Public Strategies Inc. is the company Lance Armstrong has contracted to handle his image, or the public's perception of him; or perhaps manage the American public's perception of him. I'm guessing about that last part. Actually, he's been a client of theirs for quite some time now, at least a few years it seems.
The company describes their occupation as helping "leading companies transform their corporate reputation into competitive advantage by building trust with key audiences through campaign, transaction, crisis management and corporate partnerships."
Tiger Woods hired a consultant (a White House guy I believe) to help him manage his image when he found himself in a crisis a few months ago. Right about now (well, starting in May actually) I'm certain a seven-time-tour-champion has been in daily contact with PS Inc., since some dark clouds of allegations about the very seven-time-tour-winner had gathered over his seven-time-tour-myth image.
Getting back to Public Strategies, whose information about themselves is noticeably scanty (possibly a strategy in itself), they reassure you that all your bases will be covered, including the use of online social networking, such as Twitter.
Recently, I read this saying: If you take care of your behaviour, your reputation will take care of itself.
I feel that a person's established reputation is one of the best defenses for crisis management. If that isn't working, there's always a company out there willing to help you with how to Twit and what pictures to release to the public.
They wouldn't, for example, release pictures like this:
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6 comments:
most top sportsmen have image handlers anyway. but the folks that step in when there is a crisis is a special category of handler. pics with babies can make anyone look human. you mustn't think of these people as individuals; they are corporations and a lot of people's jobs depend on their public image and performance.
jb
what's happening in the last picture.
Didn't know that there was so much riding on it, I always thought it was about the person himself.
The last picture was published by the Associated Press and a couple of well-respected cycling news websites have included it in an article on their site. One of the articles was titled "Who's really running the show?" ... wow! okay, I left this blogger window to get the exact title of the article and I see it's been changed, but the pic is still there.
Anyway, Armstrong says the pic is nonsense and isn't what it looks like. He looks like he's snarling at Alberto Contador.
I believe that the pic was taken at an off-second, you know when sometimes you notice a pic looks really strange because of the exact moment it was taken. However, it's amusing that it's being shown on the Internet and I suspect it's being used in the context of the new allegations and putting Armstrong in a different light to how the American public generally sees him.
i thought he was spitting on him. look closely.
JB
Lol...it would be nice to see the series of pics that came right after the photographer snapped this one.
Contador's PR person said that they were just having a conversation enquiring about each other's health.
Two days after this shot was taken, Contador showed up at LA's bus (before the start of Stage 5) with two luxury watches, one for him and one for the sports director.
It seems to be the custom to offer gifts to those who helped the winner to his victory (they were on the same team last year).
Article about the gifts, it reproduces the photo again:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/07/news/alberto-contador-stops-by-radioshack-bus-to-deliver-gifts-to-armstrong-and-bruyneel_127230
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