The All Whites, and football, have won more than the hearts and minds of the public with their greater than expected performances at the World Cup.

They have also won the admiration of the media for the way players, the coaching staff and top officials have readily made themselves available for interviews – regardless of the difficulties created by the time difference between South Africa and New Zealand.

In our prime news time of 6am to 8am this morning, some two to four hours after they had failed by the narrowest of margins to ‘achieve the impossible dream’ and when emotional and physical exertion would have been taking its toll on body and mind, they repeatedly fronted, answering the same set of questions with enthusiasm and a fair degree of articulation as every news outlet sort their views.

It capped an impressive media performance they have maintained throughout the tournament.

The media loved it, and was not slow to compare the difference between the All Whites and the attitude of the ‘other two’ football codes.

It is a timely reminder to all sports (and to business) of the importance of the media to them, and the promotional power generated by good media coverage.

In the space of a few weeks we have learnt, and can recall, the names of the All Whites with the same ease as we can the nation’s top rugby and league players, and the beautiful game has moved from the wings to centre stage.

If on a regular basis football received the same level of coverage as the other football codes, it’s possible it too might not be as media friendly.

However, let’s not allow scepticism to tarnish a media performance that ranks alongside their playing performance.

Well done the All Whites, you got your communications spot on.

Tags: All Whites, communications, Football World Cup, media

This entry was posted on Friday, June 25th, 2010 at 2:07 pm and is filed under PR Matters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.