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Tiger in the Tank

Dealing with a PR catastrophe

Vol. 5, Issue No. 25 | December 2009 By Denny Hatch
8
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IN THE NEWS

Tag Heuer Dials Back Woods
Swiss Watchmaker Follows Others in Reassessing Use of Ads Featuring Golfer
The Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer on Friday joined a growing list of marketers that are reducing or dropping their use of Tiger Woods in ads, amid the revelations of his alleged extramarital affairs. "The partnership with Tiger Woods will continue," said Jean-Christophe Babin, chief executive of Tag Heuer, in a statement, "but we will downscale the use of his image in certain markets for a period of time, depending on his decision about returning to professional golf." A spokeswoman for the company's North American operations said ads in the U.S. will be "scaled back" but stopped short of saying that all Tiger Woods ads will be pulled. There are "no absolutes," she said.

—Suzanne Vranica, The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 18, 2009


I'd always admired golfing great Tiger Woods for three reasons: (1) his brilliance on the golf course, (2) his impeccable elegance, and (3) his tightly controlled and shadowy personal life about which I was delighted to know nothing beyond the fact that he lived in Florida and owned a megayacht.

Initial reports out of Florida on Friday, Nov. 27, by the usually reliable Associated Press described Woods as being seriously injured in a car accident. As so often happens, the pathetic, aggressive media—more anxious to get it out than get it right—got it dead wrong. He had minor facial lacerations and was released from the hospital later that day.

"Media is the plural of mediocre," said Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jimmy Breslin.

When I read that the Woods’ Escalade sped out of the driveway in the wee hours of the a.m., hit a fire hydrant and ended up hugging a tree with Woods unhurt, I assumed it was some kind of domestic spat and thought no more about it. This was none of my business.

But quickly the story began to grow legs and snowball. The world watched transfixed as a reputation, a marriage and a billion-dollar enterprise imploded.

Being a businessperson, my thoughts were (and are) continually with Woods’ sponsors—Nike, Gatorade, Accenture, Gillette and the others—who were paying $105 million a year for pure excellence and got themselves a serial adulterer.

How should the Woods organization have dealt with them?

The PR Baseball Game
Public Relations is like baseball—all about control. To win, the team in the field must control the ball at all times, while batters and runners are out to totally disrupt that control.

To avoid having an minor embarrassment turn into a PR crisis, the object is to control the media until a new and more lurid event explodes and the sad sack Web, print and broadcast peeping Toms—cloaking themselves in the mantel of, ahem, "journalism"—roar off after the new story in a Keystone Kops-like chase to sell more Toyotas, tampons and toothpaste.

To maintain control, Tiger Woods opted to hunker down until the brouhaha blew over. The accident happened on a private road within his gated community, and the only one hurt was the driver. Woods refused to talk to police, and on Nov. 29 put a statement out on his Web site, which said in part:

Takeaways to Consider

  • In the hierarchy of loyalty in business, the customer is first. Woods’ sullen seclusion, silence and inaction are subjecting his remaining sponsors to the equivalent of death by a thousand cuts. That’s no way to treat a customer.
  • Just as it’s folly to allow bean counters to make marketing decisions, the same principle applies to lawyers directing a PR campaign.
  • In a PR crisis, fire off an SOS to a consummate PR organization—Edelman, Ruder Finn, Hill & Knowlton or Bob Dillenschneider, and let a professional take charge.
  • "One of the single most important points to keep in mind when facing a negative situation of your own is to follow the old dictum: 'The best defense is a good offense. You must never go on the defensive. By anticipating negative questions you can stand ready with positives.'"
    —Michael Levine, "Guerilla P.R. 2.0"
  • "There are two speeds in modern P.R.—fast and dead."
    —Michael Levine, "Guerilla P.R. 2.0"
  • "Media is the plural of mediocre."
    —Jimmy Breslin
  • After dashing off an e-mail text—but before clicking on "Send"—you might reflect for a moment on the consequences of your message appearing on the front page of every newspaper in the world.
  • "Text messages are digital lipstick on the collar."
    —Laura M. Holson, The New York Times, Dec. 8, 2009
  • "Most of us still haven't grasped the fact that everything we commit to the digital space—not just our public blogs and broadcast tweets, but every private text message, e-mail, and voicemail—is likely to be stored and accessible. Forever."
    —Douglas Rushkoff, "Tiger’s Digital Sex Trap," The Daily Beast, Dec. 3, 2009
  • Same thing with voice mail. Remember the horrifying message actor Alec Baldwin’s left on the voice mail of his then 11-year-old daughter back in April 2007. It was all over the Internet.
  • "It's a private thing, of course. But when you are the guy he is, the world's best athlete, you should think more before you do stuff."
    —Jesper Parnevik, golfer whose babysitter, Elin Nordegren, became Mrs. Tiger Woods
  • Is it a good idea for one person to be the entire human face of a corporation?

Web Sites Related to Today's Edition

Tiger Woods Seriously Injured (early bulletin)
http://url2it.com/blpk

"Tiger Woods Now Linked To 10 Women Who Are Not His Wife"
http://url2it.com/bobo

"Tiger’s Digital Sex Trap"
http://url2it.com/bomd

Alec Baldwin's Voice Mail
http://url2it.com/blog

Tiger Pleads for Privacy
http://url2it.com/blpg

Bob Schieffer of CBS Unloads on Tiger
http://url2it.com/bobq

Tiger Woods' Megayacht
http://url2it.com/blpi

"How Tiger’s Top Man Is Managing the Crisis"
http://url2it.com/bobn

"Off the course, Woods had everyone fooled"
http://url2it.com/bobm

"Accenture, as if Tiger Woods Were Never There"
http://url2it.com/bobl

The Tiger Woods commemorative Mistress Plates
http://url2it.com/bobi


 

Companies Mentioned:
8

COMMENTS

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Most Recent Comments:
Carol Worthington-Levy - Posted on December 28, 2009
Brilliant takeaways with this fine editorial!

It's hard to imagine how someone as smart and famous as Tiger Woods could not see this train coming down the tracks, but that's an unfortunate characteristic of too many people today. How often have we said "What was he thinking??" - only to toss out an email, ourselves, that we wish we hadn't.

I'm not saying that we need to walk the world on eggshells, but living your life with consideration of others and of your future are both good ideas and worth counting to ten over before acting. Holding the steaming mad email until the next morning. Considering what your mother or another esteemed person in your life would think of you upon seeing your action. Would you be proud? or embarrassed? How will it effect you a year from now? is this the example you want to set for those who look up to you now?

Cheers, and thanks as always for adding your wise perspective on business and life.

Carol

Jim - Posted on December 28, 2009
I was intrigued by the difference between two similar scandals: David Letterman and Tiger Woods. Dave was caught, and went on national TV to discuss the issue head-on. Tiger was caught, and hid at home.

It seems Dave is looked upon now by some as a stud, while Tiger is going to be much poorer after paying off so many lovers and attorneys. Textbook examples of crisis management!
Richard Sutherland - Posted on December 22, 2009
Denny, the reason why Tiger couldn't have followed your advice is that he is a skinflint. He is cheap. Did you read the Jamie Jungers interview? Tiger never tipped the waiters or waitresses. He would try to get his meals comped. It embarrassed Jamie to go to dinner with Tiger. When I ran this by my club pro, he told me that the word on the tour was that Tiger was cheap. You can't change a sow's ear into a silk purse. Tiger is what he is: a cheap philanderer who wanted us to think differently of him. The chickens have come home to roost.
Dev. Kinney - Posted on December 22, 2009
For some reason this whole affair reminds me of the wannabe woman who shot Andy Warhol in the stomach, explaining later, " he had too much control over my life."
Wash Phillips - Posted on December 22, 2009
As consumers of information, we have a tabloid mentality. And as you point out, Denny, media of every sort fill that vacuum slavishly. (I still don't know what actually occurred that fateful night of the crash, nor have I sought it out, so I must be in the counter-demographic.) Personal morality was never the question here, but sensation. Countless traveling athletes (to name one cadre) have their dalliances. And many of us received via Internet nude photos purporting to be Tiger's wife-to-be, then again as his wife-no-more. Same pix. So divorcing Tiger's post-discovery interpersonal relations from his public/business persona seems like a good idea that would allow a future Tiger to emerge again as client representative, as you point out, once his A game is showing again. But the question of Tiger's possible "artificial boost" at a doctor's hand may expose him to an ancillary splash of steroid scrutiny, thus affecting his commercial potential further. Tiger should take your advice and mount some offensive on that score while he can, at his leisure not in a last-second rush.
David - Posted on December 22, 2009
Denny, this is a well thought-out piece. I would comment additionally re: the appropriateness of endorsers to a specific product or service.

GM dropped Tiger some time ago as Buick spokesman. Although this seems reasonable considering the questionable appeal of a young minority athlete to geezer-generation car buyers, why was he hired in the first place? Because older people play golf?

If I try to put myself in the place of a C-level executive of a Fortune 50 or 100 company who is about to spend millions on a consulting project, would I be more or less inclined to hire a firm whose considered judgment was to retain a young athlete to represent them to the public?

Maybe O.J.'s down-home tastes enabled him to credibly shill for Honey-Baked Hams, or his football prowess could be used to show him running through an airport on behalf of Hertz (although I don't understand why a retired ball player is in such a great hurry to go somewhere), but Tiger Woods and Accenture seems like an unwise combination.
Apryl Parcher - Posted on December 22, 2009
Good words, Denny... and right on target. Would that Tiger had asked your advice before stuffing multiple feet in his mouth and lighting a fire under himself. Perhaps, like a phoenix, he can emerge from the ashes. Time will tell. However, I'm not holding my breath--and the sponsors who have had their feathers singed by his immolation will have a hard time growing Tiger feathers again.
Rick Middleton - Posted on December 22, 2009
So Tiger will make a comeback to golf and new sponsors will come flocking? I'm not so sure about the latter fact. He may come back better than ever as a golfer, and his renewed dominance may be a great sports story, but any new sponsor will have to pick up a ton of ugly baggage. Tiger will forever be the "guy who managed to have 14 (at least) affairs while keeping his wife in the dark." Do you really think women consumers will ever again rush out and buy Tiger Woods shirts and caps for their husbands? No way.

Tiger Woods has always seemed to want to have the best of both worlds. He wants to be all over TV, selling shaving cream and Buicks, and yet he wants to be left alone. He wants to be a family man, except for those times when he wants to pretend he's still a hot-shot bachelor.

And the Tiger story isn't just about him being the worst husband in human history. In the end it may be about the doctor who helped him get an artificial boost. Does anyone wonder how that scrawny kid morphed into someone who looks like he belongs on an NFL squad? For all those middle managers who admire Tiger's "drive" and "competitiveness" -- do ya also admire people who will do ANYTHING to get ahead? Really? Is that what we've all come to?
Click here to view archived comments...
Archived Comments:
Carol Worthington-Levy - Posted on December 28, 2009
Brilliant takeaways with this fine editorial!

It's hard to imagine how someone as smart and famous as Tiger Woods could not see this train coming down the tracks, but that's an unfortunate characteristic of too many people today. How often have we said "What was he thinking??" - only to toss out an email, ourselves, that we wish we hadn't.

I'm not saying that we need to walk the world on eggshells, but living your life with consideration of others and of your future are both good ideas and worth counting to ten over before acting. Holding the steaming mad email until the next morning. Considering what your mother or another esteemed person in your life would think of you upon seeing your action. Would you be proud? or embarrassed? How will it effect you a year from now? is this the example you want to set for those who look up to you now?

Cheers, and thanks as always for adding your wise perspective on business and life.

Carol

Jim - Posted on December 28, 2009
I was intrigued by the difference between two similar scandals: David Letterman and Tiger Woods. Dave was caught, and went on national TV to discuss the issue head-on. Tiger was caught, and hid at home.

It seems Dave is looked upon now by some as a stud, while Tiger is going to be much poorer after paying off so many lovers and attorneys. Textbook examples of crisis management!
Richard Sutherland - Posted on December 22, 2009
Denny, the reason why Tiger couldn't have followed your advice is that he is a skinflint. He is cheap. Did you read the Jamie Jungers interview? Tiger never tipped the waiters or waitresses. He would try to get his meals comped. It embarrassed Jamie to go to dinner with Tiger. When I ran this by my club pro, he told me that the word on the tour was that Tiger was cheap. You can't change a sow's ear into a silk purse. Tiger is what he is: a cheap philanderer who wanted us to think differently of him. The chickens have come home to roost.
Dev. Kinney - Posted on December 22, 2009
For some reason this whole affair reminds me of the wannabe woman who shot Andy Warhol in the stomach, explaining later, " he had too much control over my life."
Wash Phillips - Posted on December 22, 2009
As consumers of information, we have a tabloid mentality. And as you point out, Denny, media of every sort fill that vacuum slavishly. (I still don't know what actually occurred that fateful night of the crash, nor have I sought it out, so I must be in the counter-demographic.) Personal morality was never the question here, but sensation. Countless traveling athletes (to name one cadre) have their dalliances. And many of us received via Internet nude photos purporting to be Tiger's wife-to-be, then again as his wife-no-more. Same pix. So divorcing Tiger's post-discovery interpersonal relations from his public/business persona seems like a good idea that would allow a future Tiger to emerge again as client representative, as you point out, once his A game is showing again. But the question of Tiger's possible "artificial boost" at a doctor's hand may expose him to an ancillary splash of steroid scrutiny, thus affecting his commercial potential further. Tiger should take your advice and mount some offensive on that score while he can, at his leisure not in a last-second rush.
David - Posted on December 22, 2009
Denny, this is a well thought-out piece. I would comment additionally re: the appropriateness of endorsers to a specific product or service.

GM dropped Tiger some time ago as Buick spokesman. Although this seems reasonable considering the questionable appeal of a young minority athlete to geezer-generation car buyers, why was he hired in the first place? Because older people play golf?

If I try to put myself in the place of a C-level executive of a Fortune 50 or 100 company who is about to spend millions on a consulting project, would I be more or less inclined to hire a firm whose considered judgment was to retain a young athlete to represent them to the public?

Maybe O.J.'s down-home tastes enabled him to credibly shill for Honey-Baked Hams, or his football prowess could be used to show him running through an airport on behalf of Hertz (although I don't understand why a retired ball player is in such a great hurry to go somewhere), but Tiger Woods and Accenture seems like an unwise combination.
Apryl Parcher - Posted on December 22, 2009
Good words, Denny... and right on target. Would that Tiger had asked your advice before stuffing multiple feet in his mouth and lighting a fire under himself. Perhaps, like a phoenix, he can emerge from the ashes. Time will tell. However, I'm not holding my breath--and the sponsors who have had their feathers singed by his immolation will have a hard time growing Tiger feathers again.
Rick Middleton - Posted on December 22, 2009
So Tiger will make a comeback to golf and new sponsors will come flocking? I'm not so sure about the latter fact. He may come back better than ever as a golfer, and his renewed dominance may be a great sports story, but any new sponsor will have to pick up a ton of ugly baggage. Tiger will forever be the "guy who managed to have 14 (at least) affairs while keeping his wife in the dark." Do you really think women consumers will ever again rush out and buy Tiger Woods shirts and caps for their husbands? No way.

Tiger Woods has always seemed to want to have the best of both worlds. He wants to be all over TV, selling shaving cream and Buicks, and yet he wants to be left alone. He wants to be a family man, except for those times when he wants to pretend he's still a hot-shot bachelor.

And the Tiger story isn't just about him being the worst husband in human history. In the end it may be about the doctor who helped him get an artificial boost. Does anyone wonder how that scrawny kid morphed into someone who looks like he belongs on an NFL squad? For all those middle managers who admire Tiger's "drive" and "competitiveness" -- do ya also admire people who will do ANYTHING to get ahead? Really? Is that what we've all come to?