Bravo Dan Gilbert – a PR stunt that worked

About two weeks ago the city of Cleveland, the NBA and its fans around the globe were treated to The Decision – a one-hour long special on ESPN where LeBron James let everyone in the world know that the Miami Heat would be his next NBA team. While the episode was a concocted PR nightmare, the Cavaliers media relations team soon had a bad dream of their own  as owner Dan Gilbert issued a statement blasting his former superstar’s decision. If you haven’t read it yet, please read here before continuing with the post.

The morning after, the national media and Jesse Jackson had a field day on Gilbert. And, to make matters worse, the passionate owner was fined $100,000 by the NBA – all things that spelled awesome days ahead for the Cavs PR team.

As a PR person, I saw both sides of Gilbert’s letter to the fans. On the media side, it would be something that should have been reconsidered as LeBron is still one of the league’s brightest stars. The media and league have vested interest in his performance, and they tend to side with players as opposed to owners. However, from a business perspective, the move was pure genius because the personal letter utilized the passion of the owner to empathize with the fan base. Every fan wants an owner who is passionate and feels pain like they do, but you have to wonder if there were lines crossed.

However, a funny thing happened after the fine was issued by David J. Stern. The fans of Gilbert’s Cavaliers made the rant and the fine worthwhile. You see the fans latched on to the passion of the owner and offered to pay the fine issued by the league.

Now with this newfound brand loyalty and a promise of greatness, Gilbert has a great opportunity in front of him if he can expand on the PR goodwill. Here are a few things that I think could help monetize and build upon that base who was willing to spend $100K on the fine.

The first and perhaps most engaging would be to set up a fan club with special benefits for fans, similar to Red Sox Nation or Yankees Universe. Since the team has a superstar void, this club would be granted special access to the team with events like “meet the new guys,” or Q&A’s with the coaching staff or player personnel or surveys on who the Cavs should target. While the results of the surveys wouldn’t be the end all be all, they could gauge interest in certain players in terms or marketability or jersey sales.

Perhaps a more fun and entertaining use of the hundred grand would be to encourage fans to launch an NBA version of the Dawg Pound. This group would be the official welcoming committee for opposing players coming into the Q. They could even help set up the ultimate homecoming for a certain player, hailing from Akron. Imagine the homecoming of that one – as T.O. says, “Get your popcorn ready.” The team can’t roll out the red carpet for him, but hey there are no rules about fans scorned.

The final recommendation is to put together a talented team that wins day in and day out, even if the names aren’t sexy.  It takes a team to win a championship.  Fans will come and spend money on a winner.

The next few months will be interesting to see play out. Will the Cavs build a winner? Will LeBron live up to the new-found hype? And what will his Cleveland homecoming be like?

While those are all instant-gratifications, I want to see the long-term picture. Will LeBron take the title from Art Modell as the most hated man in Cleveland or if Dan Gilbert’s guarantees come true? What do you think?