Being a Public Relations T-Shirt Fan

Recently the concept of "t-shirt fans" came up in conversation because of people who support colleges they did not attend. I get accused of being a t-shirt fan, or according to my best friend a faux fan, because I support the University of Texas and did not attend school there. I have also recently become a supporter of TCU because it is the local college here in Fort Worth where I live, and who wouldn’t want to support such a great football program and the people who have taken it there? I started wondering why being a t-shirt fan is associated as being a negative to those who call themselves “true fans.” Wouldn’t colleges and other true fans want as much support as possible…even if it’s only people jumping on the bandwagon? Support is support and the way I look at it, the more support you have the better everyone will be.

So how in the heck does this apply to public relations? In the field of public relations we often find ourselves playing the role of “t-shirt fan.” There are times we may not agree with, or even want to support, the decisions being made my our bosses, boards, etc. Even if we council them on the reasons why we don't want to "bless their decisions" and communicate our hesitations to them, ultimately it is not our decision. So when we do not agree with what is being done in our organization, as long as it is ethical, we have a professional obligation to show support and be a “team player.” It wouldn’t be very good PR if the rest of the organization had on TCU shirts and I showed up in a Texas Tech shirt right?

So the question becomes am I a true fan or not? Maybe not initially, but on the exterior the message I am communicating to the stakeholders of the organization is that I am fully engaged and committed to the success and/or failure of the decisions, policies, etc., that have been made and I will do my best to get others to jump on board with us…again, as long as it is ethical. To me that means I am making the professional and conscience decision to blend in with the true fans to the point where they have no idea I am what they consider a “t-shirt fan." As far as I'm concerned, we are all there for the same reason, to support our team!

So with all that said, I am PROUD to be considered a t-shirt fan both professionally and personally. I am a fan of UTEP, Texas State, The University of Texas and now TCU…but my support doesn’t stop there. I am a fan of the game and if there is a team worth my support, then give me a shirt and make room for me on the bandwagon! I have learned that you may start off as a t-shirt fan, but if you invest enough time, energy and emotion into any team (professionally or personally), you become a true fan regardless of what others might say…sometimes more so than the so-called “true fans.”

Picture: My best friend Jill (Texas Tech Grad), college friend Jon (UTEP grad/UTEP football player) and me all supporting TCU in Las Vegas versus UNLV. Three proud t-shirt fans!

Who Really Wins Championships...Offense or Defense?

I’ve gone back and forth about writing this post because just when I think I’ve made up my mind, I talk myself out of the position I previously took. About one month ago, I had the conversation with three different individuals about the infamous quote: “Offense wins games, defense wins championships.” Initially, I was firm in my thinking that is not the case in public relations because we are more comfortable, and prefer, to play offense. If we find ourselves on the defensive side of an issue, situation, crisis, etc. we were usually blind-sided and not prepared. Here is a little secret, PR Pro’s DO NOT like to be blind-sided. It’s only logical that we would say offense wins championships.

Then one of the other common PR strategies got the best of me and I found myself stuck. It’s the ‘ol “angel on one shoulder and devil on the other” theory…and I started examining the other side of the issue. Here was my thought process:

Thought 1:

What is a defense? I feel confident in saying that a pretty basic defensive philosophy would say that if the defense is strong enough, the opponent will not score and if the opponent does not score, they cannot win. Simply put, the defense must prevent a score, gain possession of the ball and if the opportunity arises score while on defense.

Thought 2:

How often in public relations are we fortunate enough to get to “call the shots” and keep the offense on the field? Reality is, our jobs would be pretty simple if we were prepared for everything that was thrown our way and were able to pick apart the other teams defense and score. But that’s not reality; we get blind-sided often as PR Pros so that automatically puts us on the defense side of the ball.

Thought 3:

Who prepares more for a game, the defense or the offense? Simple, the defense! They have to watch film on the other teams offense, they have to know every set, play, route that the other teams offense is going to use. Their job is to keep the opponent scoreless right? The offense can’t do that, only the defense can. Here is where my stance started to change…we can’t always foresee the circumstances we are going to find ourselves in as PR Pros, but once we know what the offense is going to do, we can adapt our “game scheme” and keep them from scoring, get the ball back and let the offense do its thing. When we find ourselves on defense, that just means we’ve seen their play, we know their move and we know how to respond. When on offense we “anticipate” that we know how the other team will respond and sometimes (ok, quite often) we are shocked by what doesn’t happen instead of what does happen.

Thought 4:

I still would argue that as a PR Pro, I prefer to be on the offense side of the ball, it’s just more comfortable feeling prepared and having the ball in your hands. BUT, because the PR world is not that simple, it’s what we do on defense that can ultimately determine our organizations success or failure when a situation we were not prepared for arises.

So…yes, I did just change my mind (it’s my right, I’m a woman) and I am confident with my stance in saying that the “PR Game Philosophy” follows that of football: “Offense wins games, defense wins championships.” It only took me one month to come to that conclusion…