When underwear maker Jockey International’s sponsorship deal with football star Tim Tebow was announced on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 it was one of thousands of stories that went out over the wire that day—many of them propelled by media relations efforts that went unsung.

Recognizing that there are PR lessons to be learned from even the most mundane of stories, PR News decided to track the Tebow deal story from beginning to end.

What we discovered is that media relations success lies in roll-up-your-sleeves dedication and attention to details, regardless of an impossible deadline.

SPRING 2010

Not that the Tebow/Jockey announcement was mundane. There’s nothing average about Tebow, the two-time national college football champion and Heisman Trophy winner. Tebow has been an intriguing figure both on and off the field. His exploits as a winning, hard-nosed quarterback have been widely chronicled, as have his devout Christian beliefs.

While Tebow showcased great football skills in college, his unorthodox throwing style was questioned by pro football pundits. Becoming an NFL star was no gimme for Tebow, they said. But the Denver Broncos felt the risk of drafting him in the first round was well worth taking.

That’s a feeling shared by Kenosha, Wisc.-based Jockey. “The relationship with Tebow was forged over several months,” says Mo Moorman, Jockey’s director of public relations. Moorman adds that Tebow possesses qualities perfect for the Jockey brand. “We like his spirit, his authenticity and his work ethic,” he says.

However, while it took months to build a relationship with Tebow and get him signed, the announcement process was just the opposite—it was compressed into a matter of days.

Here’s a timeline of the story launch as it happened:

THURSDAY, JULY 1

Moorman is given the heads up that the Tebow signing was on. Jockey’s goal is to announce the signing at an all-hands employee meeting at headquarters on Tuesday, July 27.

TUESDAY, JULY 13

Moorman is updated again on the Tebow signing. “I start thinking about how we’re going to roll this out,” he says. Wanting to keep the announcement close to his vest, Moorman reaches out to Amy Russ, director at its PR agency, Cone, swearing her to secrecy. Moorman and Russ quietly start drafting a press release and worked with Tebow’s team in crafting key messages.

THURSDAY, JULY 22

The Tebow sponsorship deal is finalized, and the rest of the Cone team (a total of six) is brought in to start work in earnest. Russ reviews press materials, writes content and begins work on the pitching strategy with Moorman.

â–¶ Thinking beyond the usual targets. “The story will be released on a bigger stage than the fashion apparel categories,” says Moorman. “The sports angle brings a new dimension to the outreach.”

Russ gets to work building a media list of print, broadcast and online outlets and blogs. The Cone team would leverage a large Tebow fan base through his own Web site and numerous blogs dedicated to him.

â–¶ “Tailoring” the messaging. The Cone team crafts different messages aimed at the fashion and sports marketing trades. “For those pubs, we pitch the idea of the legacy of using sports stars in marketing and in fashion,” says Russ. The main message for all pitches, says Moorman, is that Tebow would be the face of Jockey’s new fall 2011 product line called “Stay Cool.”

â–¶ Addressing timing issues: But there is one big concern: Tebow has yet to sign a contract with the Broncos. Although Moorman knew the signing was imminent, he was concerned that Tebow could sign right before—or on the day—Jockey made the announcement, stealing their media thunder. “We did work closely with Tim’s camp to ensure the announcements didn’t clash,” says Moorman.

FRIDAY, JULY 23

â–¶ Watching out for leaks. The Cone and Jockey teams address another major piece of the outreach—digital media. Moorman, however, is wary of someone leaking the story. So he has two senior-level members of the digital team build online placeholders for copy and images. “For what, they don’t know,” says Moorman.

SATURDAY, JULY 24

â–¶ Showing flexibility. Moorman and the Jockey photo team arrive in Denver to do a photo shoot with Tebow. A videographer captures “behind-the-scenes” B-roll footage the same day. Says Moorman: “We need content, and fast.”

SUNDAY, JULY 25

Moorman spends the morning in a studio editing the B-roll with a video producer from Synaptic Digital. “The goal is to pull every single piece of content together by Monday,” says Russ.

MONDAY, JULY 26

â–¶ Exciting the troops. Back from Colorado, Moorman has Jockey’s video editor splice Tebow’s career highlights and a greeting to Jockey employees into the B-roll footage. “We edit the footage to slowly reveal who the new spokesperson is,” says Moorman.

TUESDAY, JULY 27

â–¶ Getting your pitching hand dirty. The Jockey staff gathers for the all-hands meeting. The special video is a hit, and then Moorman pulls the PR trigger: “I called up Cone and said ‘Go!’” he says. As the release goes out over PR Newswire, the Cone team “picks up the phones and pitches,” says Russ. Jockey brings in another member of the digital team to handle the social media traffic.

EPILOGUE

â–¶ Having the social element covered. While the online and tradition numbers were impressive, the social media component also shined, with Jockey’s number of Facebook fans increasing 50% within the first 24 hours of the announcement. “The story really took on a viral element,” says Amelia Ott, account supervisor at Cone.

â–¶ Sticking to the basics. Moorman says the short time frame was tough, but PR pros must stay with the basics of media relations, no matter what. “You still have to nail down the messaging, ID the targets and figure what the salient points of the story are—what’s the hook and what’s the angle,” he says. PRN

CONTACT:

Mo Moorman, [email protected]; Amy Russ, [email protected]; Amelia Ott, [email protected].

Tebow By the Numbers
	College Football Stats	Jockey Story Stats
Passes/pitches thrown:	995 attempts	Major news outlets; fashion and sports trades; and sports bloggers
Pass/pitch completions:	661 completions (66.4%)	Fox Sports, CBS Sports, AP, Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, MSNBC, to name a few; traffic increase to Jockey.com on day of announcement: 178%
Rushing	692 attempts for 2,947 yards	PR had its own rush: approximately one week to fully prepare for the announcement
Touchdowns	88	USA Today was a big score
Future Outlook	NFL work in progress	Face of Jockey’s spring 2011 “Stay Cool” line