealistic. He believes, for example, that creating online communities is not a reasonable way to directly boost sales or provide a highly profitable income stream. He does show, however, that it can offer major corporate advantages in the same way that good public relations or other indirect marketing activities do.
Have links to:
1. A ten minute radio show
2. A call-in local TV show, either broadcast or community access, which ever can be obtained.
3. Other newspapers in California. Use a journalism link to other papers as done by www.ceoexpress.com, including to alternative newspapers.
Rapid Response and "Damage Control" Process
1. Use the Internet medium to provide rapid responses to negatives news/columns about the organization: Use parallel columns. In the column to the left = falsehoods. Column to the right = the facts, citing the source for each. Archival research would be prominently displayed, and added to as new material is developed. When this is a sensitive issue, hold a truth on-line contest to see which voter can find the most blatant and obviously false statements.
2. Have a "rapid response" policy (and criteria for when to use it and when to leave it in the drawer) to combat the attacks and hostilities from both print and broadcast media, in order to give the campaign a chance to influence the desired outcomes (all falsehoods must be responded to, but only to the falsehood).
3. Apply the "Damage Control Rapid Responses" to events, controlled and uncontrolled, meeting lies or innuendoes with facts, and, where errors have been committed, acknowledgement combined with announcing the steps taken to correct and steps to take to prevent repetition.

Read Part 4 »

Page content written / posted: 06-12-02, 01-20-03