"England manager Roy Hodgson apologizes for monkey joke"

From Sports Illustrated

Analysis by Alexandra Sullivan in SRM 334 (section 2)

On Thursday October 17th CNN Sports Illustrated posted an article about England’s soccer team manager Roy Hodgson. England played Poland on Tuesday October 15th, which was a big game because the winner would advance to the World Cup. England ended up winning 2-0 against Poland. The article focuses on a greater issue rather than writing about England celebrating the win to advance to the world cup. During half time, Roy Hodgson compared player Andros Townsend to a space monkey. Hodgson meant the comparison as a compliment and did not think about a monkey being a racial slur. The media blew this story out of proportion because Townsend is half black, which means a monkey comment towards him could be taken offensively. Hodgson realized what he had said and apologized to Townsend, the team, and the FA (Football Association). Townsend and other teammates took to twitter to defend Hodgson. Townsend assured the FA and Hodgson that he did not take any offense to the monkey comment, he understood the point the coach was trying to make. Hodgson used the space monkey joke as a generation joke. Space monkeys were used by NASA in the 1960s and 70s and the monkeys were known to be intelligent animals that contributed to success in space flights. Townsend knew Hodgson used this comparison as a good thing. Anti-racism group Kick It Out and anti-discrimination group FARE are demanding an investigation to the story. These groups wanted to publicize this comment to make people aware that the words they are use can be taken offensively. Kick It Out and FARE took to twitter to comment about this story. These groups tweeted that Hodgson knew what he was saying and needs to be aware that he is in a diverse environment and should not be using those kinds of words. The chairman of the FA is backing up Hodgson saying he is an honorable man who is doing a great job coaching the England soccer team. The FA and team stand by Hodgson.

Hodgson is bringing in negative media attention to the team in a time of happiness and celebration. If it were not for social media this story would not have gotten as much attention as it is getting. Now-a-days people are able to freely express their thoughts for everyone to see. Kick It Out and FARE are able to reach more people through social media and get their thoughts to the public faster. Stories spread like wild fire on social media. It is easy for people to share stories to one another and give their opinions. In this case social media blew up the story more than it should have because Hodgson immediately apologizes and no one took offense to the comment. Even with no offense taken from the players, some people still had a problem with the words used and expressed their thoughts through the use of twitter.This issue is relevant to SRM 334 because it proves that everyone contributes to news stories. People can use blogs, facebook, twitter, and other social media outlets to quickly get information out or get their word out. Not everyone has to be a certified journalist or news reporter to get a story out into the public. It is easier for people to stay updated on breaking stories or access information on an issue through the use of social media. Twitter was used positively and negatively in this article. Townsend and teammates were able to assure the public that they still support their coach and this comment was an innocent mistake. On the other hand Kick It Out and FARE were able to use twitter to inform people that comments like that are not acceptable and people need to be aware of their surrounding and the words they use. 

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Analysis by Samantha Mitchell in SRM 334 (section 2)

On October 16th 2013, Manager Roy Hodgson apologized for making a monkey joke during halftime of the England vs. Poland match, the day prior. Someone from Hodgson’s team leaked information to The Sun newspaper, that during halftime he made a joke about space monkeys in the England Locker room as he was trying to explain to his players that they needed to pass the ball to Andros Townsend. Townsend is African American and the word “monkey” has been used in the past in racial context. 

The monkey joke that Hodgson used was referring to space monkeys that NASA sent into space in the 1960s and 70s. In the statement that Hodgson released Wednesday night, he mentioned that he did not mean the comment in an inappropriate way and made that clear to Andros as soon as it happened. He talked with Andros again the next day to make sure Andros understood the way he meant the comment. Andros understood what he really meant with the comment and assured Hodgson and the Football Association that he took no offense to it.

Andros and many other England players took to twitter to defend Hodgson. None of the players thought it was meant in a racist way and think it is ridiculous that it is being reported on. Greg Dyke, the Football Association chairman, also defended and supported Hodgson. However Kick It Out, an anti-racism organization, does not want a similar situation to happen again, so they are demanding an investigation. Piara Power, the executive director of FARE an anti-discrimination organization, also took to twitter mentioning that Hodgson should have known better and it was silly of him to use that term.

If this information had not been leaked to the media and then published, this situation could have been completely avoided. The media took this and ran with it. Not a single player was offended by the comment made and Hodgson did not mean it to be offensive in any way. He explains in this article that it is more of a generational joke. So therefore, anyone who knows of the monkey joke that took place in the 1960-70’s would be able to realize what he truly meant with this comment.

When the media publishes something that should have never been published, people are going to get frustrated and turn to social media to take out their opinions. This is exactly what happened in this situation. Twitter became an outlet for players and other people to comment on this issue. This information being leaked to the media and then published on the front page of The Sun newspaper also took away from the fact that England qualified for the World Cup by beating Poland. Instead of shedding positive light on the England team, the media is shed negative light on Hodgson, which took away from this great achievement. This article is very relevant to this course because this course is about sports media. This article is covering sports and it has to do with the media making this situation a much bigger issue than it should have been. The media is known to take negative issues and report on them because of the drama it creates. The media has certainly done this with this particular incident and it has not given the proper credit to a team that deserves huge recognition.

"Twitter Strikes Deal With NFL"

From the Wall Street Journal

Analysis by Allison Straley in SRM 435 (section 2)

The article “Twitter Strikes Deal With NFL” is an overview on the new relationship that has formed between Twitter and the NFL. This deal allows the NFL to tweet out news, analysis of games and players, as well as in-game highlights from the games on Thursday night and Sundays from the NFL Network as well as other programs such as CBS and Fox.

Adding the NFL highlights to Twitter is part of Twitter’s Amplify program. This is a revenue-generating program that lets organizations, such as the NFL, sponsor tweets that come up in users’ Twitter feeds. In every clip that the NFL puts out, there is a short ad embedded before the clip starts. The revenue generated from these ads is split between both companies. Coming from a marketing and promotion standpoint, I feel that there are positives and negatives to this new relationship. The main positive being that the NFL and Twitter both have such a huge following that what they are trying to accomplish will occur. With these tweets being ‘officially sponsored’ they automatically come up in a users’ Twitter feed so they are easily accessible during the game to see these highlights. However, and here is when the negatives arise, if for some reason a user is not going through Twitter during a game, when they go to check the next day they may have to scroll through multiple tweets before finding the clips. Being in a fast-paced society where consumers want things the quickest way possible, they might give up on finding the clips when they can possibly just YouTube them; especially having the ads play before. 

This deal is relevant to the course because promotion is a main component of the marketing mix. Within promotion itself there are also components, two being publicity and licensing. These mixes are the basis of marketing and without them marketing would not exist. The NFL is using the licensing from Twitter to promote their in-game highlights on users’ feeds and they are giving these companies the publicity by playing the short ads before the clips to help generate revenue. 

The President of Twitter’s Global Revenue, Adam Bain said, “putting the NFL's "highly coveted content" on Twitter "will not only offer our users a unique programming schedule which will deepen their engagement with our platform but will also provide our sponsors with a value proposition that few other partners can bring to the table” (Sharma, 2013). 
This deal is one that other major programs should consider looking into. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get information across, and with Twitter having millions of followers the NFL’s new platform is definitely going to take off.

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Analysis by Katherine Lampa in SRM 435 (section 2)

In our article “Twitter Strikes Deal With NFL”, the specifics of the deal between the two companies are discussed. It will be a twenty-four- seven service as the NFL plans to have a team “dedicated to producing programming for Twitter users seven days a week”(Sharma, 2013). Games that are aired on the NFL Network will be featured on Twitter during the game, while other highlights from other networks will come later. Every video tweeted will have a short advertisement before the start of the video and the NFL and whichever company is producing the ad will share the revenue. Verizon will be a main sponsor throughout the entire season including the Super Bowl as they will be the “exclusive Twitter advertiser”. They will be paying one billion dollars over the next four years to expand their “rights to air NFL games on cellphones through an NFL Mobile app”(Sharma, 2013). During Monday Night Football the NFL will be the only account tweeting out highlights as ESPN has not been awarded those rights. 

The usage of Twitter will help actually get the ads in the face of consumers because they are short and you cannot skip by them like you may be able to do on television. Twitter has billions of users that are checking in all day every day so promoting the relationship between the NFL and Twitter will not be a problem. I think the deal creates great opportunities for both parties as Twitter continues to grow as the most widely used social media network and the NFL continues to dominate the sports world. As more people find out that clips are in- game highlights I think that more people will join Twitter to consequently follow the NFL. Marketing will pretty much take care of itself because Twitter is so easy to use. Twitter makes for a great promotions platform for the NFL because so many people can view these clips from all over the world. The publicity both the NFL and Twitter are going to get from this deal is going to be huge as they will promote each other constantly.

This relates to our class in a few ways, but mostly because it is a perfect example of social media taking over the sports world as a main promoter. While there is no person to person contact to reinforce the advertisements general users can still communicate with people in charge much easier than ever before. The use of Twitter to promote sports creates many more opportunities for great customer relations and community relations as fans can come together over Twitter. Overall, I am surprised it took this long for the two to sign an official deal and it will be interesting to see how it plays out and how popular it becomes.

"Leagues embrace Twitter, with eye on future revenue"

From SportBusiness Journal

Analysis by Alex Willner in SRM 435 (section 1)

Twitter has developed into an intriguing platform where sporting agencies can capitalize on consumer engagement and consumption. Many sports have recognized that twitter is a cheap and easy way to interact with fans and possible customers. The article “Leagues Embrace Twitter, With Eye on Future Revenue” explains how various sports view twitter as a powerful means to connect with fans on and off the field. 

From a marketing standpoint, twitter is a perfect way for fans to stay tuned-in with team or player interest stories. At this point, twitter is not looked upon as such a way to maximize profits, but more of a menas for fans to stay connected with teams. Leagues believe twitter will drive profits in the long run but in the mean time, it is a great way to stay connected. During major sporting events such as the World Series, Final Four, and Super Bowl, sports can make up about 90 percent of all TV-related tweets. In the last month, the NFL and twitter signed a large-scale deal worth and undisclosed amount in the low eight figures. The deal includes football highlights, fantasy material and other content posted on the micro blogging site. In addition, the deal allows the league to partner with Twitter’s new Amplify advertising platform.

Twitter utilized the Nielson study as of August, which found 29 percent of 221 broadcast shows from across various genres, saw a significant increase in their live ratings from heightened Twitter activity. This not only is a sign that people closely follow Twitter feeds, but also and indication that people took action based off of tweets. An increase in viewership not only means greater exposure for teams, but also opens an intriguing opportunity for sponsors to become integrated. Existing NFL sponsors such as McDonalds and Verizon have signed on as advertisers in the venture. Both of these corporate partners have a shown their values and goals align closely with the NFL and feel they can mutually benefit from an opportunity such as this. Through extensive efforts between Twitter and leagues, there can be mutual benefits to maximize profits. 

---Analysis by Schuyler LaClair in SRM 435 (section 1)

The past five to seven years nothing has grown quicker and more vastly than social media. Twitter is one of the top dogs when it comes to the social media industry. Twitter is so widely used now it’s starting to turn into an untapped marketing tool, especially to sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, and MLB. As John Ourand and Eric Fisher write in an article in Sports Business Journal, leagues are starting to embrace twitter as a possible tactic to increase their revenue stream. 

Two main events that saw increased TV views along with high twitter activity were Sunday Night Football with the Cowboys versus the Redskins and Game 2 of the American League Championship Series with the Red Sox versus the Tigers on October 13th, 2013. Both games had a combined 1.1 million tweets along with increased viewership, SNF getting over 22 million viewers and the ALCS Game 2 around 8 million. Leagues are starting to see the connection between high twitter activity and TV viewership and ratings. The NFL is one league that is trying to partner with Twitter and harness the tools that Twitter offers tweeting game highlights and stats along with fantasy stats. They recently signed a one-year deal around eight figures to “test the waters” and other leagues are watching closely to see how it goes.

This relates to marketing to the point where this is just the start of a whole new type of marketing strategy. Even with leagues having high interest in possibly partnering up with Twitter they are still nervous about the risks of possible flopping if money were to be put into the idea. Over the next one to two years the NBA, MLB, and NHL will be watching closely to see not only what happens with the NFL but to gain more knowledge and find a link between Twitter activity and increased revenue. If successful, who knows where the marketing industry will be after social media tactics are introduced.