Perhaps the single worst thing that can be said about a hockey player is that he’s ‘soft.’ And when Los Angeles King forward Dustin Penner revealed last week that he injured himself while eating his wife’s pancakes, the sports world broke out in a huge series of guffaws.
After all, what could be more damaging to the brand of a hockey player than throwing out his back and missing a game after bending over to pour the syrup on his pancakes?
Just imagine the trash talk from opposing players and the snarky comments from fans.
The story raced through the twitter verse, acquiring the hashtag #pennercakes.
Bloggers sprained wrists rushing to type their wisecracks.
In a hurry, Dustin Penner became a damaged brand.
I took a call from Penner’s agent at The Sports Corporation in Edmonton, Canada.
He said Penner wanted to respond.
I replied that the only way I could see to turn things around was to try humor.
Anyone in the PR business will agree that telling clients to respond to damaging stories with humor is usually a non-starter.
But Penner’s agent said Dustin had already come up with a funny ‘open letter’ to the hockey world.
Here it is and I assure you it was not only Penner’s idea, but also his words. I did far less copy-editing of his writing than I did on many of the reporter scripts I saw at CNN. My role wasn’t much more than affirming the solid instincts of Penner and his agent.
So it seems as though I need to address Pancakegate for those in the sports media world, as well as those following #pennercakes on twitter, in light of the recent phenomenon I’ve created.
Right off the bat, I’d like to clarify a few things.
For example, they were vegetarian pancakes. The injury happened as I was sitting down to eat, not mid-bite. And yes, I did finish them.
There has been some feedback from the media as a whole regarding the lack of transparency involving injuries. So, I decided to be candid.
First and foremost, I think we can agree that having delicious pancakes that your wife made for breakfast, for a 1pm game, is not out of the norm. Secondly, “SOBS” (Sudden Onset Back Spasms) can occur at any moment, doing just about anything you can think of, and is a very serious issue. Those who have experienced “SOBS,” know it is no laughing matter. I’m a little hurt, to tell you the truth, that the plight of my people isn’t being taken seriously. Frankly, I don’t mind the attention and there’s no such thing as bad press, right? Apparently, I made it onto ESPN’s ‘Around the Horn’ and joined Kings’ ATH alumnus Dustin Brown (see water bottle incident) and have also became a twitter sensation overnight (with hashtag #pennercakes). So, I’m hoping to get an endorsement from IHOP or Denny’s. The main thing here though is that we were able to bring attention to a serious issue like “SOBS” and hopefully find a treatment and unmask the mystery of it all. In closing, for those who know how to laugh and find humor in life I hope they’ve enjoyed this as much as I did. In an effort to end the entire experience on a high note, I’m partnering with MayorsManor to sponsor a ‘Pancakes with Penner’ breakfast. In the weeks to come we’ll be setting up a special raffle. Fans will be able to purchase tickets for $1.00 for a chance to have a pancake breakfast with me. All the money raised will go to charity…while we enjoy some delicious pancakes! Be on the lookout for more information soon.
Penner’s sense of humor shines through. It was also his idea raise money for charity with a pancake breakfast.
In my decade plus on the PR side of things, I’ve never seen a situation reverse so quickly. Almost instantly, sports writers praised Penner for showing a sense of humor along with a charitable streak.
Here are just some examples:
Pro Hockey Talk, NBC Sports Give Dustin Penner credit: he might be a big wobbly punching bag to hockey snarksters, but the guy has a sense of humor. Want proof? He’s putting together a “Pancakes with Penner” raffle to benefit charitable cause
Harrison Mooney Yahoo Sports But Penner’s had enough of the ridicule, and Wednesday evening, he took to MayorsManor to tell his side of the story. The result is a letter that couldn’t be more adorable if it were addressed to Santa Claus.
Jerry Green, ESPN.com Penner’s solution was ingenious.
Dan Duquette NESN So some good will come of this all, and Penner has shown that he has a good sense of humor about it. Blogs, tweets and web site comments were also almost unanimously positive:
Rink Royalty.com He’s struggled a little bit since his 32 goal season in 09-10 with the Edmonton Oilers and it’s definitely taken some Kings fans a little time to warm up to him, especially with the lack of goal production. If this very open and direct letter from Dustin Penner himself doesn’t do it for you, I don’t know what will.
A few other web comments: OMG, I’m buying like 100 raffle tickets! Ok maybe not that many, but I seriously wanna have pancakes with Penner. He makes my heart smile…actually he makes my heart laugh hysterically.
See, this is how you properly utilize your celebrity to help charity and raise awareness for causes.
Penner, if you read these comments, this is a classy action. Good job. =)
Corporations and other individuals can learn a lesson from the Pennercakes controversy. A bit of self-effacing humor, a touch of honestly and a charitable impulse can make a bad situation much better. Call it a spoon full of sugar (or maple syrup, if you will).
David Bernknopf spent more than 20 years at CNN, joining just prior to CNN's premiere and leaving shortly after serving as site manager at the crash site of United flight 93 in Pennsylvania after 9/11. Since then, he has worked in public relations and video production in Atlanta.
How should we deal with the mentally ill among us who are not receiving treatment? It’s a delicate issue. We’ve become used to seeing mental illness around us – homeless people in vacant lots and under highway overpasses.
We see the headlines when behavior turns violent. Tucson. Blacksburg. Carson City. Even back to the assassination attempt on President Reagan and the killing of John Lennon.
SplendidVid is proud to have been commissioned by the Washington D.C. non-profit, Treatment Advocacy Center, to write and produce a powerful documentary on the subject.
TAC has been on the front lines of this controversial issue since it’s start in 1998. Founder Dr. E. Fuller Torrey has been studying, reseearching and writing about mental illness for four decades. He sums up the core of TAC’s mission: “Treat someone who is severely mentally ill and a danger to themselves or others before they are homeless, before they are in jail, before they have committed a violent act.”
The SplendidVid documentary Stopping The Revolving Door- A Civil Approach to Treating Severe Mental Illness highlights compelling, interwoven stories of people who are dealing firsthand with mental illness.
“Court-ordered treatment is a ‘civil’ strategy,” says Aileen Kroll, TAC’s Legislative and Policy Counsel, “for intervening before people get so ill they und up in jail, on the streets or dead.”
TAC has already had hundreds of requests for the SplendidVid produced DVD, and, according to Doris A. Fuller, TAC Communications Director, , “A year from now we fully expect to be able to say it’s made a difference in the availability and implementation of court-ordered treatment in America.”
Take a look.
“Our subject matter is sensitive and sometimes controversial – severe mental illness and the use of court-ordered treatment to address it. We needed video professionals who possessed not only the technical skills to produce a high-quality documentary but sensitivity to the individuals and families in the film and an ability to translate a legal topic into a human story. In this, SplendidVid exceeded our expectations. The thoughtful and informed interaction David Bernknopf and Ted Rubenstein had with all the video participants before, during and after the actual shooting was exhaustive and contributed crucially to developing the authentic human dramas and the groundbreaking footage the video contains. ” -Doris A. Fuller, Treatment Advocacy Center
Ted Rubenstein is an award-winning television producer with 25 years experience in storytelling, having created documentaries, series, newsmagazine segments, multi-subject multi-hour programs, and internet content.
NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen posted a question on twitter the other day about what has come to be known as “brand journalism.” It’s a term we once shied away from using, likely for the same reasons Prof. Rosen questions the concept. Journalism and Public Relations are not the same and can never be.
Anyone suggesting that a story telling effort on behalf of a corporation or non profit organization is “journalism”, would be off base. But since SplendidVid is in the business of using our journalistic skills, knowledge and work habits to tell the vital stories of our clients, a defense of the work, if not the name, is in order.
Our video production work for clients tells their stories in a positive light. It is often tied in to the clients’ PR marketing and fundraising efforts. We participated in a webinar this week led by another company in our field, See3 in Chicago that dealt with using video in an honest and compelling way to help the fundraising arms of non profit institutions. At no point, did anyone suggest that such video projects replace or compete with good old fashioned journalism. But all of us in this field also know that the good old days of traditional PR-convincing a media outlet to do a story about your work because it is noteworthy-are disappearing as media outlets cut staff, cut in depth reporting and cut story length.
If you want to tell your story, you had better do it yourself and do it through video.
To SplendidVid, the key is transparency. Let your audience know who paid for the project and why. Explain when asked how it was produced. Don’t script participants. Carefully choose your subjects (the same way network documentary producers carefully choose theirs). Let a story breath a bit and feel natural. Keep it to a single major point. Most importantly, do not ever pretend the story is something it isn’t: i.e. a news story.
Journalism? Not really.
Compelling story telling? Absolutely
David Bernknopf spent more than 20 years at CNN, joining just prior to CNN's premiere and leaving shortly after serving as site manager at the crash site of United flight 93 in Pennsylvania after 9/11. Since then, he has worked in public relations and video production in Atlanta.
I missed SXSW, but kept up with the tweets, blogs and updates of many colleagues who did attend.
One of the hot topics was the rise of “Brand Journalism.” The term describes something SplendidVid has excelled in for years: telling the story of a “brand,” corporation, non-profit or interest group in the style and tone of a documentary.
SplendidVid strongly believes it makes sense, in an age where individuals and institutions desire to more transparently tell their stories, to use journalistic skills and techniques to tell those stories.
We have produced such stories for a wide range of clients, some of them controversial.
We produced Chevron’s Ecuador responses, the health care television and web documentaries for Conservatives for Patients Rights, an depth lo0k at breast cancer prevention for the Susan G Koman foundation, as well as a hard hitting look at laws governing mental health issues for the Treatment Advocacy Center in Washington, DC.
While it’s true that all of these projects have a clear point of view and the intent of affecting public attitude and policy in very specific ways, they are all truthful, transparent and unrehearsed. By unrehearsed, we mean that no answers are scripted. Interviews are done exactly as we did them when our team produced documentaries at CNN and PBS.
And we have been doing “brand journalism” for years and for clients across the nation; long before it had a name.
David Bernknopf spent more than 20 years at CNN, joining just prior to CNN's premiere and leaving shortly after serving as site manager at the crash site of United flight 93 in Pennsylvania after 9/11. Since then, he has worked in public relations and video production in Atlanta.
This link will take you to a clever little story from our friend Jon Friedman at Marketwatch.com about bald anchors.
The piece is made even more clever by quoting me.
The American Wind Energy Association is gearing up for its 2011 convention in Anaheim and SplendidVid is proud to have been tapped to create a webpromo for this giant event. AWEA is using the heck out of it on its website.
As if that wasn’t enough, my old boss Ted Turner is giving the keynote.
We love AWEA, and it’s partner, EVNN, not just because its principals are good looking and intelligent enough to hire us, but because their philosophy about multi-purposing of video mirrors ours. The hi-def raw video for this piece was shot at the Windpower 2010 in Dallas (check out my blog entry on that).
Because we’re so familiar with the material, we were able to include previously unused images and sound to give the promo a completely fresh look.
My favorite part is when Executive Director, Denise Bode, flies out of the monitor to speak directly to the viewer. That was from a series of videos which ran on a daily basis on dozens of monitors at the Dallas Convention Center – a new one every day. But it seems like she’s talking to attendees in 2011.
Cool, huh? Now that’s what I call re-purposing. Unless we’ve figured out how to shoot video of the future. Your call.
Ted Rubenstein is an award-winning television producer with 25 years experience in storytelling, having created documentaries, series, newsmagazine segments, multi-subject multi-hour programs, and internet content.
One year later and Tiger Woods’ marketing and PR folks are trying to reset his image with a barrage of PR strategies.
Tiger is now tweeting, doing some interviews, writing first person accounts of his new life for Newsweek.
His new message is: “I care about my kids, I’m happier now than I was. I always knew I was doing bad things. I’ve got things in proper perspective now.”
How much of his Newsweek piece he actually wrote or how many tweets he will personally send are open to debate. But I’ll assume that he was both deeply involved in the overall strategy and, at least for now, holds the sentiments that are going out under his name.
Many in our profession questioned why Tiger didn’t do and say all these things a year ago. I believed then, and I think the facts bore me out, that there were excellent reasons why Tiger could not do this a year ago.
Sometimes when devising a crisis strategy, deep personal, business and legal issues prevent a complete and open airing of each and every issue. When that happens, all you can advise a client is explain honestly why you can’t go into detail and promise to provide more details later. Oh, and you can tell them to NEVER lie.
For Tiger, better late than never.
We all know that this is a well thought out and carefully planned PR effort. There is still a bit too much stage managing for my tastes. For instance, why tell ESPN that they can’t ask Tiger about Elin?
Let them ask what they want and Tiger can simply say, “i don’t want to talk about Elin. That has to remain private.”
But if Tiger is now speaking the truth, the public will largely move past his past. If he ends up practicing his golf swing and spending little time making mac and cheese with the kids, the PR effort will be a colossal failure.
Because as we tell all our clients, any public relations effort has to be based on the truth if it’s to succeed.
David Bernknopf spent more than 20 years at CNN, joining just prior to CNN's premiere and leaving shortly after serving as site manager at the crash site of United flight 93 in Pennsylvania after 9/11. Since then, he has worked in public relations and video production in Atlanta.
A November, 2010, study published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, concluded that alcohol was more harmful to society than heroin or crack cocaine.
This is not out of line with some figures I ran across in 2001. The social costs of alcohol and alcohol abuse – in terms of lost productivity, hospitalizations, accidents and a host of other factors – were $180 billion dollars a year in the United States. That’s more than all illegal drugs combined.
These numbers formed a jumping off point for a one-hour documentary which I produced, wrote and am quite proud of. “Wasted” featured unprecedented access to a clinical trial on alcoholism in which we tracked a 26 year old alcoholic who was drinking phenomenal amounts of alcohol a week.
Here’s a segment. Martin Savidge was the reporter and Vivian Schiller- yes, that Vivian Schiller – was the Executive Producer.
Ted Rubenstein is an award-winning television producer with 25 years experience in storytelling, having created documentaries, series, newsmagazine segments, multi-subject multi-hour programs, and internet content.
Nike’s recent ad featuring Lebron James asking “what should I do?,” was widely praised for its creative and messaging genius. Take some lemons and turn them into lemonade.
When I first heard about the advertisement, I was skeptical. But after a couple of viewings, I decided it was typical successful Nike corporate messaging: In your face, direct and memorable.
But one thing is certain these days. Any message that generates attention will also likely generate a response.
And the response Cleveland dished back to Nike and Lebron James is a killer.
Take a look:
This is even more in your face, starker and more memorable.
It may be fair to suggest that Cleveland get over it. But beyond that issue, this video is great.
And it carries a lesson for everyone in the communications industry today: Expect your creative efforts to be answered, sometimes harshly, sometimes with an even better message than your original. The creativity in the clouds is real and it is permanent.
You never get the last word anymore. There is no last word these days.
David Bernknopf spent more than 20 years at CNN, joining just prior to CNN's premiere and leaving shortly after serving as site manager at the crash site of United flight 93 in Pennsylvania after 9/11. Since then, he has worked in public relations and video production in Atlanta.
Take a look at this PSA we produced and edited for the Sierra Club starring Atlanta Falcons Fullback Ovie Mugelli.
We shot this on location in less than a day and edited and delivered it the next day.
We’d like to take all the credit, but the truth is that our partner, The Sierra Club, delivered us a great script and Ovie Mugelli was great talent; easy to work with and a total pro.
We are quite proud, though, that our skills made the production side of the equation quick, easy and affordable for all.
SplendidVid always delivers high quality, on time and on budget.
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