Getting out of tricky situations isn't easy. But along the way, I get to hang out with princesses (they never wear their crowns), camel jockeys (literally!) and famous (well at least quasi-famous) people...all for the love of media and travel.
According to the Nielsen company, all of us ad executives looking for a celebrity to endorse our client's products won't do better than Taken and Schindler List star Liam Neeson.
Nielsen concluded that after looking at celebrities who recently made commercials and ranked then them with a formula that calculates likability, influence, public awareness, and other factors. Then the first “N-Scores” were released and Pierce Brosnan had identical scores of 94, although Neeson was judged to have a greater influence in getting products sold.
By analyzing the effectiveness of celebrity pitchmen, Nielsen -- best known for television ratings -- will now compete with Marketing Evaluations Inc., a company that produces the better-known Q Score, a measurement of public attitudes toward well-known figures.
Besides attaching this metric to celebrity endorsers, Nielsen intends to offer us Media Guys (and Gals) detailed information about the personalities and habits of people who respond well to each celebrity, "so they can better match product with pitchmen," says Nielsen’s managing director of media analytics Chad Dreas.
“What do they buy? Where do they shop? What do they watch?” said Dreas, describing the details Nielsen intends to sell.
Neeson, who has been featured in an ad for Supercell Games, is viewed positively by 85 per cent of Americans who know him, Nielsen said. Matthew McConaughey and Brosnan, both featured in car commercials, also scored well in Nielsens’ measurement. Jeff Bridges stood out among celebrities for the amount of influence he carries with his fans.
Other celebs that scored well in Nielsen’s measurement were Jennifer Garner, Sofia Vergara, Jim Parsons, Dennis Haysbert, Natalie Portman, and J.K. Simmons.
My question is Liam, will you help a Media Guy out with a spec commercial I am putting together for the new Las Vegas Hockey Club? Ring me!
This column is sparked by some big news...a culmination of forty passionate years towards the media and sports...and two decades of living with a past failure.
You could call today the craziest day in my NHL history. You would definitely be right if not for that 2012 Stanley Cup win by the Los Angeles Kings as an eight seed.
So what's the big news you ask?
The great Los Angeles Kings goaltender, Rogie Vachon, has been named to the Hockey Hall of Fame, Class of 2016. I've been crying about his omission to the Hall since the mid-90s (see the newspaper clipping below) when I looked up and noticed that he wasn't in.
I know some of you must be tired with all of the hockey talk, but before I get to the headlines and the AD OF THE WEEK/MONTH/WHATEVER, I have to tell you why this is important to me. And...if you've ever had something that drove you to a career where you are passionate about it, you connect with me once you get to the bottom.
Trust me for a second, will you?
Rogie Vachon strikes a familiar pose.
So big deal, right? An athlete gets into a museum. If that's your thought, pull up a chair for a minute. A quick minute.
California wasn't ready for hockey. It's hard to export a sport to where most are unfamiliar with the game and worse in this case because no one in Los Angeles ever saw hockey on local television in the 1960s (or the 1970s for that matter).
Imagine dropping the wildly popular Spanish sport Bossaball into your neighborhood and expecting you to pick it up overnight. No one would get it. No one did.
Even ownership was frustrated. Jack Kent Cooke, the owner of the Los Angeles Kings, would groan: "They told me there were 300,000 Canadians who'd moved to Southern California. How was I to know that they were the 300,000 Canadians who didn't like hockey?"
Hockey was definitely on life support in its early California years. Then along came Rogie Vachon and a young Media Guy was dazzled.
I went to about one hundred and sixty Kings games between 1973 and 1976. There was room for 16,005 fans for hockey, but usually I was there with around 9,000 of my closest hockey friends. I was a junkie for my ice time. I spent time in the owners office. I had access to the crevices of the Fabulous Forum and memorized the layout of the arena looking for ways to catch better glimpses of the players. Sometimes, the maintenance crew would retrieve broken sticks and give them to me. My favorite, of course was the Victoriaville goalie stick with a two-inch crack in the blade and "VACHON" boldly stamped in black on the shaft near the top of huge taped knob. At five, six and seven years old, it wasn't rare that I would go to games by myself. I knew all of the ushers and the people in the ticket offices. The Forum as family.
But, the only reason I went was because of Vachon.
This one player alone let me know I should be in the media world. I had to find a way to show people how to see great things. Whether it be making commercials to drive people to products or running the media department of an NHL franchise, I knew media was calling me. I never stopped driving to that place where I could call media my home.
At 5 foot 7, he was larger than life. He did interviews with a stogie in tow. On the ice he often had to stand on his head, willing the terrible Kings to victory with his acrobatic ways and quick glove. In the 1974-75 season my Kings earned 105 points, which is still a club record. Vachon was named player of the year by The Hockey News. That was a big deal. Not only did he put up one of the best seasons as a goaltender, but also because someone outside of the Los Angeles area code noticed we had a hockey team.
He was THE reason hockey existed in Los Angeles and apparently I am not alone in my thinking:
1995 article in the Los Angeles Daily News on Vachon
“What great timing to be able to celebrate the guy that we feel, if it wasn’t for him, we don’t know if the L.A. Kings would still be on the map,” said Hall of Fame left wing Luc Robitaille, the Kings’ president of business operations who was actually drafted by Vachon in 1984. “You think of the California Golden Seals — disappeared. The Colorado Rockies disappeared. Kansas City disappeared. He was the first true superstar the Kings had.”
Fast forward to 1995 and Vachon, despite being in the top five all-time in wins, a bunch of NHL and International championships, and a pioneer in saving hockey in the Sunbelt, is not in the Hall of Fame. Do you think anyone noticed? Nope. Nada. Nothing.
Here's the crazy part...who do you think handled the nomination process for Vachon that year? The Kings? A hockey writer? Someone on the Hall of Fame's Veteran's Committee? Nope. Nada. No one.
I had to handle it! That's where you put the emphasis on crazy. I met with my boyhood hero many times and we worked out a plan as I gathered as much information as I could in a pre-Internet fact finding mission. I worked the voting committee pretty hard, making phone calls, meeting the Hall of Fame Chairman Scotty Morrison and putting together a pretty impressive media kit. It was looking good that a severe right would be wronged. Alas, there would be no Cinderella story here. In one of the the truly puzzling decisions I had seen at the time, when the class of 1996 was announced Rogie Vachon was not on the list. I found out before he did. I don't think I spoke for a week.
Imagine a local fan having to handle the nomination.
About two week's later when I spoke with Morrison via phone, he offered little hope that a player that had been passed over 15 or so time already would ever be elected to the Hall of Fame. With that I gave up hope...silently, and forever.
At 28 years old, that was my biggest defeat in the public relations world. I wasn't quite a rock star in the PR world, but I was climbing. When I had a client who needed results, I succeeded. Always.
That defeat set me back. Left me reeling. I would give up the PR game and move over to the Media and Advertising Worlds. It worked out for me. But the fact that Rogie was not in the Hockey Hall of Fame always gnawed at me. Until this week, when I simple little notification from my LA Kings app rang to my iPhone:
"Rogie Vachon has been inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2016"
Today stands as the second greatest day in my hockey life because after twenty-one years of feeling like I failed an NHL legend and ultimate the craft I called a career, I feel vindicated. How crazy is that?
Congrats Rogie! You deserve it.
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Here's the Hockey Hall Of Fame report thirtysomething years in the making:
Here are the top four media stories that are sure to shape my world, and yours...
4.
Snapchat Launches a Colossal Expansion of Its Advertising Ushering in a New Era for the App Unveils new API and $1 billion goal Story Link
3.
Why Big Brands Are Suddenly Getting Cozy With Reddit New ad-targeting tech and custom content are a draw Story Link
2.
Infographic: Craft Beer Drinkers Consult Their Phones Before Opening Their Wallets 74% research brews on mobile Story Link
1.
THEY DON'T MAKE 'EM LIKE THE USED TO
The Truth About The ‘Planned Obsolescence’ Of Tech It’s widely held that certain gadgets, cars and other tech have deliberately short lifespans, to make you shell out to replace them. What’s the reality? Story Link
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AD OF THE WEEK/MONTH/WHATEVER
Miami Ad School Toronto by John St. Critiquing Your Portfolio
To make it in advertising, you need people who tell you the truth. Brutal honesty. Tough love. At the Miami Ad School Toronto this is what you'll get, but not necessarily what you'll get from everyone else. This little vignette shows some good new for the burgeoning ad man being questioned about his portfolio. Soon, however, the truth becomes painfully obvious.
"In the fall of 2017, when we celebrate the 100th birthday of the NHL, we will do so as a League of 31 teams," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. "We are pleased to welcome Bill Foley and the city of Las Vegas to the League and are truly excited that an NHL franchise will be the first major professional sports team in this vibrant, growing, global destination city."
"Foley paid the $500 million expansion fee to bring NHL hockey to Las Vegas, and the announcement is the culmination of two years of hard work that included a successful season-ticket drive to prove local interest."
With that report, I begin my open letter to current NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and new Las Vegas hockey club owner Bill Foley...
Dear Gary and Bill:
You don't know me, but maybe you should.
I realize why you jumped into the Las Vegas market and I'm proud.
I remember fifteen years ago when your old partner, Fox Television was struggling with their primetime lineup. Their top rated show was The Simpsons and it was ranked 39th for the four major networks. Along came the pitch for American Idol. All of the networks were pitched -- ABC, NBC, CBS. They all said "no." Fox said "we need a hit" "we need something different. Fox said "yes." And did they ever get a hit (* - see ratings at the bottom). I know you are trying to do what the other three big sports have shunned over the years: bring a major sport to Sin City.
I am not so sure, however, if Las Vegas is the jackpot you are seeking. But here's what's happening to your sport right now...
...the Stanley Cup Final, with arguably the best player in your league in Sidney Crosby? Nobody watched.
You're losing ground, big-time, to soccer, which is now on five networks. Interest has never been higher with networks bidding left and right for the rights to games. Soccer video sales through the roof. Soccer buzz off the charts. Soccer media coverage at an all-time high. In all aspects, it's blown past hockey. The truth is, as painful as someone who has grown up around the rink, nobody wants hockey.
Even the UFC is getting bigger (or already is) than hockey. They create stars with every event (Connor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Meisha Tate, Nate Diaz). People pay $50 to $90 per event on pay-per-view to watch their monthly fight cards. As many people that paying to watch the UFC are watching the NHL payoff games for free. ESPN and FOX are already preparing bids to televise the UFC when the contracts come up in 2018. UFC has also blown past hockey in terms of relevance.
What's the solution? Las Vegas, of course.
Vegas is where you go to spice things up. It's where you go to spice up your marriage, your relationships, your bachelor parties, your conventions...and your hockey.
You needed to make some noise and it makes you willing to roll the dice. You needed to get their first. You have a state-of-the-art facility in the T-Mobile Arena. Major League Soccer has explored putting a team there. The NFL has been talking about the Raiders to Vegas for months. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has publicly advocated regulating professional sports betting. Even Major League Baseball, who remains scarred by gambling scandals has talked about Vegas in the last week. You simply said, hmmmmmm, Quebec City or Las Vegas? No brainer, let's beat them all to the punch. Las Vegas it is.
I know you are pleased with a few things. Gary, that $500 million expansion fee will please your 30 other owners. And Billy, you have to be thrilled about the 14,000 fans that have placed deposits on season tickets and the prospects of working with MGM Resorts (who built T-Mobile Arena) on providing comp tickets to fill the place up each night. But these are short-term solutions.
Guys, please give The Media Guy a call. I sketched out five-year plan for the growth of hockey in the desert. I learned from the great Jack Kent Cooke about what NOT to do for hockey in the Sunbelt states and since garnered a couple of CLIOs and Emmys, along with nine or so Telly Awards.
Not to brag, but I can help.
You need more than just a hockey guy to navigate through the expansion draft. You need another perspective. This is where I come in. Let me share this with you.
The future Las Vegas Ice Crew?
As a freebie, I am throwing some ideas, courtesy of the Idea Man in Training, my son Josh. While he aspires to be the first Academy Award winner that becomes an FBI agent, he has a unique insight into the souls of youthful America.
Here is some of his vision to connect with the fans:
The goal horn. They could be super original and not have a horn, and instead have a man scream "Jackpot" and have the sound of coins falling out of the slot machine.
The logo could be very simple -- an "LV" crossing a pile of chips and cards. (I don't feel like it should be too complex as the best logos in the NHL are simple but powerful...the Kings, Blackhawks, Penguins.) I also don't feel they should hammer home the fact they're a hockey team like the Sharks do by shoehorning a stick into the logo.
The Ice crew should dress like the showdancers Las Vegas has.
National Anthem. Since Vegas has a lot of famous singers, they could work out a deal with them and have a rotating cycle of the performers there singing the national anthem.
The mascot should be an animal or a being not in the NHL already. It should stand out in a sense, but also embody the wild hectic nature of Las Vegas. Maybe a sphinx or a Flamingo because they're showy colorful and bright similar to Las Vegas.
The puck shouldn't be like any normal puck. It should literally just look like poker chip.
Get the Blue Man Group to perform pre-game, turn the plaza outside T-Mobile into an outdoor club before, during, and after the game. Go the whole nine yards with a DJ and free-flowing alcohol.
Maybe you like these ideas, maybe you don't. I will reveal the points addressed in my five-year plan when we meet; most you probably already realize, but do not know how to overcome them. After all, being an investment tycoon is different than reaching the hockey fan and the fan-at-large simultaneously. Hockey is not diverse in an ever-increasing diverse world. The product is not good on television, when sports these days is all about TV. Nobody bets the sport in an increasingly betting-centric country. And, it's very expensive and few play it. Yes, there's work to do!
Let's roll up our sleeves one afternoon and dig into the plan.
You won't regret it.
And, please, even if you won't call, don't let the fans name your team in some silly contest. You'll wind up with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim or something like that. No one wants that.
I just finished refereeing the kids in our belated Father's Day trip to see Finding Dory. Better than the first installment (Finding Nemo), the family movie was just the trick to soften stubbornness and unite the already close clan we are. Media bonds the family. All you have to do is put in the time. Yet, I am already digressing.
Better than the original.
I spent the last couple of week's closely connected to Californian's Bay Area. Both the NBA Finals and the NHL's Stanley Cup Final were set in NoCal. Fans from both sports were ready to hoist the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy and Stanley Cup in the same week. Can anyone say dueling parades?
Alas (and much to my glee) both Bay Area teams lost in their home arenas in the deciding games. The NBA Finals captivated America. Take a look at these numbers:
Game Seven was was the most-watched NBA game this century, averaging 30.8 million viewers, and peaking at 44.5 million viewers with less than a minute left.
Locally, the game notched the second-highest rating ever for an NBA game, with a 39.4 rating in San Francisco and 46.3 rating in title-starved Cleveland.
This year's Finals rematch has been a boon for ABC television. The network had its two most-watched series since it began airing NBA games in the 2002-03 season. But with the series extending to a seventh game, ABC topped an average of 20 million viewers for the series (20.16 million),
The strong ratings for the 2016 NBA Finals capped a healthy ad market for the entire playoffs. Kantar Media reports an estimated $570 million was spent on advertising for the playoffs (April 16-May 30) leading up to the NBA Finals.
The same kind of positive news, however, cannot be reported by the National Hockey League.
Lebron James lifted the NBA ratings to the best in a decade.
According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, the six-game series between the San Jose Sharks and the Pittsburgh Penguins averaged only just 4 million viewers and a 2.3 household rating. This was the third lowest-rated Final since 2006. Deliveries (viewers and household ratings) were down almost 30% when compared to last year's average (5.53 million viewers, 3.2 household rating), while the demo declined 22% to a 1.4 among adults 18-to-49. What does all of this mumbo-jumbo mean? It means that the NHL is a trouble.
Don't get me wrong, nothing broke right for this year's Stanley Cup Final. Take a look at this recipe for rating's disaster...
Bad Matchups. The Sharks vs. the Penguins. The Bay Area is hardly a hockey bastion, while Pittsburgh is one of the most despised franchises east of the Mississippi.
No US-Based Original Six Team. Ratings traditionally to soar when teams representing old-school, hockey-mad urban centers like Boston, Detroit, Chicago and New York are suited up in the final. In 2013, NBC posted its highest numbers in 2013, when the Chicago Blackhawks-Boston Bruins grudge match mustered up 5.76 million viewers, a 3.3 household rating and a 2.2 in the 18-to-49 demo.
The Schedule. The series hit the ice on the Monday after Memorial Day weekend, when TV viewing is as low as it gets (save Christmas) and played against game seven of the ratings mad NBA Western Conference Finals.
Bad Network Choices. Games 2 and 3 aired on NBCSN, which reaches only 70% of all U.S. TV homes. Ratings dropped accordingly.
Game of Thrones. Game 6, which wound up being the deciding game of the Final, was scheduled for Sunday night. What's the big deal? The game was forced to square off against Game of Thrones and the NHL was not ready to sit on the Iron Throne. The clinching game drew 5.41 million viewers and a 1.9 rating among adults 18-to-49, while the warring Westeros clans delivered a 7.6 million viewers and a 3.9 in the demo.
Ugh.
Tomorrow, I'll post my open letter to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the new owner of the expansion Las Vegas franchise on how to make hockey work in Vegas.
Of course, Gary Bettman got mercilessly booed as he presented the Stanley Cup. I'm sure NBC Sports was booing as well.
I can tell you that I'm not in federal court with one of those cantankerous Californians filing lawsuits against Starbucks, hell-bent on taking down the the java king over underfilling their lattes. I mean, geez, cozy up to the barista and get a little more milk poured in. Last time I complained, I got a free drink and a new coffee. What a deal!
There may be some truth that I am at the movies taking in Central Intelligence, starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. I'm not used to standing on line for a movie, but I definitely wanted to smell what The Rock was cooking and I had a fresh, fully-filled Venti drip from the aforementioned Starbucks, so life was good. The movie didn't disappoint, but honestly, the movie industry itself is starting to disappoint.
They seem to be in panic mode because of Netflix, spiraling costs and the rude, loud unwelcoming nature of the movie theatre experience itself. But as I sat through nine movie trailers (yes! nine! -- shame on you Cinemark) totaling twenty-four minutes I realized something else: there's no mysteries or surprise anymore.
Now there is so much information, so far in advance before a movie comes out that it's anti-climatic. Everything about it is known. You feel like you've already seen it. What was intended to promote a film, now serves as buzzkill instead.
I loved the movies once. Still do. I went with my mom to see a movie almost every Tuesday when I was a kid. Top Gun was in theaters so long that I was able to take three different dates hoping to find that lost, loving feeling. (The same crash and burn scenario occurred all three times, yikes!) Now my son and I count the days down to the next Star Wars installment a year in advance.
My first theater experience I can remember was seeing the blockbuster Earthquake in 1974 when disaster movies were all the rage. I remember looking up in awe at the big screen and waiting for the Sensurround to kick in.
What's Sensurround you ask? Only the greatest thing ever in 1974! Here's the theater notice that appeared in newspapers all over the country:
"ATTENTION! This motion picture will be shown in the startling new multi-dimension of Sensurround. Please be aware that you will feel as well as see and hear realistic effects such as might be experienced in an actual earthquake. The management assumes no responsibility for the physical or emotional reactions of the individual viewer."
Who wouldn't want that?! Yet, I digress...
Anyway, as the opening credits rolled all I knew was this was an epic disaster movie set in my hometown of Los Angeles and you knew it starred Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, Lorne Greene, and George Kennedy. Beyond that? Everything was onscreen, unfolding right before my wide eyes. Today? You would have seen a sneak peak trailer sponsored by Pepsi a year ago. You would have read reviews, seen a bunch of Internet bloggers dissecting it, along with IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, reviewed that would have added to you skepticism to see the movie in the first place.
If Earthquake comes out today, I am already sick of it before I click on Fandango to order a movie ticket. I not only know what parts of Los Angeles are ruined, but also how many died and how many floors are left of the Capitol Records Building. Why? Because all of the details would have been reviewed over and over again.
Hey movie industry, SPOILER ALERT!: you're spoiling the movie going experience by vomiting too much information about the movie before it's released. It would be like George R.R. Martin revealing the end of the last Game of Thrones book in the Forward. Bring back the mystery and mystique.
There are no movie scenes anymore that make us gasp because they've all been rumored, teased, speculated, or openly discussed or seen. There can never be the surprise of a Psycho shower scene because we would have already seen it in the trailer and watch Alfred Hitchcock dissect it on Conan or Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Movies should be an escape from reality. And I mean the modern reality of knowing way too much about the movie before you plan your Friday night trek to the movieplex.
How about bringing back ignorance as bliss?
When I walk into a theater, I want to literally and figuratively be in the dark about what I want to see.
Give it a try yourself and you'll find that you like your movie experience that much more.
Above: The Earthquake trailer told you everything and nothing all at once.
