How the National Hockey League is reaching its PR goal electronically
Many professionals who rely on email for PR purposes may not see much difference between it and a fax message, but savvy users understand that emailings can and should be fine-tuned to suit the needs of the recipient. This is especially true when dealing with the sports media, since quick delivery of basic, factual information is usually what they want.
Email can be formatted as plain ASCII text, with non-proportional fonts and that "plain text" look, or as HTML (the same language used to make Web pages), with its capability of delivering a variety of fonts, page formatting and artwork. Text-based email downloads almost instantaneously, while HTML - like most Web pages - can take much longer to come down the line. It's this download-speed difference balanced against the needs of the recipient that is influencing which type of email format is selected for a specific target "audience."
Andrew McGowen, director of public relations for the National Hockey League, says the technology of communicating with fans and media has "changed drastically" over the past three years, but the respective needs of each group have not. According to McGowen, NHL fans want exciting, colorful information, including photos, while the media - particularly those who cover the games - want essential facts, like player quotes, game reports and stats delivered promptly in an immediately-usable form.
These differing needs have led the NHL to develop two separate Web sites. NHL.com is an open site for fans that includes all the latest techno "bells and whistles," but NHLmedia.com is a password-protected, text-based site for members of the media who must receive authorization before gaining access. Beyond the Web sites, McGowen is quick to point out that the same is reflected in the league's email newsletter for fans vs. media emailings - the fans get the glitz, while the media gets the essentials via ASCII text. "It's not graphically intense," McGowen explains regarding the NHL's media emailings. "It's designed to get [out] facts and figures." Postings to the media Web site are also done as text only.
To speed up information delivery even further, next season McGowen plans to have each of the 27 NHL teams use a customized Lotus Notes program that has been made into a standard reporting form for game summaries. The information will be posted on each team's in-house server, where it's replicated instantly to the NHL server. The resulting text-only information routed to the media Web site will also be incorporated into media emailings.
Another reason to use ASCII text rather than HTML involves international email. Plain text email arrives as it was written; it has no trouble being understood by the recipient due to software translation" limitations (as HTML sometimes does with Japanese and Cyrillic, for example).
This is important to organizations like the Salt Lake City Olympic Organizing Committee (2002 winter games) since international email addresses constitute a significant part of the their mailing list. "We use text-based copy for all press releases... It really helps us with the international media" says Frank Zang, the SLCOOC director of communication. While requests grow for artwork like photos of venues, logos and pictures of mascots, especially from foreign countries, Zang says there's no plan to change from the basic text-only email format. "Most prefer to get info via [text-based] email."
Although the SLOOC's fax mailing list is about double the size of its email list, Zang believes email is quickly becoming the preferred technology. "Email is the fastest-growing tool [we use] and it's still growing."
PR Turns To IT
When NHL Public Relations Director Andrew McGowen wanted to update the way in which the league's 27 teams file their post-game reports, he turned to the organization's IT department for some help.
McGowen, a fan of Lotus Notes, wanted to use the commercially available software as the basis for a standardized report form for every team's game notes, which are filed with the league following each night's play. "I have a great IT department, so I went to them with my basic plan," McGowen says. Some massaging of the Lotus software resulted in a form that suited McGowen's specific requirements for the game notes.
Each NHL team has its own server which is able to connect to the server at NHL headquarters. When a team posts the game notes to its own Web site, the local server automatically replicates the information on the NHL server, where it becomes available on the league's media web site as text-only files. The new software will streamline the process by standardizing the incoming information and making it available for immediate posting. The system will go into use next season," says McGowen.