So, what can businesses and communications agencies learn from the Chicago Bears? (Besides stop running it up the middle) The value of strong, clear, appropriate messaging.
In an era of instant news, it’s incredibly important to have clear messages developed for all occasions. The Chicago Bears recently learned this the hard way, as angry fans and the media questioned the injury to their star quarterback. The Bears had no comment. Angry fans and the media drew their own conclusions. Without proactive messages, the Bears gave up their opportunity to manage the situation.
Whether its football or business, getting in front of a situation, before others have an opportunity to make comments, may not get you to the Super Bowl… but it won’t hurt your brand or cause you to lose fans or customers. At the end of the day, isn’t that really a bigger victory?
Gene,
I agree with you but would carry the message the next logical step and add this: In order to be able to present a timely message it is crucial to have a messaging plan in place before you need it. In the military, we used to refer to this as the 5 P’s: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.
I wish that they would have ran the ball up the middle. We might be in the Superbowl. Then you wouldn’t need to worry about a preemptive messaging plan.