Member Article

How do you solve a problem like Maria’s?

By John McCabe, managing director, Round Table Solutions

Sport once again finds itself on the front and back pages today.

Maria Sharapova’s failed drugs test creates a crisis situation for tennis, for her sponsors and of course for the player herself. From a PR perspective, it has been handled with the deft touch of a winning sliced drop shot. Compare and contrast with the clumsy ongoing fallout of the Adam Johnson trial.

The first lesson to be drawn from Sharapova is the way in which she and her team have taken ownership of this story. It’s pretty clear that between being charged on 2 March and her announcement five days later, the Russian will have spent considerable time with her PR and legal advisers.

Between them, they managed to keep the story tightly under wraps until Sharapova delivered her personal statement. In fact, the speculation ahead of the press conference was of either a major new sponsorship deal or impending retirement.

News of a failed drugs test was therefore more of a ‘bombshell’ than is usually the case when the word is used in a sporting context. If you’ll allow me one more tennis pun, far better for Sharapova herself to serve up this news than to be on the receiving end. By taking this proactive approach, Sharapova was able to get her message in first so everything that follows is in response to the agenda she has set.

Sharapova burst onto the global tennis scene when she won Wimbledon at the age of 17. She’s subsequently become one of the most recognisable and marketable women in sport. And from a shy teenager, Sharapova has become a savvy media operator. It was no surprise therefore that her carefully crafted announcement was so expertly delivered to the assembled press.

Of course no amount of PR management will wipe out the issue she has created for herself and her reputation will subsequently take a hammering. However, Ms Sharapova’s first step on the road to redemption was an assured one.

Great credit should go to two of her main sponsors, Nike and TAG Heuer, both of whom very quickly severed lucrative links in order to protect their own brand values. The Nike deal alone was said to be worth £49m over eight years and while few of us can ever imagine such wealth, we can all learn the lesson that reputational damage can be expensive.

Ignoring his crime for a moment, the Adam Johnson scandal has been a case study in how not to handle a crisis situation with questions remaining about who knew what and when. The old adage in politics is that if the lie doesn’t finish you the cover up will. In any crisis, a vacuum of facts and evidence will be filled with speculation and innuendo. Adam Johnson is guilty of his crime but his former employer needs to up its PR game if it is to protect its own hard-earned reputation.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Round Table Solutions Ltd .