By Katie Paine
On the one hand you have a world renowned French soccer star, rags to riches hero to millions around the world, winner of the most of the honors the soccer world has to offer.
On the other hand you have a Major League Baseball star. The differences are perhaps too striking to make a fair comparison. Zenadine Zidane is famous worldwide. Barry
Bonds' fame or notoriety is known only in America. Nevertheless, it is an interesting study in contrasts of how individuals handle fame, pressure, and ultimately their
reputations.
Barry Bonds, who last month surpassed Babe Ruth's home run record and who also dodged a grand jury indictment in the ever spreading baseball doping scandal, has maintained his
innocence all along. Defiant throughout his long downfall, and despite countless articles and several books on the subject, Bonds still claims he did nothing wrong. And he can
still say that because if he did take drugs, he did them in private, behind closed doors, without any witnesses.
On the other hand, Zidane lost his temper in the last minutes of the World Cup, responding to vulgar trash talk on the part of Italian Marco Materazzi by head butting him to
the ground. There were about a billion people watching. Within minutes the TV replaces were up on YouTube.com and every cable news station worth its salt had hired Italian lip
readers to figure out what Materazzi had actually said.
So how come the president of France still poses proudly with Zidane and Bonds is booed when he walks onto the field? Why did 61% of French people polled forgive Zidane within
48 hours, while more than half of Americans think that Bonds is guilty as charged? Why are sponsors shying away from the steroid-scandal plagued baseball, but DANONE and
Adidas have made very clear that they're sticking with Zidane? It's all in their history and how they communicate.
Zidane has basically communicated little and played a lot. In sports, people always look first at the performance, and then at the person and what he or she says, the same is
true here. People judge Zidane first by his feet and what he does on the field, than by how he acts off the field. He doesn't say much, but when he does it comes out as classy.
Even his apology was well spoken and thoughtful, albeit incomplete. More importantly he took responsibility for his actions.
Bonds' performance was equally stellar. Breaking Babe Ruth's record is no mean feat. But Bonds does talk a lot, and unfortunately when he does the words he uses are harsh and
confrontational. Of more consequence, he continues to deny any wrong doing and blames the entire episode on "racism." A future grand jury may have a different opinion, and
certainly the media does.
Katie Paine is CEO of KD Paine & Partners. She can be reached at [email protected].
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Zenadine Zidane
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| Criteria | Grade | Comments | Advice |
| Extent of coverage | F | Given the nature of the world cup, the coverage was overwhelming There are currently 136,694 blog postings on the subject, 3806 videos up on you
tube and a good new search turned up27 million citations. Over a billion people were watching that particularly game (compared to 130 million that watch the superbowl and a mere 60 million that watch the world series) |
Try not to screw up when the whole world is watching - literally. |
| Effectiveness of spokespeople | C | His apology was late and a little lame, but people bought it Over 61% of French people forgave him. The fact that he aimed his remarks at young
people conveyed a sense of social responsibility for his actions, although I personally wonder if it wasn't a well rehearsed spin strategy - why else did it take two days to get it said? |
In a crisis, you need to sounds as real and human as possible if you want people to believe you. Do NOT spend three days crafting the perfect press
release. It won't matter by the time you get it out there. Take your time to judge your words; just don't take thee days to say them. |
| Communication of key messages | C | Zidane's message was loud and clear - he was provoked and he would do it again. This is perhaps not the message I would have chosen, but he was
certainly clear and consistent. To Zidane, an insult of this nature required a response. It had to do with culture and manliness and all the spin doctors couldn't change it. |
What you don't say, and how you say it, conveys more than best articulated press release. If you hold back in a crisis, people will speculate on
what you're not saying. More importantly, people will read all kinds of things into your decision, Just make sure you're prepared to deal with those perceptions |
| Management of negative messages | C | The fact that there were 10 prior red cards in Zidane's history was frequently mentioned, but in general there was surprisingly little negativity
in the coverage. In fact, a number of editorial writers took issue with Materazzi's trash talk. |
A long history of classiness can wipe out a short history of inappropriate behavior. |
| Impact on consumers | A | The vast majority of Zidane's fans haven't changed their opinion of him at all | Once again, consistent classy behavior and great performances can cover many a sin |
| Impact on sponsors | A | Clearly Zidane has cultivated and sustained great relationships with his sponsors. Despite the brouhaha, French Telecom just renewed his contract
and Adidas, DANONE and other sponsors have been very visible and vocal in support of their superhero. |
Long term good relationships will sustain a brand thru a crisis. The key, however, is measuring those relationships and understanding your trust
levels before the crisis breaks. |
| Impact on teammates | F | Clearly Zidane's team mates are the most impacted by his actions. They lost the World Cup and some are now speaking out against them. Even though
he announced his intent to retire after the Cup, he still needs to rebuild bridges with the team. |
In any crisis, your friends can be tougher on you than some enemies. The enemies may just sit and watch you self destruct. Friends may saying
things in passing that have greater consequences than you think. |
| Overall score | C | In the end, history will judge Zidane harshly, no doubt, because historians will look no further than thefinal score. But as an individual Zidane's
reputation was amazingly unharmed by the fracas. |
Crises are not "handled" in a day or a week or a month. The successful weathering of a crisis takes years of good deeds, straight talking, and
credible behavior. |
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Barry Bonds
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|---|---|---|---|
| Criteria | Grade | Comments | Advice |
| Extent of coverage | F | While Zidane's disgrace was watched by more people, Bonds has gone on for a long longer period of time. Every couple of weeks for the past year,
there's been new news of the scandal, be it in the form of a book, an indictment, new evidence or a new charge. |
When the crisis goes on and on and on, every day brings more attention, more opportunities to see the bad news. |
| Effectiveness of spokespeople | F | Barry Bonds is his own worse enemy. Every time he opens his mouth, he says something that makes the situation worse and the press just keeps
writing it all down. |
Sometimes fate deals you a really awful spokesperson that no amount of training can improve. The solution - promote someone else. Find someone
who likes to talk to the press and make them the official spokesperson with the appropriate title. |
| Communication of key messages | C | Bonds' message has been "I didn't do it." And while he is very consistent about repeating it, fewer and fewer people are buying
it. |
Successful communication of key messages is not just about repetition, its about checking in to make sure that the message is credible, whether
people are buying it, and if it leaving people more likely to buy tickets. |
| Management of negative messages | F | Bonds' hostility to the press has left him open to all the negative messages the media can dream up. | In a vacuum, people will say bad things about you and convey your negative messages anywhere. Lesson 1 - don't leave a vacuum. Lesson 2 its
better to have people say bad things to your face than behind your back. |
| Impact on fans | D | Fans are starting to chime in and add their opinions so the media coverage just keeps getting worse. MLB is starting to feel the pain of the
scandal. |
No matter how loyal a customer is, if a crisis goes on for long enough, customers may begin to doubt their own judgment in remaining loyal,
particularly if friends are deserting the brand. |
| Impact on sponsors | D | See above. The steroid scandal is starting to spook sponsors. While MLB is finally starting to do something about it, Bonds' behavior is hurting
their credibility |
Beware of undermining factors in a crisis. You may be doing all you can to fix a problem, while someone else, a competitor, or an employee could
be making it worse. |
| Impact on teammates | D | The scandal has affected not only the fans but the team itself. Even Bonds' performance is being questioned (unlike Zidane) | No matter how great a team player you are, consistently bad behavior ultimately will impact others around you |
| Overall score | F | Bonds is every crisis manager's worst nightmare. He makes the scandal worse every time he opens his mouth, he is uncooperative with the media
and he blames the media and everyone else for his problems. |
If you have a spokesperson like Bonds, either find a way to replace him, or find a new job. |