I promise that I will never mention this again! Tony Veitch’s flawed media plan.
Veitch stepped out of what should have been a humbling court appearance into a media maelstrom of his own making. It was a lesson in poor judgment.
The Veitch camp made the mistake of trying to mitigate the damage of his guilty plea. As a communications exercise the strategy was misguided and the execution appalling.
It seemed to me that with anyone with the slightest interest in the case had already made up their minds about the assault long before Veitch’s appearance before Justice, the guilty plea and the sentencing. Their opinions seem unlikely to have been swayed by the outcome of the case, leaving a group that didn’t care. So what was the point of banging on and on about it?
But there is also another casualty of the case. It is the PR industry. Referees were lied to to obtain their support. His advisor’s explanation: what else could we do?
What beats me is why Veitch’s media advisor Glenda Hughes did not employ the strategy adopted by another of her celebrity clients, Mark Todd, when a serious spot of bother was alleged by the British tabloid media – saying nothing.