Happy Holidays from the Woods

Now that the police have closed their books and we've carved the tender meat off of the Tiger Woods scandal (because the celebrity media food mill will certainly be churning out spicy sausages of gossip for some time), it's time to think about how the great Golfer can begin to revamp his image. He has no shortage of examples to follow, as there's no shortage of famous philanderers trying to walk back a similarly public walk of shame (as it were). But finding the right fidelity-challenged celeb for Tiger to emulate is a difficult task.

The best thing would have been to get out in front of the story immediately, to exert whatever small measure of control over the news cycle he could from the start. Instead, he stonewalled and by doing so let the TMZs and National Enquirers (and restaurant hostesses) fill the public's appetite for idol destruction.

His headscratching and evasive online posts conjured up images of our First Philanderer, but if his image rehab goes as well as former President Clinton's did, he'll be fortunate. Of course, Tiger faces a different set of PR challenges; he's not going to be term-limited out of the PGA tour in two years, and somehow I doubt he'll be doing penance on the senate seat campaign trail anytime soon. Nevertheless, Clinton's later confessions and heartfelt apologies, coupled with an American public weary of the scandal, helped set the stage for his transformation into a well-respected philanthropist, and that should be probably be the first step in Tiger's image recovery.

Trouble with Tiger is that his on-course intensity bleeds into his public persona. He seems like a friendly guy, but not so warm and fuzzy as to invite compassion. He's built a massive brand machine on the precision with which he approaches his sport, and he comes off like that- mechanized with determination of steel. Engineered. So neither a tearful apology nor a Hugh-Grant-esque laughing shrug-off would work, and a flat, almost angry Kanye-style confessional would only further damage his sponsorship obligations.

Nope, what Tiger has to do is be honest and heartfelt. He should try to make amends with his wife and pursue some charitable effort on behalf of at-risk women. And he doesn't have to throw himself to the wolves, but he must accept the responsibilities of his celebrity status and take the healing process public.

Perhaps the best example for Tiger to follow is David Letterman. They hold similar positions in their chosen fields, they both are household names, they both cherish their privacy. Dave was well out in front of his scandal a few months ago, and now it seems to have all but disappeared from the headlines. His show actually enjoyed higher ratings during his confession period. By confronting it head on, with composure and sincerity, he managed to turn what could have been a career-threatening gaffe into at least a not-negative situation.

People cheat. People crash cars. Tiger isn't the first golfer to do it, and he won't be the last. But to heal his considerable brand image, he has to start talking about it, and very soon.

Let the healing begin!

9 unpredictions: What's not going to happen with mobile in 2010

Instead of producing an annual predictions list that many analysts and forecasters will be doing from now through the end of January, I am producing a series of "What's not going to happen in 2010" forecasts.

As the precursor to predictions, I have become weary of the retrospective look back at a year to think about what did not happen. A year riddled with missed targets and dashed expectations. And particularly this year, a year that was almost destined for failure – if we were to believe the 2009 predictions – before it even began.

To be sure, the mobile industry had an interesting 2009.

And true to form, many of the developments that came to characterize this year in mobile went unmentioned by prognosticators in 2008. In an industry so defined by technological advances, perhaps explicit forecasting is outmoded altogether? Now there’s an ironic concept.

But while I am reverse engineering the process of predictions here please remember that, as with any form of prophesying, I could be wrong. So click here to read my “unpredictions" specific to the mobile space for 2010, in the form of headlines I do not think we are not going to see.

Tigers Tangles

I’m a little late to the party on Tiger Woods tangle, but now that the news cycle has moved onto something new, I’d like to dissect what happened from a PR perspective instead of a moral one.

It’s difficult to find anyone who considers this week’s “event” (tabloidapolooza and all) a publicity high for Tiger. The old saw about there being no such thing as bad publicity doesn’t apply to an athlete whose brand image supercedes that of the sport he plays (or even of all sports, his agent might say), so let’s toss that right away.

The fact is, by maintaining a stubborn strategy of silence, Tiger surrendered complete control over his story to the media, and to those who stand to gain (read: “bar executive”). And that’s just bad PR. Worse still is the involvement of legal counsel in advising on a crisis PR strategy. Last time I checked, lawyers were experts in law, not PR.

It’s not my place to pass judgment on Tiger’s behavior, so I won’t. I am sure that by sticking to his attorney’s advice, Tiger may have avoided even greater consequences for himself and his family. But, and that is a very big but, a global celebrity and sports hero of Tiger’s standing cannot let the TMZs and the National Enquirers mold the stories that will ultimately damage his brand. They already have. Tiger’s position as a brand unto himself demands vigilance and protection, but not silence.

His biggest mistake was attempting to cover up and lie. With bloggers and hacks eeking out a on living celebrity sightings and gossip, this strategy is long dead. What he should have done was fess up, first to the people trying to help him and eventually to the public. People like regret and rehab stories. We seem to relish in others acknowledging their sins and repenting their wicked deeds in a very public and humiliating way. Then we can forgive and move on to the next naughty boy who dipped his quill into an inkwell it didn’t belong.

This is the hand Tiger has dealt for himself. In his line of business, it must be played - at all times, in private matters or otherwise - with an eye towards the public’s perception and mitigating negative PR.

Tiger could have significantly reduced negative coverage simply by being out in front of the story. David Letterman did, and turned bad press on its head. Tiger could have fessed up to Golf Magazine of Golf World instead of allowing some "bar executive" sell her story to US Weekly. But he chose to stay quiet and his silence filled the news vacuum. His cryptic online responses to rumors should have been managed better, not by lawyers but by PR professionals.

In PR, we know that silence is not golden. We also know that once you lose control of the story, the game is lost.

This was one of the few losses Tiger’s ever endured, and most likely his biggest one.