“What great PR for that company!”
That comment was made during one of the inspiring sports stories this weekend – the return of former back-up kicker Jonathan Weitz, who was summoned back to Clemson University’s football team, just as he was about to launch his finance career in New York with Ally Financial Services.
The story got me to thinking about what constitutes “great PR.”
Weitz, a walk-on who was the backup kicker at Clemson from 2019 – 2022, had moved on from the team. He was pursuing his master’s online with Clemson but had an extra year of eligibility because of COVID.
Clemson’s new freshman kicker had struggled through his first two games. It was the sons of Clemson coach Dabo Swinney who reminded their dad that former teammate Jonathan Weitz was still eligible to play.
Only two small problems:
- Weitz hadn’t touched a football since April
- He had an apartment lined up in New York where he was set to begin a fulltime job with Ally in a matter of days
When Weitz told his boss at Ally about the call from Clemson, his boss reportedly said, “I’d be mad if you didn’t go for it.” Sportscasters reported on Saturday that his boss was attending the game.
Listening to this tale during Saturday’s big game against Florida State led to the comment about this being great PR for Ally.
As a PR professional, I found myself speculating how this went down. Did Ally engineer this just to get a favorable mention on national television?
Doubtful. This all happened in a matter of hours. Weitz reportedly accepted the offer after he went outside, kicked a few, and consulted with his future employer.
Looking at Weitz’s LinkedIn profile, you can see what Ally saw in him. Weitz earned a degree in Financial Management, along with a minor in accounting, in three years. He was a member of the honor society for finance majors. He has a history with Ally, where he began an internship in May. His sports career speaks highly of his character – he walked on at powerhouse Clemson (grit, determination, courage) and then played behind a kicker who went on to the NFL (humility, respect, dedication).
Ally would have been crazy not to want this promising talent on their team.
When people speak of “great PR for an organization,” it often comes about in this spontaneous, serendipitous way. This didn’t happen because a savvy marketing director or opportunistic PR manager said, “Ooooh, let’s delay his start so we can milk some good PR for the company.”
When Jonathan Weitz’s future boss was presented with the opportunity, he stepped out of his management role and became Every Parent in America, seeing this once-in-a-lifetime chance as an “and” – not an “either-or” situation.
PR isn’t always carefully planned or strategically massaged. Sometimes good PR is fueled entirely by good people making really good decisions.