Does Michael Phelps Need A Blog Strategy?

Kellogg’s won’t renew its sponsorship with Michael Phelps, but Subway confirmed that it is still interested in having the Olympic gold-medalist endorse their 5-dollar-footlongs and other delicious sandwiches.  I wrote about how I thought Phelps’s team did a solid job in the aftermath of the release of the infamous bong photo.  Unfortunately, Phelps has remained in the spotlight; it seems as though every day a new company or important entity has their two-cents to add.  Good PR strategy is important, but as it should be noted through this example, it is not always 100% effective in damage control.

Gene Grabowski, the Senior VP of Levick Strategic Communications, believes that an additional tactic should have been used in response to the quick spread of the bong photo.

“He needs a blog strategy,” Grabowski continued. “He’s getting killed in the blogs right now. Doobie jokes, bong jokes, blowing bubbles in the pool jokes. Perez Hilton is all over him today. … It’s those moms and dads who are driving those kids to swimming practice that he’s most vulnerable with, and the biggest growing part in the blogosphere right now are the mommy blogs, the parent blogs. He needs a strategy to get this under control online … or he’ll lose a tremendous number of endorsements.”

PR people take notice.  It is no longer enough to state your story to the TV, newspaper, and magazine big-wigs.  Blogs are becoming more respected entities by the day.  Endorsers care about what is being said on blogs.  Make your client accessible to the new generation of online journalists and do not forget about the tremendous role they are gaining every moment.  Michael David Smith discounts this “blog strategy” talk.  I think it is actually something that more PR people need to take into account, especially in damage control situations.