Minnesota PRSA's fortuitous sports public relations event

By Brant Skogrand, APR, MBC  

Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx VP of Communications Brad Ruiter addresses PR professionals.

In a week when NFL players' alleged misdeeds dominated the headlines, the breakfast event hosted by the Minnesota chapter of the Public Relations Society of America on sports public relations and communications was fortuitous indeed.

The event, held at Target Center (home of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx), featured members of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx communications team. Brian Kimmes, facilities project manager, kicked things off with an overview of the transformation of a nearby building from Block E to Mayo Clinic Square. The building will be unique in that it will have a sports medicine center in the same building as the team's practice area, something that no other NBA team can claim.

Next up was Brad Ruiter, vice president of communications for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. After a brief overview of his background and current position, a lively question-and-answer session ensued.

The first topic? This year's trade of all-star player Kevin Love. "We got extremely lucky that LeBron James wanted to go back to Cleveland," said Ruiter. "The dominoes started to fall into place."

It didn't take long for the indictment of Minnesota Viking Adrian Peterson to come up.

"Don't blame the Minnesota Vikings PR team for what is happening with the Adrian Peterson situation. In professional sports, the buck stops with the owner," said Ruiter, referring to the team's loss of sponsors and a press conference in which Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman looked extremely uncomfortable. "The Minnesota Vikings have gotten themselves into a hole and need to get themselves out day by day."

Ruiter knows the public relations personnel at the Vikings and the other Minnesota professional sports teams. In fact, the Timberwolves collaborated with the Vikings to get the recent stadium bonding bill passed. The Vikings approached the state legislature while the Timberwolves handled the Minneapolis city government lobbying efforts.

Ruiter compared and contrasted Timberwolves and Lynx fans, saying that Timberwolves fans are very cautious about the team and are taking a "wait-and-see approach." On the other hand, Lynx fans are a small yet very passionate group. "Lynx fans would run through a wall for the team," said Ruiter.

While NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been pummeled in the media for his handling of off-the-field drama, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has been praised for the way he handled this summer's Donald Sterling/Los Angeles Clippers situation. The difference, according to Ruiter, is that Silver stepped in right away. 

In addition to getting an inside look at the public relations operations of an NBA team, attendees also learned something important about sports public relations -- a lot of it involves reactionary situations.

For a collection of more public relations tips, insights and reflections, buy the book "19 Tips for Successful Public Relations: Insights on Media Relations and Reputation Management" from amazon.com!

What makes a video go viral

By Brant Skogrand, APR, MBC  

Screen grab from YouTube

While there doesn't seem to be a formula to guarantee that a video will go viral, researchers have found some commonalities among hits across the Internet.

In a recent article by Natalie Kitroeff of the New York Times, she highlighted the following findings from researchers:

• Emotion is key. The video can cause either a happy or sad response, but is more likely to be passed along the more intense the emotion it causes.
• Uplifting content is shared more frequently. On the list of stories that are e-mailed most among New York Times readers, depressing content is not shared as often.
• Ego comes into play. Just like a library with unread books just to look well-read, many people share links and videos just to get more likes, clicks or to evoke laughter or other reactions.

 It takes more than cats and cute babies to become a viral sensation online.

For a collection of more public relations tips, insights and reflections, buy the book "19 Tips for Successful Public Relations: Insights on Media Relations and Reputation Management" from amazon.com!

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What makes something newsworthy

By Brant Skogrand, APR, MBC  

In my work with clients, I always try to find the newsworthy aspects of the information that they want to announce.

To assist them in understanding what makes something newsworthy, it helps to take the viewpoint of a news reporter or editor.

I found the following news values list from the University of Utah very useful:

1. Impact: The significance, importance, or consequence of an event or trend; the greater the consequence, and the larger the number of people for whom an event is important the greater the newsworthiness.
2. Timeliness: The more recent, the more newsworthy. In some cases, timeliness is relative. An event may have occurred in the past but only have been learned about recently.
3. Prominence: Occurrences featuring well-known individuals or institutions are newsworthy. Well-knownness may spring either from the power the person or institution possesses – the president, the speaker of the House of Representatives – or from celebrity – the late Princess Diana or fashion designer Gianni Versace.
4. Proximity: Closeness of the occurrence to the audience may be gauged either geographically – close by events, all other things being equal, are more important than distant ones – or in terms of the assumed values, interest and expectations of the news audience.
5. The Bizarre: The unusual, unorthodox, or unexpected attracts attention. Boxer Mike Tyson’s disqualification for biting off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear moves the story from the sports pages and the end of a newscast to the front pages and the top of the newscast.
6. Conflict: Controversy and open clashes are newsworthy, inviting attention on their own, almost regardless of what the conflict is over. Conflict reveals underlying causes of disagreement between individuals and institutions in a society.
7. Currency: Occasionally something becomes an idea whose time has come. The matter assumes a life of its own, and for a time assumes momentum in news reportage.
8. Human Interest: Those stories that have more of an entertainment factor versus any of the above -- not that some of the other news values cannot have an entertainment value.

Consider these news values the next time you're trying to determine the appropriate pitch to a reporter. 

For a collection of more public relations tips, insights and reflections, buy the book "19 Tips for Successful Public Relations: Insights on Media Relations and Reputation Management" from amazon.com!

Why attend the PRSA Midwest District Conference

By Brant Skogrand, APR, MBC  

Given that the polar vortex has made this winter one for the record books, it comes as no surprise that Midwesterners already are booking their summers with fun vacations.

Springfield, Mo.

Before the summer schedule fills up, I would encourage public relations professionals to register for the PRSA Midwest District Conference.

There are several reasons to attend the conference, which takes place June 18-20 in Springfield, Mo.

1. You'll get to hear excellent programming sessions. Jim Lukaszewski, APR, Fellow PRSA, also known as "America's Crisis Guru," will deliver the conference keynote. Joseph E. Cohen, APR, this year's PRSA National chair, will be speaking as well. In addition, there are tons of breakout sessions covering various topics.
2. Connect with other public relations professionals. The PRSA Midwest District covers chapters from eight states, so you're bound to meet someone new. In addition, I connected with other public relations professionals from my home chapter when I attended the last two PRSA Midwest District Conferences.
3. Develop your PRSA leadership skills. On June 18, the conference starts with a QuickStart program, which is an educational and motivational networking event designed to help attendees learn what it takes to succeed as a PRSA leader.
4. See a new city. I'm looking forward to visiting Springfield for the first time. For those interested in touring Branson, it's less than an hour's drive away.

By the time you're in Springfield this summer, the polar vortex will be a distant memory.

For a collection of more public relations tips, insights and reflections, buy the book "19 Tips for Successful Public Relations: Insights on Media Relations and Reputation Management" from amazon.com!

Meet the media: Christian Toto of Big Hollywood and Daddylibrium

By Brant Skogrand, APR, MBC  

Christian Toto is the assistant editor at Big Hollywood and the writer of the daddy blog Daddylibrium.


1. Could you recap your career to this point?

I went to school to be an artist. I gathered three art degrees that I never have used. At the end of college, I did some freelance work for the Roanoke Times. After college, I got to do freelance work

Christian Toto

for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and became a feature writer. I also did entertainment work on the side.

I then worked at a newsletter company, which wasn’t a great fit for me. I then worked at a university, and then went to the Washington Times.

For personal reasons, I moved to Denver and did freelance work. I did some work for Big Hollywood, and have been there for two and a half years in a full-time position.

2. How do you decide which stories to write for Big Hollywood and Daddylibrium?


For Big Hollywood, it’s really about the intersection between entertainment and politics from a conservative perspective. Our readers are generally conservative, so “Noah” and “RoboCop” are two new movies that are of interest to our readers. “Noah” is a biblical story, while “RoboCop” covers current topics such as the use of drones.  

For Daddylibirum, I call the shots because it’s my site. I try to do posts that help dads become better parents and have better marriages. Any tips I can give people based on my experience that will help them is my goal. 

3. How would you describe your approach to writing?


When I’m doing an interview, often I’ll recognize the lead of the story based on experience. For my daddy blog, when my source says something interesting or unique, that sets off my Spidey-sense. For Big Hollywood, if people say something unique, I focus on that. I want to find an interesting way to start things off. After finding a good lead, the rest falls into place. The lead is the hardest. 

4. What has been the most interesting experience interviewing a Hollywood celebrity?


Shooting the breeze with Jack Nicholson. A few journalists and I were just hanging out with him. I interviewed James Brown in his trailer when he had curlers in his hair. He told me to tell my parents that they did a good job raising me. It’s really the odd personal connections with celebrities that are unique. I also understand that there are reasons why people are rich and famous. For instance, I interviewed The Rock (Dwayne Johnson). I was 21 of 22 interviews that The Rock had that day, yet he still was professional and enthusiastic with me. I understand the type of work ethic that takes as well as commitment to his craft and promoting his work. 

5. How has the media changed during your career?


Almost everything has changed. There are fewer and fewer jobs, and less stability in the arena. I believe that I have successfully straddled the line between traditional journalism and the web. I would talk to people five years ago who were fighting the Web. I don’t understand why they were fighting it; the Web was clearly coming.

I feel that I have seen a lot of media outlets get flat-footed as a result. A lot of media outlets are writing the same story. If it snows, they interview a boy who has school off.  

You have to get more creative and think outside the box (pardon the cliché). You have to shake up the model.  

6. What do you see as the future of producing content across various platforms?


I really don’t know. It will be a combination of social media and different platforms. Reporters have to share what they know on social media, focus on keywords in their stories, take photos and more. The journalist of tomorrow has to be really flexible and dynamic. I think that we still don’t know.

7. What types of movies appeal to you?


It’s really a pretty broad spectrum. The kid in me still likes the summer blockbusters. There’s something about being in the theater and having a communal experience. I like films that sneak up on me.  

My tastes still are mainstream for the most part. My eyes roll if I can predict the arc of the story, though.

8. What are some of your favorite stories that you have covered in your career and blog posts that you have written?

Story wise, I used to cover the Kennedy Center Honors. It was great to meet celebrities in a fun atmosphere. I wrote a piece for People magazine about Mattie Stepanek, a boy who had a disease where he couldn’t live into his 20s. He did eventually die. He had me sign his guestbook. I was very impressed that I merited the opportunity to sign that. 

9. How can public relations professionals help you in your job? What are you looking for from them?


Always respect how journalists like to be contacted. E-mail is fine. I don’t like phone pitches – I have too much on my plate. I can analyze things better via e-mail. I don’t mind if people follow up by e-mail if they haven’t heard from me. It’s OK if they provide me some story ideas – that can be kind of fun.  

If I reach out to someone in PR, please keep me posted on the updates about connecting with sources. It helps to know the status of the PR person's efforts in trying to connect with the experts who ultimately will be interviewed. 

10. Is there anything else that you would like to add?


I have worked with good PR people. The people who represent film studios both locally and nationally have been great to me. In particular, I would like to give a shout-out to the people at Allied Integrated Marketing. 

I had bad experiences in D.C. with the D.C. public school system – no one connecting with me, the mailbox was full and more. I never did find out what the deal was with that.      

For a collection of more public relations tips, insights and reflections, buy the book "19 Tips for Successful Public Relations: Insights on Media Relations and Reputation Management" from amazon.com!