China & the IOC Utilize Spin in an Attempt to Minimize Athletes’ Health Concerns for 2008 Games

The International Olympic Committee and the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) are doing all they can to minimize the fact that world-class athletes are beginning to pull out of the 2008 Summer Games for health concerns.

The story began nearly two weeks ago when Haile Gebreselassie, the current marathon world-record holder, announced that he would not compete in Beijing this August due to his concerns that air pollution in Beijing would permanently harm his lungs. (Gebreselassie suffers from asthma.)

Previously, gold medal tennis winner and four-time French Open winner, Justine Henin, had proclaimed that she would not defend her gold medal in China since the pollution would aggravate her asthma as well.

The decisions of these athletes notwithstanding (and the threat of other world-class athletes withdrawing from the Games due to health concerns), the IOC distributed on Monday, March 17 with the headline “IOC ANALYSES BEIJING AIR QUALITY DATA.”

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Miscommunication Can Happen Anytime, Anywhere

Typically, I just delete pass-along emails without even opening them; you know the kind: the ones that include sappy tales or lame jokes.

But when my wife showed me the photo to the right, I knew I just had to share it here as well.

You can almost imagine the phone order coming into the local grocery store, can’t you?

EMPLOYEE:  “Pastries. Can I help you?

CUSTOMER:  “Yes, I’d like to order a chocolate sheet cake for a going away party this week.”

EMPLOYEE:  “Okay. And would you like anything written on the cake?”

CUSTOMER:  “That would be nice. How ’bout, ‘Best Wishes Suzanne,’ and underneath that ‘We will miss you.’”

EMPLOYEE:  “No problem; we’ll get right on that.”

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Unfortunately, just when you think you’ve been absolutely, perfectly clear, someone comes along and slaps you upside the head.

Welcome to the world of miscommunication.

Sounds like an opportunity for better employee training at some store somewhere.

Facebook’s First Shot in the Spotlight–On TV that Is

Here’s the scenario: You’re 23, a Harvard dropout, CEO of the company you founded with some friends, a computer programmer, your company is valued at more than $15 billion and you’ve just been invited to come on 60 Minutes. Mark Zuckerberg, what do you do?

Well, given that the founder of Facebook probably had weeks, if not months to prepare for the interview, you hire someone to train you for going on camera. Then, you train again and again till you feel completely ready to go with Lesley Stahl on one of America’s most watched news programs. You get questions thrown at you till you feel confident about your responses, and confident that you can handle any question. You practice with a camera to see what you look like when the lights are turned on. In short, you prepare for the interview the best you can.

Quick disclaimer, I’m a fan of Facebook. A big fan. I’ve been a user for almost a year now and have reconnected to many friends and associates who I had lost contact with. I want Facebook to succeed since I’ve already reaped some of the benefits the site has to offer. I don’t want it to be successful at my expense, but I want it to succeed at becoming profitable. I’d love to help them with their marketing communications efforts. I can only imagine how fun the challenge would be. Do I think Mark would be a hard client to work with? Absolutely.

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Royale Energy Lands the First Sad Betty Award for its Most Recent News Release

There are a couple of questions in life you never want to answer, such as

• Does this dress make me look fat?
• Have you made that appointment yet for your prostate exam?
• You paid how much for that?

Well . . . I’ve got another question to add to the list. It’s

• What do you think of our news release?

Unfortunately, Royale Energy (NASDAQ: ROYL) has just landed the first Sad Betty Award for its January 11, 2008 news release. In my opinion, this is probably one of the most confusing and most awkwardly written announcements I have ever read.

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