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Doug Simon, President & CEO of D S Simon Productions, examines what the future holds from a marketing perspective for NBA player Jason Collins after his announcement that he is gay.

Doug’s VlogViews:

I give credit to Jason Collins for coming out and making it easier for current and future players to lead an openly gay life if they choose to do so. The fact that he only told his twin brother that he was gay last summer demonstrates what a wrenching personal decision this was.

But it is an enormously positive statement about our society and changing values that rather than put Jason Collins at risk, his “decision” increases his odds of remaining in the NBA, dramatically increases his earning power and opens up doors to career opportunities. Collins, a Stanford graduate with a degree in economics, will rightfully, be hailed as a hero on the talk show circuit and given a platform to showcase his capabilities, and discuss his choice to go public.  I suggest you see the Jackie Robinson film “42″ for a comparison.

While Collins is described as an “active” player, that is merely  a technicality as he will be a free agent after this season. The New York Times quoted an anonymous NBA general manager as suggesting that Collins had a 25% chance of being picked up by a team next year. Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com fame had it at more than 50%. Given the marketing approach and openminded nature of the NBA, I would place it as 100% that, barring injury, Collins will be playing at the veterans minimum for an NBA team next year. While this won’t be the birth of “Col-Linsanity,” it opens a new marketing opportunity for a savvy owner in a progressive market.

According to Mike Bako who heads Sports Marketing at D S Simon Productions and commentates on sports communications for Fox News, the announcement could expand opportunities for Collins beyond his NBA career. “In an instant, he transformed himself from someone only hardcore NBA fans knew, to a celebrity who is part of our cultural Zeitgeist,” says Bako. ” “A brand that sells integrity and intelligence, such as Cadillac, could build a campaign around him.”

Don’t misread this to suggest I don’t believe prejudice against gay people exists. One only has to look at the hateful and ignorant comments being posted online in reaction to the story.  Jason Collins’ most significant contribution is to make it easier for future pro athletes and all Americans to live their lives more authentically and pave the way for even greater acceptance of different lifestyles and beliefs. Let’s not take away from this important contribution by overstating its significance or the courage behind the decision which was a carefully calculated choice guided by experts in communication and brand building.

Doug Simon on Twitter: @DSSimonDoug

D S Simon Productions on Twitter: @DSSimon

To Link To Post:  http://www.vlogviews.com/adrianagiuliana/

Mike Bako, Marketing Manager for D S Simon Productions, spoke with Adriana Giuliani, Creative & Strategic Planning at DevRies, at PR News’ The Big 3 Conference  about what social media tools you need to create and measure your campaigns.

Adriana’s VlogViews:

“What we like to start first with is what are you trying to achieve. All of these tools on the Internet allow us to have a lot of listening right now. There is so much data at our disposal. The best way to make meaning from that data is to put it into two buckets. There are macro listening tools that can inform your planning and then on the other side you have your real time listening tools that allow you to listen to the stream of conversations going on in the social space. You can then activate and respond to those.”

“Two things that we would look at for a starting place to figure out what success should look like to a campaign would be previous benchmarks, what have the success metrics looked like and how we would benchmark against that and also competitors in the larger category and try to push ahead of that.”

More information on Mike Bako:

Twitter: @mikebako

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More information on Adrianna Giuliani and DeVries:

Twitter: @adriannagiuls

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To Link To Post: http://www.vlogviews.com/douglasbrundage/

Mike Bako, Marketing Manager for D S Simon Productions, spoke with Douglas Brundage, Director of Content Strategy at Team Epiphany, at PR News’ The Big 3 Conference  about what steps brand and individuals should take to create an authentic presence on social media

VlogViews from Douglas:

Authenticity is super important for any brand on social media . From a journalistic point of view and from a digital point of view what’s most important is reaching out to people that make the most sense for your brand.

To be on Twitter is great, but you need to be following the right people. You need to be engaging with the right people. It may not be people with the most followers or with the most reach  but rather with people who are going to engage with your brand the most.

Keep calm and keep it real on Twitter and on social media. You have to think out your messaging, approach it from an editorial standpoint and be authentic about everything that you are saying.

More information on Mike Bako:

Twitter: @mikebako

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More information on Douglas Brundage and Team Epiphany:

Twitter: @DSBrundage

Team Epiphany