Props to Gordon Hayward for Shaping his own Story

05 Jul Props to Gordon Hayward for Shaping his own Story

Fans of the Utah Jazz were shocked to learn yesterday that All-Star small forward, Gordon Hayward, has decided to leave the Jazz to join the Boston Celtics.

Much will be written about Hayward’s decision over the days ahead, along with what the Utah Jazz will do in his absence.

Gordon Hayward, World Basketball Festival, photog–TonyTheTiger, Wikipedia, 08-14-14

This article is not about those issues.

What this article is about, however, is Hayward’s decision to take control of this story by publishing his own piece on the matter here: https://theplayerstribune.com/gordon-hayward-decision-free-agency-nba/.

As I explain in some detail in my book 66 RULES for Publicity Success: Boost Your Company’s Value For Pennies On The Dollar, virtually everyone on the planet is his/her own media company. The same is true for every company and organization. That’s why I believe we’re on way to a world of 500 Billion media channels. 

I also feel that everyone (or every organization) who does not acknowledge this fact and act accordingly does so at his/her/their peril, at least from a PR / Marketing standpoint.

In our new, always-on media world, individuals and organizations have four paths to sharing their story:

1. Media they Buy,
2. Media they Own,
3. Media they Lease or Rent, and
4. Media they Earn.

Media We Buy is the easiest concept of all to understand as it’s the path of advertising, whether traditional advertising or the digital advertising we have today across any digital platform.

Media We Own literally ties back to any type of media platform where we have the ultimate control. Examples include Websites (where we own the URL) … Blogs too, email, direct mail, Podcasts, etc.

Media We Lease/Own is trickier because in most cases, individuals tend to initially say, “That’s not true. I own that.” But, in fact, you do NOT own your Facebook account or YouTube channel or Orkut account … you’re only borrowing them under the terms and conditions established by those companies or organizations that actually own them. And the way you Pay to use such accounts is by agreeing to their respective Terms of Service, including their ability to delete your account permanently. 

Finally, Media We Earn is the classic purview of Publicity, Media Relations and Public Relations, something I know a fair amount about. However, with the technological advances of the past 10—15 years, everyone now can be (or is) his/her own media company and can publish about anything at anytime. And most do. Which means that your next door neighbor on Snapchat, that kid in Taipei on WeChat, and that Reddit user in Germany are each a new type of journalist, and given the right conditions, each may publish something about you … whether you want them to or not.

Hayward appears to understand this new reality, and for that, I give him props. I may not agree with his decision to join the Celtics, but that was never my decision to make in the first place.

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What do you think? Am I off-base or on point here? Please share your thoughts / comments below.

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A marketing and communications expert, David L. Politis recently published his first book  —  66 RULES for Publicity Success: Boost Your Company’s Value for Pennies on the Dollar. David currently helps clients address their crises, publicity and marketing challenges through The David Politis Company.