Flying High No Longer

God how I wish the AFL would let Ben Cousins get past that white-line and on to the field…

Last night (25 Nov 2008 ) St Kilda declared that they had no interest in taking on Ben Cousins. This comes after North Melbourne, Collingwood (after hiring a private investigator - awesome use of my membership resources) and most recently Brisbane all declined the fallen eagle.

The more I think about this the more I think Cousins is a lost opportunity both onfield and off.

On field: Cousins is one of the greats – winning Brownlows,  winning grandfinals, achieving All-Australian selections, being deemed best and fairest, and holding the captaincy for five years. 

If he was an okay player, a good player, or even an excellent player then sure I could probably understand the hesitation. But he was (and could be again) great. He kicks goals and wins games, he boosts moral and memberships alike.

Shouldn’t this be enough to warrant a second (factor in public brawl with Kerr), no wait third (oh there was that incident with the WA gangland), okay forth (abandoning his car to run from a booze bust – hilarious), whoops fifth (that little incident at Crown in 2006)…shouldn’t this be enough to warrant ANOTHER chance???

When I first heard that St Kilda had rejected him my initial reaction was: Karma Benny. Obviously the guy isn’t the most sensible (or stealth) eagle in the nest. However the more I think about it the more I think perhaps he has been a little hard done by.

Yes drugs are socially frowned upon. Yes him taking them (AND GETTING CAUGHT) brought the game in to disrepute. However the only person who has lost (i mean a really lost) is Cousins. He has lost his reputation, his dignity, and the job he is seemingly so passionate about.

His job is (was) to play AFL football. To be fit, to kick goals, to win games. He is very good (great) at that job. He is not a politician, he is not a police officer, he is no-longer captain. He is not a role model .

I can’t help but think how unbalanced the treatment of Cousins has been. Contrast with Wayne Carey. Carey committed THE ULTIMATE SIN. As captain of the North Melbourne Football Club he cheated on his wife with the wife of his best friend. Oh and his best friend just happened to be his vice-captain. So many people lost. Carey (who also dabbles in non-prescription medicine) was picked up by the Adelaide Crows the next year.

Cousins has admitted he had a problem, sought treatment for that problem, and agreed to the re-entry conditions of the AFL (in the form of stringent drug testing). Another precedent: Piegate . Alan Didak, also an absolute great (minus the captaincy, Brownlow and Grandfinal) got a second (and third) chance when he was involved in an underworld joyride followed up a year later by a drunken joyride with team mate Heath Shaw. Shaw managed to crash his car into a parked car. Throughout preliminary questioning from the club Shaw stated that he was in the car with a ‘mate’. He did not mention this ‘mate’ was Didak. Didak straight away admitted he had a problem…no hang on…rather than admit to being drunk and in the car he concealed the truth (as he did a year earlier to police) from his captain, coach, and president. Pain all around – not to mention the horror that could have unfolded had the car plowed into a child rather than a parked vehicle. Didak coped a fine and missed a couple of games.

Supporters want their club to win games. Winning games boosts membership. More memberships boost sponsorship. More membership + Increased sponsorship =  Lots of money. 

Having Cousins in a team will create media hype but it doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. If the team does its due diligence (note to Collingwood re: Didak) and closely monitors Cousins it is possible that they will be praised for being a reformer.

Unlike Carey and Didak – Cousins’ actions stem from an addiction. Drug addiction is an illness, a horribly serious one. Cousins needs support so he can recover and perhaps even go on to become a voluntary role model to others suffering from similar illnesses. Give him a life-line.

PR vs. Advertising: Where do we draw the line in the social media space

I was standing in line to get a drink when I struck up a conversation with a student about social media. I really really wish I could remember more of the conversation/debate (the music was loud and the bar must have been about 50 people over capacity) because it has been on my mind all day.

In the Red corner: Final year advertising student Jake (or was it John? perhaps Jack – lets call him J), arguing that advertising owned the social media space.  

In the Blue corner: Yours truely - Miss argue-all-you-like-but-I’m-right PR honours student, asserting that PR owned the social media space.

A large element of PR is segmenting the ‘mass’ into groups with a common stake or interest then targeting these individual groups with a tailored message. To my understanding social media is about allowing people to segment themselves out of the mass into groups. Melbournians are no longer classed as ‘Herald Sun’ readers or ‘Age’ readers’ they can now choose to personalise their news getting updates and stories from across the world on subjects that interest them. Kath wants to know exactly what Britney did next. Ken, however, doesn’t give a flying…he is much more interested in the commentary for next weeks Collingwood/Geelong Clash. Kath gets an update from Hello! Ken gets an RSS feed from Fox sports. 

Facebook is a perfect example of this. My friend recently got engaged – she now has ads pop up on her page for ‘win a naughty hens night’ and ‘bridal boutiques’. I argued this was PR, it is targeting an appropriate message to a very niche audience. J disagrees, ‘Advertising – blatant bloody Advertising’ afterall they did pay to appear on Facebook.  

The more I think about this the more I wonder…

• Are the two disciplines converging?
• Will there be a new hybrid communications disciplines (Pradvertising)?
• Is there a difference between PR and Advertising in social media?
• Is the Internet simply a new canvas to paint ideas on?
• Are bloggers the new Journalists awaiting our pitch?

I understand that in any communications plan social media is only one element of a wider strategy. However, I think it has become somewhat of a buzz word. Where in the not to distant past organisations were cautious about social media and its participatory nature – now they can’t get enough of it. Even if they don’t exactly know what it is or the implications of using it – everyone else is doing it and god forbid we fall behind the spam filled web 2.0 8ball. Its like the new media ‘I’ll have what she’s having’ diet – serve me up an ad on MySpace with some of that pop-up pie on the side…

Arrrgh I’m confused and have to stop procrastinating and write my essay but I will think about it more and finish this post…To be continued