MMMM # 229 -- Public Relations & Rights Wrongs

     Nobody wants people using their name for profit without getting a cut of the action. 
    If a toy company starts making Tim Lennox action figures, I want my share of the profits (though the company would likely go under from such a foolish venture).
     But The University of Alabama continues to get itself into public relations messes by going to great lengths to protect it's symbols.
     First it was artist Daniel Moore who the school's over-the-top legal teams fought to prevent from selling his hugely collectible paintings of Crimson Tide football action. He largely won that seven year long battle this Summer after the University spent at least $1.5 Million on lawyers (and apparently nothing on PR) to get him to stop using their symbols.

     Then, more recently, the University pounced on a Northport bakery that was selling cookies with the cursive "A" on them.
     The Gadsden Times reported over the weekend that someone from the school has called to apologize to the bakery owner, who happens to hold two degrees from the University. She had received a letter demanding she cease and desist from selling the bakery goods promoting the University.
     And this got me wondering. I know any number of journalists who are graduates of the University of Alabama, including both of my most recent News Directors. 
     Don't they teach Public Relations in T-Town? 
     Doesn't the University itself have a PR person, er, department? (I looked it up, There are at least thirty-seven people in University Relations, which includes various media and public relations activities.) 
     But don't they ever stroll across campus and chat with the lawyer types about loosing battles? (Note: There are also seven people listed in the UA System's legal offices, though I suspect I'm missing some of them.)
     Some free PR advice to the school: Pick your battles. And have the PR people screen the guerrilla warfare efforts of the lawyers, just as the lawyers have a hand in reviewing marketing campaigns.

[ALSO: The need for speed in getting the story out came before getting the story right for NBC on Saturday. They reported that Neil Young had died...instead of Neil Armstrong. Oops. Neil the singer is alive and well. Neil the astronaut passed. Maybe they were thinking of John Young?

[PLUS: Still no word from the state's three largest papers about when they will to to a  three-day a week schedule, but another paper owned by the same company will do so on September 30th, so it they are smart, that will also be the day for the Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times and The Press-Register (in Mobile). We'll see. Their latest weekly column about the change is here. Remember though, these columns are not journalism. They are sales pieces designed to promote the new product.] 

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of timlennox.com.]