Why Ted Lasso is Bugging Us!
Posted On - 04/02/2022
We’re obsessed with watching Ted Lasso at the moment (if you haven’t watched it, I’d highly recommend it!) but despite the feelgood nature of the series, there’s something that’s been bugging me in its storyline. This might be a small thing in the grand scheme of things (yes, I know it’s a TV programme) but, from a professional point of view, ruffles my feathers!
In the programme, the football club appoints a former model with no experience as their head of PR because she’s quirky. Now if this happened only as part of this fictional scenario then I wouldn’t be writing this post but unfortunately, we’ve encountered similar situations in our work.
Don’t get us wrong, we’ve worked and work with some great marketing directors and internal communication teams who understand the value of PR but over the last few years, we’ve also noticed how many companies put their most junior members of staff in charge of their marketing and PR who often don’t understand it. Those members of staff often don’t even understand what the company wants to communicate and aren’t equipped with the knowledge, experience or the information they need to be able to be able to make decisions. The senior team don’t feel PR deserves their attention so nothing happens.
The thing about PR is that it is an investment. And it’s an investment worth dedicating resources to. After all, it’s in everything you do – your external and internal communications, your web presence, your social media, your networking and even how your team answers the phone, so it’s one of the most important functions there is. How you present yourself to clients, potential clients, staff, potential staff and the wider community says so much about you, so why is it so low on the list of priorities for the senior management team?