June 5, 2023 • 42 mins
In this episode of “Inside the Oval” presented by Dignity Health, Jacob Fill shared his favorite moments as a member of the 49ers, advice for getting into the sports industry, the importance of maintaining professional relationships and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to the Inside the Oval podcast presented by Dignity Health.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm Patti Kwan and I'm Haley Genes, and today.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
We are joined by forty nine Ers Senior coordinator of
corporate Communications, Jacob phil Jacob, thank you so much for
joining the podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Thanks for having me. I'm excited.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
I've been waiting for the day that I get the
call up to the big leagues on the podcast, so
looking forward to it.
Speaker 5 (00:31):
Can you tell us about what you do as a
senior coordinator of corporate communications.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Corporate communications is basically just another way of saying public
relations PR. So I do all the business related PR
for the forty nine Ers. There's a separate team that
handle us off the football related PR, so they handle
player and coach interviews while I handle stuff with our
executives other members of the staff. So I worked to
(01:02):
promote marketing initiatives, Levi's stadium stuff, innovation storylines, third party events,
and so anything that is to do with press releases
or announcements or media stories that has not directly tied
to the play on the field is what I handle.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Do you have a favorite project you've worked on?
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Oh, that's a good question. Favorite project. I would say,
so this past year, right before the start of the
football season, every year we do a Concessions media showcase.
And I know you guys are familiar to say that's.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
My favorite event that you do.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
No, it's great because, like you get to go down
to the kitchen try all the food that's going to
be rolled out in the stadium for the year. And
so the goal of that for us is to promote
all of the good tastes that will be served up
in the stadium for the football season. And so in
the past when I've done it, we've stuck to traditional media,
so you know, your your standard TV stations, your you know,
(02:00):
local bloggers and stuff like that. But this past year,
when I was planning for it, I was, you know,
just scrolling on TikTok one night and came across a
foodie influencer. I thought to myself, like, why aren't we
involving these types of folks in this event, And so
worked with some folks on our marketing team to get
them involved, and a couple couple of foody influencers that
(02:22):
I had been following for you know, a year plus
came out to Levi's and got to meet them and
talked to them a little bit about their fort nine
ers fandom and some of their favorite restaurants in San Francisco.
So I have some that I need to try now
after their recommendations. But yeah, I thought that one was
what was really cool, just because you know, we had
(02:42):
stuck through traditional media for so long and it was
fun to involve the social media aspect as well.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, that is definitely one of my favorite events.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I know. I ask you like weeks ahead of time, like, hey,
when is this going to take place, so that we
too can capture content for Lee Vice Stadium Social.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So it's it's purely professional. Keep telling yourself that purely
professionally professional.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Patti asks me week's in advance, like she said, so
I'll have to put on her calendar early this year
so she's not out of town and misses all the
good food. I'm trying to think, like what the good
items were last year. I know last year, like we
we completely revamped the stadium dog, so like our hot
dog got enhanced, upgraded exactly, Sola donuts we had donuts, yep.
(03:29):
I think there was some burgers, like some little mini
sliders and stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Like that.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I think my favorite might be Hula Truck.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Oh that's a good one. Yeah, that's a deep poll,
but a good one.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I do like that.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
We also just incorporate local businesses in the stadium, which
I don't know if a lot of people realize, like
we do have a lot of stands that are based
in the Bay Area, especially.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Coming out of the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Like I feel like a lot of those places had
to shut down their actual brick and mortar storefronts, and so,
you know, once they were able to open up again,
game days were just another avenue of them to bring
in money and to help grow their brands.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
You know, working with those local, you know, vendors to
come in and serve their food is always really fun,
and we always bring in new ones each and every year,
so it's never it never gets stale, it never gets
boring for the fans.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
There's also some exclusive food items from those companies at
Levi stadiums. I remember Puesto when they first got their
stand here had a strawberry margarita, but.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
If you went to the Plusto that's.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
Right by Levi Stadium, they did not have that, So
there are some there's some exclusive things too.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Yeah, Psycho Donuts always has like a forty nine ers
donut that you can't buy in the stores that's only
available here at Levi's. So yeah, I think, I think, honestly,
the local restaurants have a lot of fun with it.
You know a lot of people that work there and
the ownership there, they grew up for a nine ers
fans and so it's really great for them to be
able to come. And it's always nice to like put
(04:57):
them in front of a media camera and watch their
like face is light up when they're talking about their food.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
So it's a fun one.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Shout out our small local businesses based in the Bay
of Facts, and j was plugged to come visit lea
By Stadium to give them a try.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Yeah, keep an eye out for Levi Stadium because session
showcase coming.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
This fall beyond Levi Stadium.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Social follow that, yep, follow tune in. Jacob tell us
about your path to the forty nine ers.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Yeah, yeah, I was really like telling the story. So
you know, I grew up in Campbell, California, which is
just you know, ten or fifteen minutes away from the
stadium here in Santa Clara always grew up a forty
nine Ers fan. Is my is my childhood team, to
be honest with you, and you know went to college.
As I was preparing to leave college and graduate, I
applied for an internship here at the forty nine Ers,
(05:46):
a postgraduate internship. I didn't get it at the time,
but I guess had a really good interview despite not
getting the job, And so after college graduation, I took
a job at a local PR agency in the Bay Area.
Worked there for about or to six months, and then
one random, one day, randomly, my old boss here at
the forty nine ers just shot me a random email
(06:08):
and said, hey, man, like we just lost someone from
our team. They they took another opportunity. They're moving on.
Our season is about to get underway. We really need
the extra set of hands. Like wondering what you found
for work? Did like, you know, where are you? And
I said, I'm working full time at a PR agency
here in the Bay But I'm interested, Like what do
you what do you have in mind?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
And that PR.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Agency was a really great job. I was full time
salaried employee at the time. I had you know, benefits,
all that stuff. It was really fun. I had a
lot of great coworkers there. Their Walten company was was
a PR agency. Shout out Wallen company for my early
career days, but you know it was it was a
consumer tech PR and so obviously was not as fun
as doing PR for the Niners. And with it being
(06:49):
my hometown team I was, I was very intrigued in
the opportunity, and so you know, eventually I got to
talk into the forty nine ers. They said they really
needed the help, but the best they could do with
such short notice was to offer an internship. And so
it took me a couple of days to think about
that opportunity. And you know, like I said, I was
a full time, salaried employee at the agency, so taking
(07:09):
an internship would be a bit of a step down.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
I'd be taking a little bit less pay.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
But with that said, growing up, I always wanted to
work in sports, and so this opportunity kind of came knocking,
and ultimately I decided that if I didn't take it now,
I'd always look back and say, oh, I wish I
had taken that Niners gig. You know, when I was
straight out of college. And so that was three and
a half years ago. I came on board with the
forty nine ers as an intern back then did a season,
(07:36):
got promoted and brought on a full time and since
then have been you know, promoted two more times. So
you know, that seems like a really long time ago,
but that's that's kind of how you know, I got
to this position now.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I like about thinking through that the amount of people
that we have had on this podcast is Patty and
I were both part time and then moved our way
up to full time. But the amount of people we've
had who everyone in this room has either done that
trajectory or from an internship or something and like kind
of been like internally grown is really exciting. I don't know,
(08:11):
I that just hit me.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, And I think too, like, I think we have
very similar career paths in that I was working part
time as a social media intern with the River Cats,
which is Triple A minor league baseball, right super grindy,
and they had offered me a full time job at
the end of my first season there, which I was
like stoked about, right like my first full time job
out of college. But then my part time job with
(08:37):
the Niners opened up, and I had applied for that,
and you know, eventually got that obviously, but it was like,
do you leave like a sure thing and that it's
full time benefits, you know, salaried or whatever, and take
the risk to do a part time gig but with
like this esteemed brand, Like those are kind of the
(09:01):
things that I was battling with that you were too,
and like look at us now, you know, like here
we are, you know, six years later for.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Me, right, yeah, no, I mean it's I think I
think it is a tough decision when you're when you're
given that opportunity, but you just have to think about
what your priorities aren't live, right, Like some people really value,
you know, working for an a see brand like you mentioned, Patty.
Some people really want to you know, make as much
money as possible when they're young. And so for me,
(09:30):
like working in sports was always my dream and so
I wanted to chase that and accomplish that. And yeah,
it's worked out. But you know, I would be lying
if I said there were times throughout my time here
when I thought like, oh, maybe this isn't going to
work out, Like that first internship year, like it was hard,
you know, I started My first day on the job
was Monday night of football, and so you know, talk
about like being thrown straight into the fire, I was,
(09:51):
you know, just thrown.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Right into it. And you know there were times when
I was.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Like, man, maybe I should have stuck at the PR Agency,
But you know, those those quickly fit. There's so much,
you know, fun things that you get to do when
you work here. Game days is one of them, but
there's a ton of other things as well, And honestly,
the other great thing is the people that were here too. Like,
you know, both of you guys, I know, started off
in similar positions and it's really fun to like kind
(10:16):
of grow and watch your your counterparts here at the
Niners grow, and it's it's always interesting to see like
someone get promoted to like a really great title and
you think back to, like I remember it when like
we were just like two like kids who didn't know anything,
and like we were getting started and so yeah, it's
cool to see like your friends grow and like.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Reach their goals.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Yeah, I remember all three of us were like low
man on the totem pole and so we were our
representatives in some like community relations and foundation meetings because
we were just like the note takers.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I remember those days. Yeah, yeah, those were fun meetings though.
I mean, like I look back on those and think, like,
that's where I feel like you learn the most, like
because you're not even really participating in the meeting, but
you're just a list. They didn't taken everything in and yeah, yeah,
I think like, you know, those early days, I have
very fond memories of the of the Community Relations Foundation
(11:08):
ZOOM meetings, especially during the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
That was the time.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
You have a communications studies degree from Gonzaga. When you
first stepped on campus, what did you think you wanted
to do?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Yeah, I really wanted to be a sports journalist, Like
that was the ultimate goal. I wanted to be on ESPN.
I wanted to cover the NBA. I grew up playing basketball,
and so actually basketball was my first love, not football.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
I never played football.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Growing up, but you know, I did write for our
school newspaper for a little bit at a Gonzaga and
you know, it was fun. But there are just so
many dues you have to pay as a journalist, Like
you have to Yes, you get to cover like the
basketball team sometimes, but you also have to wake up
on a Saturday at six am and cover like the
club like you know, rugby team or something. No offense
(11:57):
to club rugby players. But you know, I wasn't really
about like all of the dues that you had to
pay there, and so you know, I kind of decided
that wasn't the right path for me, but I still
wanted to kind of be in sports in some way.
And like the next you know, the next closest sports
path related to journalism is pr because you're on the
same side of the journalism stuff. You're just you know,
(12:19):
pitching stories instead of writing the stories. So yeah, that
was that was the ultimate goal until I woke up
that first Saturday morning for as ex am plug club
rugby match.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
You told us a little bit about it before we
started recording, but can you take us through like any
activities or extracurriculars that you did in college.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Yeah, so we were talking about it before we hopped
on air. But I had a podcast with a buddy
of mine named Zach Oates. Shout out Zach if you
end up listening to this, But we had a podcast
it was about sports and pop culture. We started our
senior year. It was called the Pick and Pop Podcast,
and if you know anything about basketball, Pick and Pop
is is like a play, very successful play in basketball,
(13:03):
and it was a play on words because it was
the basketball play and then obviously pop for pop culture.
So yeah, it was super fun. We did it my
entire senior year. Most of our episodes were all about sports.
We sprinkled in pop culture here and there, but we
were both diehard sports fans and Gonzag is a huge
college basketball school. They've really grown as a program over
the past you know, twenty years or so. They've made
(13:24):
it to the national Championship a couple of times, and
so you know, we had a couple of the college
basketball players on our show, a couple other colitia athletes
from Gonzaga as well, and it was always fun. Like
one of the players we interviewed, his name was Corey Kispert.
He's now in the NBA, and so like me and
Zach always text after Corey had like a really great game,
where like we interviewed that guy back in the day
(13:44):
when he was just like, you know, a sophomore at Gonzaga.
So yeah, no, I podcasting is really fun for me.
I love doing it. It's weird to be on this
side and be like the interviewee and not the interviewer.
But it's fun. I'm about it.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
When did you because if you went in knowing you
wanted to be in some sort of like sports journalism,
you had a podcast, when did you learn you wanted
to be in sports in general?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Man, I can't even put. I couldn't even tell you.
I think it's just always been that way, you know.
I think I was raised in a household where, you know,
my dad loves sports, and so I grew up loving
sports as well. Like I said already, I played basketball
growing up, and so I've always I've always loved playing
watching And at some point, you know, in high school
(14:31):
when I was you know, playing on like our our
varsity basketball team becomes a point and I'm sure you know,
you guys know this because because you played sports growing up.
But there's there's a point when you realize, like, I'm
not going to play at the next level, and so
you got you got to think about like, Okay, what
am I going to do next? And so that day
hit me like junior junior in high school, and uh,
from that point on, it was just like, Okay, I'm
(14:53):
gonna set up set a goal to like work in sports.
I didn't know at that time if it would be
you know, at a ESPN or at a tea or
maybe it would be Nike like a brand or something
like that, but that was always the goal. And so yeah,
I'd say from a very young age, I knew that
that was that's what I wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Can you take us through your game day role?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yeah? Game days are super fun. They're very hectic.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
It's a lot of running around you have to deal
with with some media, and so I'm up in the
press box in the SAP tower here at the stadium,
and I'm really just helping our our football communication stuff.
For the most part, there's not really a ton of
corporate camm stuff to do on game days unless we
invite a reporter out to cover something specific. So a
(15:37):
lot of it is just managing the press box, helping
media find their seats if they've never been there before,
which sounds funny, but like, you know, someone's got to
do it, and so we help with that.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
I was just laughing because I'm going to start doing
that to you, Jacob. Do you know where I'm sitting today?
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Yeah, yeah, it's right here next to me the say,
you see you sat for the past seven years.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
But yeah, no, so it's some of that stuff.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
It's a lot of Also, just like postgame duties, I'd say,
the real grunt of the work starts after the game's over.
Funny enough, but that's when all the press conferences start.
And so you know, you guys know this too, but
you know, we're we're helping with transcripts up in the
press box, so the players are at the podium talking
and then it's our job to get that transcript out
(16:22):
to the media as soon as possible so that if
folks weren't in auditory and to listen to it, they
can still grab quotes for their for their postgame stories.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
So I'm watching, like I love. We were talking about
this earlier. I'm not really a podcast listener. I'm more
of a TV show type of gal and so you know,
right now I'm watching West Wing per the suggestion of
Haley and Saya, and you know, their press secretary, C. J.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Craig is just like really.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Really funny and entertaining, and she has to put out
a lot of fires and kind of get ahead of
some stories. I think there's this idea that like pr
is very reactive and is there for like damage control.
But you're also you also mentioned just being proactive and
like pitching stories and things like that, Like how do
you try to stay ahead of the game when it
(17:11):
comes to an issue that way, like so you don't
get blindsided.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Yeah, that's a really good question. I think. I think
the biggest thing is just knowing like where the potential
fires could arise from, because if you know of like
a potential storyline that someone could grasp onto, even if
it's never touched by media, like at least you know,
and like you can prepare for that potential story. So
that's that's some things that we do as a department,
(17:38):
you know, I think I think on the proactive side though,
Like there's so much of my job that is, you know,
working with media. I hear in the Bay Area and
nationally even globally now in Mexico and the UK with
our marketing rights there, but a lot of it is
very proactive. So I would say, like, you know, I'm
pitching journalists almost on a daily basis, just trying to
(17:58):
get good positive story always.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
For our brand.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
And so you know, there's there's reactive stuff here and there,
But I would say, you know that that stuff, you know,
you're you're always prepared for it, but you know, you
never really focused on it too much unless you know
something something arises, and so it's uh, I'd say my
job for me at least is more so on the
pitching and proactive stuff.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
For your job. Does it help that you are from
this area, you know, the media outlets, the TV stations,
kind of the ins and outs of what people in
the Bay might think are interesting.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Yeah, I don't know, I've never thought about that.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Yeah, maybe in a sense, I think, like, you know,
I grew up in a house where my parents would
like have the nightly news on, like our local news,
and so I think like knowing knowing the news stations
is key. But you know, as like I said already,
you know, I moved away from college and so I
wasn't here for like part of that like early career time,
(18:57):
and so I think a lot of it was just
stuff that like I learned when I got here as
an intern. So much of PR's like relationships. I know,
it's it sounds kind of cliche, but you have to
have relationships with the local media. So yeah, I guess
in a sense like it's good to have those those
early foundations, like knowing who the major players are, the media,
who you know the bigger TV stations are, who who
(19:20):
the bigger fan blogs are, the newspapers all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I think what's probably more helpful as.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
A local Bria kid is just like knowing like what
fans like, because there's so much of marketing and pr
that is, you know, trying to engage fans and so
growing up as a forty nine ers fan, like I
know what kind of story would like catch my eye
or like I know what type of stuff would you
know make me want to go to Levi Stadium for
(19:46):
a game if I wasn't playing on it already. So
I think I think that's probably more where being being local.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Helps me in my role.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
How do you manage all those relationships? I know, you
know obviously with journalists, you can't tell them what to write,
like they're going to write things, and so sometimes it's
probably it might not be exactly what you thought they
were going to write about, Like just how do you
navigate those relationships?
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Yeah, I think you're right.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
It's a tough balance, right, because you don't ever want
to be too pushy and like talk to them about,
you know, what exactly they should write. But you also
have to do your best to try to get your
message across as clearly as possible. And so I think
it's just trying of you know, trying to steer them
towards the right narrative.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
And then you know, if.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
They have questions on stuff, on stuff that doesn't fit
that narrative, then you know, you always answer them. You
always provide them with info that they're looking for. But hopefully,
you know, through your pitching and through your you know, relationship,
you know, hopefully you're working with someone that understands what
your goal is as well as their goal because you know,
you always have to know that, you know, reporter has
(20:50):
a duty to report in a respectful manner and do
their due diligence. That's why the relationship is so important,
because if you have that relationship, then they're also thinking
about your goal and not just theirs.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
How much do you look at what other teams are
promoting or what's happening around the league or in other
sports in terms of corporate communications.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Yeah, I would say I would say it's it's become
a lot more relevant in the past like a year
or so, with like the marketing stuff internationally, I've looked
at how other teams are promoting their their or themselves
in the media in the UK and Mexico. We just had,
you know, a week long trip down to Mexico this
past season for the game in Mexico City, and you know,
(21:33):
no team had played in Mexico City since the HMA
rights had been announced, and so we were kind of
the first ones.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
To do that.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
But what we did look at is how other teams
were getting like consistent coverage throughout the season, and so
you know, as the season went on, going to the playoffs,
we started opening up opening up our locker room during
the week on an international basis, and so we had
basically basically virtual like interviews with with the report in
the UK and Mexico sitting at guy's lockers. So like
(22:02):
we'd have someone in the locker room literally holding up
a phone and like facetiming with a player sitting at
his locker, and that was really great because you know,
that type of access is pretty much unheard.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Of, you know, before our new marketing rights.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
But we kind of had to find ways to get
these media contacts that don't live in the Bay Area
and can't be here every day. We have to give
them content too, and so that was that was one
area that I think we like really grew as a department.
And I'm really looking forward to doing more international stuff
because that's something that you know there there's not a
ton of like examples from other teams on the international front,
(22:38):
so we have opportunity to kind of lead on that front,
and I think that's really exciting.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
We asked you about your favorite project that you've worked on.
Do you have a favorite memory since joining the Niners?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
This is This is.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Kind of a weird one and it's really not Niners
Super Niners specific, but one of my favorite memories was
running around London. Was soured to Sam this past season,
so we've been talking about it all episode. But so,
we had these new marketing rights in the UK and
Mexico and one of our goals was to get some
(23:11):
kind of golden material, like content material that we could
use that's like UK specific, and so we went over
there for a watch party. It was our first watch
party ever hosted in the UK. We hosted it in
downtown Leads and so it was a really great event.
But before that, we took sarad O Sam through the
streets of London. So we took him to like Big
Ben and we took him to Buckingham Palace, you know,
(23:32):
we were we were showing him the London Eye as well.
And going into that morning, I remember getting into the
van with a couple of colleagues and then we like
piled sarad O Sam and like his huge mascot costume
with like his big hat and everything, piled him into
the van and I was thinking to myself, like, man,
I feel like we're just gonna get killed by like
the UK folks out here who are going to be
(23:52):
like giving us all these dirty looks, like what are
they doing? But actually, to my surprise, like we got
out there and there were a ton of like kids
who came up and won to photos, and then there
were also a ton of adults as well who came
up to us and said like, oh, are the Niners
playing in the UK? And I was like, no, no,
we're not playing here. We're just kind of here for
a watch party later in the week, and then we're
(24:13):
here gathering content and hanging out with the UK fans.
But there are so many for Niners sayings that we
ran into on the street that just love seeing us.
And I just think it was funny because that's not
at all what I was expecting. I think American football
is really not, you know, as common in the UK.
It's not as like widely followed. And so you know,
to go out there with you know, this like huge
(24:35):
character in Sarato Sam who's like dancing and like being
being ridiculous. To have him like received well throughout the
streets of London was really amazing.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Speaking of fans, sort of, you were a fan growing up,
did you have a favorite player?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Yeah, yeah, I had a couple.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
So I really liked Kaepernick just because I thought that,
like the way he burst onto the scene was just
really great. And obviously I followed that year that they
went to the super Bowl on the opposite end of
the spectrum. Though, I grew up just absolutely despising Richard
Sherman because of how obnoxious he was to the Niners
during during the Seahawks like playoff runs and obviously he
(25:19):
had that one like post game famous like tirade and stuff,
and so I grew up, you know, really disliking Richard Sherman,
then I went to college, and you know, in State
of Washington, there was a ton of Seahawks fans there,
Zach Oates who I mentioned earlier, who was my co
host on the podcast Huge Seahawks Fan, and so we'd
always get into these like heated debates about like forty
nine or Seahawks. And during my first season here, obviously
(25:42):
Richard Sherman was on the team, and so I got
to meet him a couple of times, and honestly, like
one of the nicest guys I've ever met. Fun fact,
he loves hot Cheetos. And so one of my colleagues
in the PR department, when he was trying to get
Richard Truman to do some interviews, he'd be like, Okay,
I got to convince Sherm to to do an interview
with this, with this you know outlet, I'm going to
(26:04):
bring him some hot sheetos if I can warm them
up a little bit to say yes. And so, you know,
it's just funny to like grow up thinking about, you know,
these guys who you only see them as the athlete
when you're just watching from afar, but like you get
here and you talk to them, and like there are
people and like Richards was was really awesome. So it's
cool also to see him like on the on the
broadcasting side.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Now as well.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
When you see interviews like that, I mean you mentioned
his you know, infamous tirade. Yeah, does your PR brain
just like go off? Are you just like, oh my gosh,
I wonder what their PR guy's gonna think or like say,
or do you just kind of take it as like entertainment?
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Yeah, I mean I think it's kind of both. Like
there's only some much you can do as a PR
professional to like prevent that, Like you could prepare. You
could prepare somebody with ten pages of talking points, but
depending on like their emotions and you know, in that scenario,
like Sherman had just won one of the biggest games
of his life, so I'm sure all the talking points
R prep that he had went straight out the window
(27:02):
and he was just running on like pure emotion and excitement.
But yeah, I mean I think, like when I see
something like that, I always think, like I wonder how
they're going to handle that afterwards or after the fact,
Like you know, what do you say to someone like
that afterwards? Like how do you say, Hey, maybe next time,
don't talk like that in front of the camera. But
I mean, honestly, like I think, you know, there's there's
(27:25):
a lot of people that think like you know, if
there's a bad medium moment, you know, it's like a
big loss.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
But it sometimes is.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
But the news cycles nowadays are so short, and so
unless it's something like super massive, it's usually over and
done with in a day or two, and so you
just kind of move on and get better for the
next one.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
For anyone who wants your job or wants to get
into sports, public relations, corporate communications, what's your advice to them?
Speaker 4 (27:53):
I would say the biggest thing for me is having
like a really solid network. From my story earlier, the
only reason I have this job now is because you know,
I interviewed for a position and then kept that connection
from the person I interviewed with close like we you know,
continued to follow each other on LinkedIn, keep up to
date on you know, what each other were doing, and
(28:16):
that's how you know, Roger knew to reach out to
me when he had a role to fill. So that
would be my first advice, and that goes not only
for you know, PR and corporate communications, but any job
across the board. I think for per PR specifically, getting
like an internship at an agency early on is really helpful.
Agencies they teach you a lot of stuff, and you're
(28:38):
working on several accounts at once at most places, and
so you know, you're really like rounding out your skills
because you might be working on several different accounts, and
so there's a lot of crossover between an agency and
what I do here, although I'm not working on different
accounts per se, like I'm supporting different departments, which, if
you think about it, is really kind of like supporting
(28:58):
different accounts because each department has different goals, different needs,
different priorities, different storylines they want to push, different spokespeople,
and so you know, also different media audiences, different you know,
fan audiences. So it's very similar in that sense. And
so I would say working out a PR agency as
an intern early on is just a really good way
(29:18):
to like get your feet right in the industry and
start learning about like the you know, the fundamentals of PR.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
I actually have a question for both of you, as
someone who's been here a while now, I have started
and like I read basically every article that goes on
forty nine ers dot com all the headlines.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
For videos and galleries. I have found.
Speaker 5 (29:40):
Myself starting to think in the tone of the forty
nine ers, like how we write, do you guys ever,
like in your normal life, start to like type out
like texts or like think in the tone of what
you would like post on social or write in a
press release.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
I'll go first, one hundred percent, Like I don't even
know how to write as like not an organizational tone anymore.
Like like some of my friends give me, give me
like a hard time for it, but like my text
to them about like random stuff like about wanting to
get dinner, it's so formal, like I'm using all punctuation.
I'm like using all these like big words like I
(30:19):
would never use in my day to day life.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Like just talking.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
But yeah, that's that is something that like with time,
like I've written enough press releases to like know that
you know, this is the forty nine ers brand voice,
and so yeah, I'm constantly thinking in forty niners brand voice.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I'm actually not.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I mean I think with social we kind of just
know the balance of like when we need to be
serious like like pr forty nine ers, and then we
know when we can have fun with it, and I
think like my personal voice. I mean, if you text
me or slack me, I'm very much. I hit the
return button a lot. I don't write out full sentence.
(31:00):
I write out my thoughts, and so you're gonna get
like ten things in a row of just my thoughts
split up, which is not what we do on our
social but it is what I do in my everyday life.
So I think I am able to separate the two
and kind of turn it on and off when I
know I need to.
Speaker 5 (31:19):
We had a slack training today and their best practice
was to write in paragraphs, and the person giving the
training goes. We all know that person that takes multiple
lines to us and we don't like it. It's and
in my head, I was just like.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Patty because to me, I feel like that's how I
best convey how I sound, Which is funny because if
you ask my boyfriend, he will say that my text
voice does not match my in person voice, which I
don't think is true.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
So I mean, you guys can tell me if I
I kind of.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
Feel like when I get like ten slacks from in
a row, like it's almost the same as like you
just like sending me an audio message, I'm like, oh, yeah,
this is like how Patty.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Would say it, thank you? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
No he he says that my like text voice doesn't
match my like actual voice, which I don't understand.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
But can I turn the tables on this podcast for
a second, because I want to jump back into when
I was the podcaster. I want to ask Patty question
because I've always wondered this about like social Yeah, how
long did it take you to not get nervous about
like hitting posts?
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Oh my gosh, because.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
As like I could never do that because I'm I
would like reread my tweet like twenty million times before
I hit post.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
I still do that, like I if you talk to me,
if you talk to Keana, Johnny's vet a season VET
at this point, I don't know if he's doing the
same thing, but like we are both like chronic overthinkers.
I could have the most basic copy like the forty
nine ers have signed so and so to a one
year deal, and still read that like ten times, even
(32:56):
though it's like cut and dry, right, there's no editorializing
it nothing. I'm constantly overthinking.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I don't know if I ever got over it.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
I think I've gotten better, Like there were times where
I'd literally post something and then throw my phone like
it was a risky text. Not even that like the
copy was risky, but just the concept of like, oh,
this is going to be seen by potentially millions of people.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
So I don't think you ever fully get over it.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
I think you just learn how to trust yourself and
your skills and your abilities more.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Because I'm still doing that.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I'm still being meticulous, and I think it's important that
you know you're still being detail oriented. You're just not
like dwelling on it, right, Like especially me, Like I'm
a night owl. Right, So sometimes I will schedule things.
If it's like a six am press release, I will
schedule that, you know, at like eleven PM, and I
(33:55):
will read my copy over and over because I'm a
chronic overthinker. But two because it's like late and I
just want to make sure that it's like it's still
good from when people see it at six.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
In the morning. So I don't think you ever get
over it.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
I just think you get better at like managing and
how you handle it.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Is it the same sign for you, Haley, Like posting
articles on dot com?
Speaker 5 (34:18):
Yeah, we have the option, so when you press publish
on anything, there's a pop up that says like, are
you sure you want to publish this? And you can
turn it off and this will be my seventh season,
and I refuse to. Like there is a moment in
every time I hit published, regardless of what it is,
(34:38):
where I'm like, do I actually want to publish this?
Speaker 1 (34:42):
But you can always edit it right like after it's published.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
The problem is that with like RSS feeds and stuff
like some like media outlets get notified like right away
when we publish something, And that's always my worst fears
if like it was a press release that needs to
go out of two but it's like one fifty eight
and you're like.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Some yeah, I always go back and forth with the
whole Should there be an edit button on Twitter debate?
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Right?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Like from a social media professional side, it'd be like yes,
because I wouldn't be changing facts, Like I would only
need to edit something if it was like grammatically incorrect
or there's a typo or whatever. But I think you
get into this area where like people can just completely
change the context of a text with an edit button.
So I mean, let me know your thoughts. I don't
(35:32):
think like I would want one as a professional, but
I know, like there will be people who probably abuse
a feature like that.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
Yeah, yeah, that's a tough one, like what my mind
went to because we've had like issues with this in
the past. But like some some media, like they'll they'll
see a story reported by somebody else and then they'll
latch onto it and sometimes like they could like could
get you know, one fact wrong, and it may seem
like it's like kind of minuscule, doesn't really make that
(36:00):
much difference in the long err in the grand scheme
of things, But there's so much like syndication amongst media,
like Hayley, like you were just talking about it, like
you know, media just grab onto something and then they
like repost it or they like you know mixed up
like the order of the topic points, and like they
post it again. And so like if that one thing
(36:21):
is like incorrect in a media story, then it gets
indicated elsewhere. Now it's like all over the place. And
so I think more than a tweet edit button, I
would like to be able to go and like edit
orders stories. You'd be like no, actually this isn't what happened,
or like this this fact isn't correct.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
That's like one of the biggest things about PR.
Speaker 4 (36:39):
It's like, oh, man, like I like tried to give
them the right information, but like they just didn't use.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
It the right way.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
So I want like a real time fact check on everything.
New York Times during the twenty twenty election during all
of the debates did a real time fact check, so
you could go to New York Times, go to the
fact check and like if you were watching the debate,
(37:05):
it would have like, yes, that is correct, No, this
is what's actually happening. I want that in real life,
Like I just want to walk around and be able
to be like no, like that is not true.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Yeah. How much research do you do as like a
PR professional?
Speaker 3 (37:21):
What kind of research do you like for.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Your releases or just you know, being because you have
to answer all the questions that media might have about
a certain topic that you might be pitching, Like what
do you do to become an expert in like you
were saying all these different departments kind of goals.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Yeah, I honestly, I think that kind of just comes
with time. Like there was a time in my early
career here where you know, I wasn't thinking about all
the right questions, and that's just because I didn't know
like what questions to be asking, And so like the
more times that you do a press release announcement, the
more times that you're putting an executive in front of
a camera, those all those apps like help prepare you
(38:01):
for the next one. And so I think it's just
like a combination of reps. But I think the other
big thing is like with my experience as a journalist
in college and kind of put myself in those shoes
and think like, Okay, if I was like writing the story,
what would I be interested in, Like what would get
me the most clicks or like the most views, I'm
probably gonna ask that question. And so that's like where
(38:23):
you start making the talking points like and preparing the
executives for things. So yeah, I think I think it's
a lot of I mean there's some research, but I
think a lot of it is just like critical thinking
about like, you know, what types of questions the reporters
are going to be most prone when.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
You're prepping executives for interviews, Are you nervous at all?
I Mean, sometimes I think it could be daunting if
you're preparing like a C level or a president for
an interview like you're kind of telling them, not what
to do or what to say, but you're kind of
directing them in a sense.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you are kind of telling
them and like directing them and what to say. That's
that's like why you know I have a job. Yeah,
it can be a daunting at certain times, I think,
especially depending on the announcement and the topic, it can be.
But I think, you know, I've been here long enough
to have kind of built good relationships with a lot
of our executives. I think you know, I've I've coordinated
(39:15):
a good amount of press release announcements in a lot
of interviews that people feel comfortable when I come to
them and say, hey, there's an opportunity for you to
be featured in an interview. You know, most people, I
think have the confidence that I'm setting them up to
succeed and not in a situation where they could fail.
And so yeah, I mean I think maybe maybe a
little daunting in the early stages, but not not so
(39:35):
much anymore.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
All right, Jacob.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Finally, we asked this on every pod, as you would
know because you are an avid listener.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
First fact, can.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
You tell us about a time when you were given
a duty that was not in your regular job description.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Okay, other duties as assigned.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
Hmmm, yeah, So I think I think one of the
big things and this goes back to game day and
Hailey always gives me a ton of a ton of
beef because like she says that I never I say
this too, but I don't.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Have like a ton of embarrassing work stories.
Speaker 5 (40:10):
I was just about to be like, I feel like
we should ask what your most embarrassing work story, And Hailey.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
Has some of the most embarrassing, hilarious work stories I've
ever heard.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
So I don't know if like she.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
Needs to be like interviewed on this about her embarrassing
work stories, but that needs to be an episode in itself.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
I would say.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
On game days, like one of the things that we
have to do that is is always annoying, especially as
an intern. But some some media personnel will like show
up late to the game and so like at some
point we take the media credential box out from the
will call booth because it's like, oh, it's the end
of the first quarter, and so if you're not here
(40:49):
by now, like you're probably not coming. But there are
there's one time where it was like pouring down rain
and I can't remember exactly who we were playing or
like what year it was, but it was like one
of those like Monsen games that Levi's and this reporter
showed up late and someone needs to go run the
credential out to them in the parking lot, and I
was like in a suit, no umbrella, no raincoat, and
(41:12):
I was just I was an intern at the time,
and They're just like, hey, like you mind running this
out to the parking lot for this media guy and
I was like, oh, I guess I have to, don't I.
And so that that was like one of the times
where you know, it was it was just funny because
I thought like my my duties for running stuff out
to the parking lot were over for the day because
like we were mostly you know, almost halfway through the
(41:32):
game and it was raining. So it's just like a
brutal scenario walk back into the press box wet.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Some of my some of my colleagues on football.
Speaker 4 (41:39):
Comms were like making fun saying like oh man, like
how is that walkout to the parking lot in the
rain bud? And I was just not having it. So, yeah,
I think that's one of them. There's probably more than
I'm forgetting, but that's like the first one that comes
to mind.
Speaker 5 (41:53):
Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
I've been asking for a while, so I'm so glad
we got to we got to do it.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
Yeah, yeah, I no, this was fun. It's fun to
get back behind the mic. I'm happy to be on again.
I don't know what their rotation is like, but yeah,
I always love I love coming on these things.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Welcome anytime. We will take you up on that.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
I'll be back
Welcome to the Inside the Oval podcast presented by Dignity Health.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm Patti Kwan and I'm Haley Genes, and today.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
We are joined by forty nine Ers Senior coordinator of
corporate Communications, Jacob phil Jacob, thank you so much for
joining the podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Thanks for having me. I'm excited.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
I've been waiting for the day that I get the
call up to the big leagues on the podcast, so
looking forward to it.
Speaker 5 (00:31):
Can you tell us about what you do as a
senior coordinator of corporate communications.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Corporate communications is basically just another way of saying public
relations PR. So I do all the business related PR
for the forty nine Ers. There's a separate team that
handle us off the football related PR, so they handle
player and coach interviews while I handle stuff with our
executives other members of the staff. So I worked to
(01:02):
promote marketing initiatives, Levi's stadium stuff, innovation storylines, third party events,
and so anything that is to do with press releases
or announcements or media stories that has not directly tied
to the play on the field is what I handle.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Do you have a favorite project you've worked on?
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Oh, that's a good question. Favorite project. I would say,
so this past year, right before the start of the
football season, every year we do a Concessions media showcase.
And I know you guys are familiar to say that's.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
My favorite event that you do.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
No, it's great because, like you get to go down
to the kitchen try all the food that's going to
be rolled out in the stadium for the year. And
so the goal of that for us is to promote
all of the good tastes that will be served up
in the stadium for the football season. And so in
the past when I've done it, we've stuck to traditional media,
so you know, your your standard TV stations, your you know,
(02:00):
local bloggers and stuff like that. But this past year,
when I was planning for it, I was, you know,
just scrolling on TikTok one night and came across a
foodie influencer. I thought to myself, like, why aren't we
involving these types of folks in this event, And so
worked with some folks on our marketing team to get
them involved, and a couple couple of foody influencers that
(02:22):
I had been following for you know, a year plus
came out to Levi's and got to meet them and
talked to them a little bit about their fort nine
ers fandom and some of their favorite restaurants in San Francisco.
So I have some that I need to try now
after their recommendations. But yeah, I thought that one was
what was really cool, just because you know, we had
(02:42):
stuck through traditional media for so long and it was
fun to involve the social media aspect as well.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, that is definitely one of my favorite events.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I know. I ask you like weeks ahead of time, like, hey,
when is this going to take place, so that we
too can capture content for Lee Vice Stadium Social.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So it's it's purely professional. Keep telling yourself that purely
professionally professional.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Patti asks me week's in advance, like she said, so
I'll have to put on her calendar early this year
so she's not out of town and misses all the
good food. I'm trying to think, like what the good
items were last year. I know last year, like we
we completely revamped the stadium dog, so like our hot
dog got enhanced, upgraded exactly, Sola donuts we had donuts, yep.
(03:29):
I think there was some burgers, like some little mini
sliders and stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Like that.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I think my favorite might be Hula Truck.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Oh that's a good one. Yeah, that's a deep poll,
but a good one.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I do like that.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
We also just incorporate local businesses in the stadium, which
I don't know if a lot of people realize, like
we do have a lot of stands that are based
in the Bay Area, especially.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Coming out of the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Like I feel like a lot of those places had
to shut down their actual brick and mortar storefronts, and so,
you know, once they were able to open up again,
game days were just another avenue of them to bring
in money and to help grow their brands.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
You know, working with those local, you know, vendors to
come in and serve their food is always really fun,
and we always bring in new ones each and every year,
so it's never it never gets stale, it never gets
boring for the fans.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
There's also some exclusive food items from those companies at
Levi stadiums. I remember Puesto when they first got their
stand here had a strawberry margarita, but.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
If you went to the Plusto that's.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
Right by Levi Stadium, they did not have that, So
there are some there's some exclusive things too.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Yeah, Psycho Donuts always has like a forty nine ers
donut that you can't buy in the stores that's only
available here at Levi's. So yeah, I think, I think, honestly,
the local restaurants have a lot of fun with it.
You know a lot of people that work there and
the ownership there, they grew up for a nine ers
fans and so it's really great for them to be
able to come. And it's always nice to like put
(04:57):
them in front of a media camera and watch their
like face is light up when they're talking about their food.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
So it's a fun one.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Shout out our small local businesses based in the Bay
of Facts, and j was plugged to come visit lea
By Stadium to give them a try.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Yeah, keep an eye out for Levi Stadium because session
showcase coming.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
This fall beyond Levi Stadium.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Social follow that, yep, follow tune in. Jacob tell us
about your path to the forty nine ers.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Yeah, yeah, I was really like telling the story. So
you know, I grew up in Campbell, California, which is
just you know, ten or fifteen minutes away from the
stadium here in Santa Clara always grew up a forty
nine Ers fan. Is my is my childhood team, to
be honest with you, and you know went to college.
As I was preparing to leave college and graduate, I
applied for an internship here at the forty nine Ers,
(05:46):
a postgraduate internship. I didn't get it at the time,
but I guess had a really good interview despite not
getting the job, And so after college graduation, I took
a job at a local PR agency in the Bay Area.
Worked there for about or to six months, and then
one random, one day, randomly, my old boss here at
the forty nine ers just shot me a random email
(06:08):
and said, hey, man, like we just lost someone from
our team. They they took another opportunity. They're moving on.
Our season is about to get underway. We really need
the extra set of hands. Like wondering what you found
for work? Did like, you know, where are you? And
I said, I'm working full time at a PR agency
here in the Bay But I'm interested, Like what do
you what do you have in mind?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
And that PR.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Agency was a really great job. I was full time
salaried employee at the time. I had you know, benefits,
all that stuff. It was really fun. I had a
lot of great coworkers there. Their Walten company was was
a PR agency. Shout out Wallen company for my early
career days, but you know it was it was a
consumer tech PR and so obviously was not as fun
as doing PR for the Niners. And with it being
(06:49):
my hometown team I was, I was very intrigued in
the opportunity, and so you know, eventually I got to
talk into the forty nine ers. They said they really
needed the help, but the best they could do with
such short notice was to offer an internship. And so
it took me a couple of days to think about
that opportunity. And you know, like I said, I was
a full time, salaried employee at the agency, so taking
(07:09):
an internship would be a bit of a step down.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
I'd be taking a little bit less pay.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
But with that said, growing up, I always wanted to
work in sports, and so this opportunity kind of came knocking,
and ultimately I decided that if I didn't take it now,
I'd always look back and say, oh, I wish I
had taken that Niners gig. You know, when I was
straight out of college. And so that was three and
a half years ago. I came on board with the
forty nine ers as an intern back then did a season,
(07:36):
got promoted and brought on a full time and since
then have been you know, promoted two more times. So
you know, that seems like a really long time ago,
but that's that's kind of how you know, I got
to this position now.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I like about thinking through that the amount of people
that we have had on this podcast is Patty and
I were both part time and then moved our way
up to full time. But the amount of people we've
had who everyone in this room has either done that
trajectory or from an internship or something and like kind
of been like internally grown is really exciting. I don't know,
(08:11):
I that just hit me.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, And I think too, like, I think we have
very similar career paths in that I was working part
time as a social media intern with the River Cats,
which is Triple A minor league baseball, right super grindy,
and they had offered me a full time job at
the end of my first season there, which I was
like stoked about, right like my first full time job
out of college. But then my part time job with
(08:37):
the Niners opened up, and I had applied for that,
and you know, eventually got that obviously, but it was like,
do you leave like a sure thing and that it's
full time benefits, you know, salaried or whatever, and take
the risk to do a part time gig but with
like this esteemed brand, Like those are kind of the
(09:01):
things that I was battling with that you were too,
and like look at us now, you know, like here
we are, you know, six years later for.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Me, right, yeah, no, I mean it's I think I
think it is a tough decision when you're when you're
given that opportunity, but you just have to think about
what your priorities aren't live, right, Like some people really value,
you know, working for an a see brand like you mentioned, Patty.
Some people really want to you know, make as much
money as possible when they're young. And so for me,
(09:30):
like working in sports was always my dream and so
I wanted to chase that and accomplish that. And yeah,
it's worked out. But you know, I would be lying
if I said there were times throughout my time here
when I thought like, oh, maybe this isn't going to
work out, Like that first internship year, like it was hard,
you know, I started My first day on the job
was Monday night of football, and so you know, talk
about like being thrown straight into the fire, I was,
(09:51):
you know, just thrown.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Right into it. And you know there were times when
I was.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Like, man, maybe I should have stuck at the PR Agency,
But you know, those those quickly fit. There's so much,
you know, fun things that you get to do when
you work here. Game days is one of them, but
there's a ton of other things as well, And honestly,
the other great thing is the people that were here too. Like,
you know, both of you guys, I know, started off
in similar positions and it's really fun to like kind
(10:16):
of grow and watch your your counterparts here at the
Niners grow, and it's it's always interesting to see like
someone get promoted to like a really great title and
you think back to, like I remember it when like
we were just like two like kids who didn't know anything,
and like we were getting started and so yeah, it's
cool to see like your friends grow and like.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Reach their goals.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Yeah, I remember all three of us were like low
man on the totem pole and so we were our
representatives in some like community relations and foundation meetings because
we were just like the note takers.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I remember those days. Yeah, yeah, those were fun meetings though.
I mean, like I look back on those and think, like,
that's where I feel like you learn the most, like
because you're not even really participating in the meeting, but
you're just a list. They didn't taken everything in and yeah, yeah,
I think like, you know, those early days, I have
very fond memories of the of the Community Relations Foundation
(11:08):
ZOOM meetings, especially during the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
That was the time.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
You have a communications studies degree from Gonzaga. When you
first stepped on campus, what did you think you wanted
to do?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Yeah, I really wanted to be a sports journalist, Like
that was the ultimate goal. I wanted to be on ESPN.
I wanted to cover the NBA. I grew up playing basketball,
and so actually basketball was my first love, not football.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
I never played football.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Growing up, but you know, I did write for our
school newspaper for a little bit at a Gonzaga and
you know, it was fun. But there are just so
many dues you have to pay as a journalist, Like
you have to Yes, you get to cover like the
basketball team sometimes, but you also have to wake up
on a Saturday at six am and cover like the
club like you know, rugby team or something. No offense
(11:57):
to club rugby players. But you know, I wasn't really
about like all of the dues that you had to
pay there, and so you know, I kind of decided
that wasn't the right path for me, but I still
wanted to kind of be in sports in some way.
And like the next you know, the next closest sports
path related to journalism is pr because you're on the
same side of the journalism stuff. You're just you know,
(12:19):
pitching stories instead of writing the stories. So yeah, that
was that was the ultimate goal until I woke up
that first Saturday morning for as ex am plug club
rugby match.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
You told us a little bit about it before we
started recording, but can you take us through like any
activities or extracurriculars that you did in college.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Yeah, so we were talking about it before we hopped
on air. But I had a podcast with a buddy
of mine named Zach Oates. Shout out Zach if you
end up listening to this, But we had a podcast
it was about sports and pop culture. We started our
senior year. It was called the Pick and Pop Podcast,
and if you know anything about basketball, Pick and Pop
is is like a play, very successful play in basketball,
(13:03):
and it was a play on words because it was
the basketball play and then obviously pop for pop culture.
So yeah, it was super fun. We did it my
entire senior year. Most of our episodes were all about sports.
We sprinkled in pop culture here and there, but we
were both diehard sports fans and Gonzag is a huge
college basketball school. They've really grown as a program over
the past you know, twenty years or so. They've made
(13:24):
it to the national Championship a couple of times, and
so you know, we had a couple of the college
basketball players on our show, a couple other colitia athletes
from Gonzaga as well, and it was always fun. Like
one of the players we interviewed, his name was Corey Kispert.
He's now in the NBA, and so like me and
Zach always text after Corey had like a really great game,
where like we interviewed that guy back in the day
(13:44):
when he was just like, you know, a sophomore at Gonzaga.
So yeah, no, I podcasting is really fun for me.
I love doing it. It's weird to be on this
side and be like the interviewee and not the interviewer.
But it's fun. I'm about it.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
When did you because if you went in knowing you
wanted to be in some sort of like sports journalism,
you had a podcast, when did you learn you wanted
to be in sports in general?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Man, I can't even put. I couldn't even tell you.
I think it's just always been that way, you know.
I think I was raised in a household where, you know,
my dad loves sports, and so I grew up loving
sports as well. Like I said already, I played basketball
growing up, and so I've always I've always loved playing
watching And at some point, you know, in high school
(14:31):
when I was you know, playing on like our our
varsity basketball team becomes a point and I'm sure you know,
you guys know this because because you played sports growing up.
But there's there's a point when you realize, like, I'm
not going to play at the next level, and so
you got you got to think about like, Okay, what
am I going to do next? And so that day
hit me like junior junior in high school, and uh,
from that point on, it was just like, Okay, I'm
(14:53):
gonna set up set a goal to like work in sports.
I didn't know at that time if it would be
you know, at a ESPN or at a tea or
maybe it would be Nike like a brand or something
like that, but that was always the goal. And so yeah,
I'd say from a very young age, I knew that
that was that's what I wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Can you take us through your game day role?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yeah? Game days are super fun. They're very hectic.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
It's a lot of running around you have to deal
with with some media, and so I'm up in the
press box in the SAP tower here at the stadium,
and I'm really just helping our our football communication stuff.
For the most part, there's not really a ton of
corporate camm stuff to do on game days unless we
invite a reporter out to cover something specific. So a
(15:37):
lot of it is just managing the press box, helping
media find their seats if they've never been there before,
which sounds funny, but like, you know, someone's got to
do it, and so we help with that.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
I was just laughing because I'm going to start doing
that to you, Jacob. Do you know where I'm sitting today?
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Yeah, yeah, it's right here next to me the say,
you see you sat for the past seven years.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
But yeah, no, so it's some of that stuff.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
It's a lot of Also, just like postgame duties, I'd say,
the real grunt of the work starts after the game's over.
Funny enough, but that's when all the press conferences start.
And so you know, you guys know this too, but
you know, we're we're helping with transcripts up in the
press box, so the players are at the podium talking
and then it's our job to get that transcript out
(16:22):
to the media as soon as possible so that if
folks weren't in auditory and to listen to it, they
can still grab quotes for their for their postgame stories.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
So I'm watching, like I love. We were talking about
this earlier. I'm not really a podcast listener. I'm more
of a TV show type of gal and so you know,
right now I'm watching West Wing per the suggestion of
Haley and Saya, and you know, their press secretary, C. J.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Craig is just like really.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Really funny and entertaining, and she has to put out
a lot of fires and kind of get ahead of
some stories. I think there's this idea that like pr
is very reactive and is there for like damage control.
But you're also you also mentioned just being proactive and
like pitching stories and things like that, Like how do
you try to stay ahead of the game when it
(17:11):
comes to an issue that way, like so you don't
get blindsided.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Yeah, that's a really good question. I think. I think
the biggest thing is just knowing like where the potential
fires could arise from, because if you know of like
a potential storyline that someone could grasp onto, even if
it's never touched by media, like at least you know,
and like you can prepare for that potential story. So
that's that's some things that we do as a department,
(17:38):
you know, I think I think on the proactive side though,
Like there's so much of my job that is, you know,
working with media. I hear in the Bay Area and
nationally even globally now in Mexico and the UK with
our marketing rights there, but a lot of it is
very proactive. So I would say, like, you know, I'm
pitching journalists almost on a daily basis, just trying to
(17:58):
get good positive story always.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
For our brand.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
And so you know, there's there's reactive stuff here and there,
But I would say, you know that that stuff, you know,
you're you're always prepared for it, but you know, you
never really focused on it too much unless you know
something something arises, and so it's uh, I'd say my
job for me at least is more so on the
pitching and proactive stuff.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
For your job. Does it help that you are from
this area, you know, the media outlets, the TV stations,
kind of the ins and outs of what people in
the Bay might think are interesting.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Yeah, I don't know, I've never thought about that.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Yeah, maybe in a sense, I think, like, you know,
I grew up in a house where my parents would
like have the nightly news on, like our local news,
and so I think like knowing knowing the news stations
is key. But you know, as like I said already,
you know, I moved away from college and so I
wasn't here for like part of that like early career time,
(18:57):
and so I think a lot of it was just
stuff that like I learned when I got here as
an intern. So much of PR's like relationships. I know,
it's it sounds kind of cliche, but you have to
have relationships with the local media. So yeah, I guess
in a sense like it's good to have those those
early foundations, like knowing who the major players are, the media,
who you know the bigger TV stations are, who who
(19:20):
the bigger fan blogs are, the newspapers all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I think what's probably more helpful as.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
A local Bria kid is just like knowing like what
fans like, because there's so much of marketing and pr
that is, you know, trying to engage fans and so
growing up as a forty nine ers fan, like I
know what kind of story would like catch my eye
or like I know what type of stuff would you
know make me want to go to Levi Stadium for
(19:46):
a game if I wasn't playing on it already. So
I think I think that's probably more where being being local.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Helps me in my role.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
How do you manage all those relationships? I know, you
know obviously with journalists, you can't tell them what to write,
like they're going to write things, and so sometimes it's
probably it might not be exactly what you thought they
were going to write about, Like just how do you
navigate those relationships?
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Yeah, I think you're right.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
It's a tough balance, right, because you don't ever want
to be too pushy and like talk to them about,
you know, what exactly they should write. But you also
have to do your best to try to get your
message across as clearly as possible. And so I think
it's just trying of you know, trying to steer them
towards the right narrative.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
And then you know, if.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
They have questions on stuff, on stuff that doesn't fit
that narrative, then you know, you always answer them. You
always provide them with info that they're looking for. But hopefully,
you know, through your pitching and through your you know, relationship,
you know, hopefully you're working with someone that understands what
your goal is as well as their goal because you know,
you always have to know that, you know, reporter has
(20:50):
a duty to report in a respectful manner and do
their due diligence. That's why the relationship is so important,
because if you have that relationship, then they're also thinking
about your goal and not just theirs.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
How much do you look at what other teams are
promoting or what's happening around the league or in other
sports in terms of corporate communications.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Yeah, I would say I would say it's it's become
a lot more relevant in the past like a year
or so, with like the marketing stuff internationally, I've looked
at how other teams are promoting their their or themselves
in the media in the UK and Mexico. We just had,
you know, a week long trip down to Mexico this
past season for the game in Mexico City, and you know,
(21:33):
no team had played in Mexico City since the HMA
rights had been announced, and so we were kind of
the first ones.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
To do that.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
But what we did look at is how other teams
were getting like consistent coverage throughout the season, and so
you know, as the season went on, going to the playoffs,
we started opening up opening up our locker room during
the week on an international basis, and so we had
basically basically virtual like interviews with with the report in
the UK and Mexico sitting at guy's lockers. So like
(22:02):
we'd have someone in the locker room literally holding up
a phone and like facetiming with a player sitting at
his locker, and that was really great because you know,
that type of access is pretty much unheard.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Of, you know, before our new marketing rights.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
But we kind of had to find ways to get
these media contacts that don't live in the Bay Area
and can't be here every day. We have to give
them content too, and so that was that was one
area that I think we like really grew as a department.
And I'm really looking forward to doing more international stuff
because that's something that you know there there's not a
ton of like examples from other teams on the international front,
(22:38):
so we have opportunity to kind of lead on that front,
and I think that's really exciting.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
We asked you about your favorite project that you've worked on.
Do you have a favorite memory since joining the Niners?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
This is This is.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Kind of a weird one and it's really not Niners
Super Niners specific, but one of my favorite memories was
running around London. Was soured to Sam this past season,
so we've been talking about it all episode. But so,
we had these new marketing rights in the UK and
Mexico and one of our goals was to get some
(23:11):
kind of golden material, like content material that we could
use that's like UK specific, and so we went over
there for a watch party. It was our first watch
party ever hosted in the UK. We hosted it in
downtown Leads and so it was a really great event.
But before that, we took sarad O Sam through the
streets of London. So we took him to like Big
Ben and we took him to Buckingham Palace, you know,
(23:32):
we were we were showing him the London Eye as well.
And going into that morning, I remember getting into the
van with a couple of colleagues and then we like
piled sarad O Sam and like his huge mascot costume
with like his big hat and everything, piled him into
the van and I was thinking to myself, like, man,
I feel like we're just gonna get killed by like
the UK folks out here who are going to be
(23:52):
like giving us all these dirty looks, like what are
they doing? But actually, to my surprise, like we got
out there and there were a ton of like kids
who came up and won to photos, and then there
were also a ton of adults as well who came
up to us and said like, oh, are the Niners
playing in the UK? And I was like, no, no,
we're not playing here. We're just kind of here for
a watch party later in the week, and then we're
(24:13):
here gathering content and hanging out with the UK fans.
But there are so many for Niners sayings that we
ran into on the street that just love seeing us.
And I just think it was funny because that's not
at all what I was expecting. I think American football
is really not, you know, as common in the UK.
It's not as like widely followed. And so you know,
to go out there with you know, this like huge
(24:35):
character in Sarato Sam who's like dancing and like being
being ridiculous. To have him like received well throughout the
streets of London was really amazing.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Speaking of fans, sort of, you were a fan growing up,
did you have a favorite player?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Yeah, yeah, I had a couple.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
So I really liked Kaepernick just because I thought that,
like the way he burst onto the scene was just
really great. And obviously I followed that year that they
went to the super Bowl on the opposite end of
the spectrum. Though, I grew up just absolutely despising Richard
Sherman because of how obnoxious he was to the Niners
during during the Seahawks like playoff runs and obviously he
(25:19):
had that one like post game famous like tirade and stuff,
and so I grew up, you know, really disliking Richard Sherman,
then I went to college, and you know, in State
of Washington, there was a ton of Seahawks fans there,
Zach Oates who I mentioned earlier, who was my co
host on the podcast Huge Seahawks Fan, and so we'd
always get into these like heated debates about like forty
nine or Seahawks. And during my first season here, obviously
(25:42):
Richard Sherman was on the team, and so I got
to meet him a couple of times, and honestly, like
one of the nicest guys I've ever met. Fun fact,
he loves hot Cheetos. And so one of my colleagues
in the PR department, when he was trying to get
Richard Truman to do some interviews, he'd be like, Okay,
I got to convince Sherm to to do an interview
with this, with this you know outlet, I'm going to
(26:04):
bring him some hot sheetos if I can warm them
up a little bit to say yes. And so, you know,
it's just funny to like grow up thinking about, you know,
these guys who you only see them as the athlete
when you're just watching from afar, but like you get
here and you talk to them, and like there are
people and like Richards was was really awesome. So it's
cool also to see him like on the on the
broadcasting side.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Now as well.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
When you see interviews like that, I mean you mentioned
his you know, infamous tirade. Yeah, does your PR brain
just like go off? Are you just like, oh my gosh,
I wonder what their PR guy's gonna think or like say,
or do you just kind of take it as like entertainment?
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Yeah, I mean I think it's kind of both. Like
there's only some much you can do as a PR
professional to like prevent that, Like you could prepare. You
could prepare somebody with ten pages of talking points, but
depending on like their emotions and you know, in that scenario,
like Sherman had just won one of the biggest games
of his life, so I'm sure all the talking points
R prep that he had went straight out the window
(27:02):
and he was just running on like pure emotion and excitement.
But yeah, I mean I think, like when I see
something like that, I always think, like I wonder how
they're going to handle that afterwards or after the fact,
Like you know, what do you say to someone like
that afterwards? Like how do you say, Hey, maybe next time,
don't talk like that in front of the camera. But
I mean, honestly, like I think, you know, there's there's
(27:25):
a lot of people that think like you know, if
there's a bad medium moment, you know, it's like a
big loss.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
But it sometimes is.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
But the news cycles nowadays are so short, and so
unless it's something like super massive, it's usually over and
done with in a day or two, and so you
just kind of move on and get better for the
next one.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
For anyone who wants your job or wants to get
into sports, public relations, corporate communications, what's your advice to them?
Speaker 4 (27:53):
I would say the biggest thing for me is having
like a really solid network. From my story earlier, the
only reason I have this job now is because you know,
I interviewed for a position and then kept that connection
from the person I interviewed with close like we you know,
continued to follow each other on LinkedIn, keep up to
date on you know, what each other were doing, and
(28:16):
that's how you know, Roger knew to reach out to
me when he had a role to fill. So that
would be my first advice, and that goes not only
for you know, PR and corporate communications, but any job
across the board. I think for per PR specifically, getting
like an internship at an agency early on is really helpful.
Agencies they teach you a lot of stuff, and you're
(28:38):
working on several accounts at once at most places, and
so you know, you're really like rounding out your skills
because you might be working on several different accounts, and
so there's a lot of crossover between an agency and
what I do here, although I'm not working on different
accounts per se, like I'm supporting different departments, which, if
you think about it, is really kind of like supporting
(28:58):
different accounts because each department has different goals, different needs,
different priorities, different storylines they want to push, different spokespeople,
and so you know, also different media audiences, different you know,
fan audiences. So it's very similar in that sense. And
so I would say working out a PR agency as
an intern early on is just a really good way
(29:18):
to like get your feet right in the industry and
start learning about like the you know, the fundamentals of PR.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
I actually have a question for both of you, as
someone who's been here a while now, I have started
and like I read basically every article that goes on
forty nine ers dot com all the headlines.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
For videos and galleries. I have found.
Speaker 5 (29:40):
Myself starting to think in the tone of the forty
nine ers, like how we write, do you guys ever,
like in your normal life, start to like type out
like texts or like think in the tone of what
you would like post on social or write in a
press release.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
I'll go first, one hundred percent, Like I don't even
know how to write as like not an organizational tone anymore.
Like like some of my friends give me, give me
like a hard time for it, but like my text
to them about like random stuff like about wanting to
get dinner, it's so formal, like I'm using all punctuation.
I'm like using all these like big words like I
(30:19):
would never use in my day to day life.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Like just talking.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
But yeah, that's that is something that like with time,
like I've written enough press releases to like know that
you know, this is the forty nine ers brand voice,
and so yeah, I'm constantly thinking in forty niners brand voice.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I'm actually not.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I mean I think with social we kind of just
know the balance of like when we need to be
serious like like pr forty nine ers, and then we
know when we can have fun with it, and I
think like my personal voice. I mean, if you text
me or slack me, I'm very much. I hit the
return button a lot. I don't write out full sentence.
(31:00):
I write out my thoughts, and so you're gonna get
like ten things in a row of just my thoughts
split up, which is not what we do on our
social but it is what I do in my everyday life.
So I think I am able to separate the two
and kind of turn it on and off when I
know I need to.
Speaker 5 (31:19):
We had a slack training today and their best practice
was to write in paragraphs, and the person giving the
training goes. We all know that person that takes multiple
lines to us and we don't like it. It's and
in my head, I was just like.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Patty because to me, I feel like that's how I
best convey how I sound, Which is funny because if
you ask my boyfriend, he will say that my text
voice does not match my in person voice, which I
don't think is true.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
So I mean, you guys can tell me if I
I kind of.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
Feel like when I get like ten slacks from in
a row, like it's almost the same as like you
just like sending me an audio message, I'm like, oh, yeah,
this is like how Patty.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Would say it, thank you? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
No he he says that my like text voice doesn't
match my like actual voice, which I don't understand.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
But can I turn the tables on this podcast for
a second, because I want to jump back into when
I was the podcaster. I want to ask Patty question
because I've always wondered this about like social Yeah, how
long did it take you to not get nervous about
like hitting posts?
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Oh my gosh, because.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
As like I could never do that because I'm I
would like reread my tweet like twenty million times before
I hit post.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
I still do that, like I if you talk to me,
if you talk to Keana, Johnny's vet a season VET
at this point, I don't know if he's doing the
same thing, but like we are both like chronic overthinkers.
I could have the most basic copy like the forty
nine ers have signed so and so to a one
year deal, and still read that like ten times, even
(32:56):
though it's like cut and dry, right, there's no editorializing
it nothing. I'm constantly overthinking.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I don't know if I ever got over it.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
I think I've gotten better, Like there were times where
I'd literally post something and then throw my phone like
it was a risky text. Not even that like the
copy was risky, but just the concept of like, oh,
this is going to be seen by potentially millions of people.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
So I don't think you ever fully get over it.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
I think you just learn how to trust yourself and
your skills and your abilities more.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Because I'm still doing that.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I'm still being meticulous, and I think it's important that
you know you're still being detail oriented. You're just not
like dwelling on it, right, Like especially me, Like I'm
a night owl. Right, So sometimes I will schedule things.
If it's like a six am press release, I will
schedule that, you know, at like eleven PM, and I
(33:55):
will read my copy over and over because I'm a
chronic overthinker. But two because it's like late and I
just want to make sure that it's like it's still
good from when people see it at six.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
In the morning. So I don't think you ever get
over it.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
I just think you get better at like managing and
how you handle it.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Is it the same sign for you, Haley, Like posting
articles on dot com?
Speaker 5 (34:18):
Yeah, we have the option, so when you press publish
on anything, there's a pop up that says like, are
you sure you want to publish this? And you can
turn it off and this will be my seventh season,
and I refuse to. Like there is a moment in
every time I hit published, regardless of what it is,
(34:38):
where I'm like, do I actually want to publish this?
Speaker 1 (34:42):
But you can always edit it right like after it's published.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
The problem is that with like RSS feeds and stuff
like some like media outlets get notified like right away
when we publish something, And that's always my worst fears
if like it was a press release that needs to
go out of two but it's like one fifty eight
and you're like.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Some yeah, I always go back and forth with the
whole Should there be an edit button on Twitter debate?
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Right?
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Like from a social media professional side, it'd be like yes,
because I wouldn't be changing facts, Like I would only
need to edit something if it was like grammatically incorrect
or there's a typo or whatever. But I think you
get into this area where like people can just completely
change the context of a text with an edit button.
So I mean, let me know your thoughts. I don't
(35:32):
think like I would want one as a professional, but
I know, like there will be people who probably abuse
a feature like that.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
Yeah, yeah, that's a tough one, like what my mind
went to because we've had like issues with this in
the past. But like some some media, like they'll they'll
see a story reported by somebody else and then they'll
latch onto it and sometimes like they could like could
get you know, one fact wrong, and it may seem
like it's like kind of minuscule, doesn't really make that
(36:00):
much difference in the long err in the grand scheme
of things, But there's so much like syndication amongst media,
like Hayley, like you were just talking about it, like
you know, media just grab onto something and then they
like repost it or they like you know mixed up
like the order of the topic points, and like they
post it again. And so like if that one thing
(36:21):
is like incorrect in a media story, then it gets
indicated elsewhere. Now it's like all over the place. And
so I think more than a tweet edit button, I
would like to be able to go and like edit
orders stories. You'd be like no, actually this isn't what happened,
or like this this fact isn't correct.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
That's like one of the biggest things about PR.
Speaker 4 (36:39):
It's like, oh, man, like I like tried to give
them the right information, but like they just didn't use.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
It the right way.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
So I want like a real time fact check on everything.
New York Times during the twenty twenty election during all
of the debates did a real time fact check, so
you could go to New York Times, go to the
fact check and like if you were watching the debate,
(37:05):
it would have like, yes, that is correct, No, this
is what's actually happening. I want that in real life,
Like I just want to walk around and be able
to be like no, like that is not true.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Yeah. How much research do you do as like a
PR professional?
Speaker 3 (37:21):
What kind of research do you like for.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Your releases or just you know, being because you have
to answer all the questions that media might have about
a certain topic that you might be pitching, Like what
do you do to become an expert in like you
were saying all these different departments kind of goals.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Yeah, I honestly, I think that kind of just comes
with time. Like there was a time in my early
career here where you know, I wasn't thinking about all
the right questions, and that's just because I didn't know
like what questions to be asking, And so like the
more times that you do a press release announcement, the
more times that you're putting an executive in front of
a camera, those all those apps like help prepare you
(38:01):
for the next one. And so I think it's just
like a combination of reps. But I think the other
big thing is like with my experience as a journalist
in college and kind of put myself in those shoes
and think like, Okay, if I was like writing the story,
what would I be interested in, Like what would get
me the most clicks or like the most views, I'm
probably gonna ask that question. And so that's like where
(38:23):
you start making the talking points like and preparing the
executives for things. So yeah, I think I think it's
a lot of I mean there's some research, but I
think a lot of it is just like critical thinking
about like, you know, what types of questions the reporters
are going to be most prone when.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
You're prepping executives for interviews, Are you nervous at all?
I Mean, sometimes I think it could be daunting if
you're preparing like a C level or a president for
an interview like you're kind of telling them, not what
to do or what to say, but you're kind of
directing them in a sense.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you are kind of telling
them and like directing them and what to say. That's
that's like why you know I have a job. Yeah,
it can be a daunting at certain times, I think,
especially depending on the announcement and the topic, it can be.
But I think, you know, I've been here long enough
to have kind of built good relationships with a lot
of our executives. I think you know, I've I've coordinated
(39:15):
a good amount of press release announcements in a lot
of interviews that people feel comfortable when I come to
them and say, hey, there's an opportunity for you to
be featured in an interview. You know, most people, I
think have the confidence that I'm setting them up to
succeed and not in a situation where they could fail.
And so yeah, I mean I think maybe maybe a
little daunting in the early stages, but not not so
(39:35):
much anymore.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
All right, Jacob.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Finally, we asked this on every pod, as you would
know because you are an avid listener.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
First fact, can.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
You tell us about a time when you were given
a duty that was not in your regular job description.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Okay, other duties as assigned.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
Hmmm, yeah, So I think I think one of the
big things and this goes back to game day and
Hailey always gives me a ton of a ton of
beef because like she says that I never I say
this too, but I don't.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Have like a ton of embarrassing work stories.
Speaker 5 (40:10):
I was just about to be like, I feel like
we should ask what your most embarrassing work story, And Hailey.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
Has some of the most embarrassing, hilarious work stories I've
ever heard.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
So I don't know if like she.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
Needs to be like interviewed on this about her embarrassing
work stories, but that needs to be an episode in itself.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
I would say.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
On game days, like one of the things that we
have to do that is is always annoying, especially as
an intern. But some some media personnel will like show
up late to the game and so like at some
point we take the media credential box out from the
will call booth because it's like, oh, it's the end
of the first quarter, and so if you're not here
(40:49):
by now, like you're probably not coming. But there are
there's one time where it was like pouring down rain
and I can't remember exactly who we were playing or
like what year it was, but it was like one
of those like Monsen games that Levi's and this reporter
showed up late and someone needs to go run the
credential out to them in the parking lot, and I
was like in a suit, no umbrella, no raincoat, and
(41:12):
I was just I was an intern at the time,
and They're just like, hey, like you mind running this
out to the parking lot for this media guy and
I was like, oh, I guess I have to, don't I.
And so that that was like one of the times
where you know, it was it was just funny because
I thought like my my duties for running stuff out
to the parking lot were over for the day because
like we were mostly you know, almost halfway through the
(41:32):
game and it was raining. So it's just like a
brutal scenario walk back into the press box wet.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Some of my some of my colleagues on football.
Speaker 4 (41:39):
Comms were like making fun saying like oh man, like
how is that walkout to the parking lot in the
rain bud? And I was just not having it. So, yeah,
I think that's one of them. There's probably more than
I'm forgetting, but that's like the first one that comes
to mind.
Speaker 5 (41:53):
Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
I've been asking for a while, so I'm so glad
we got to we got to do it.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
Yeah, yeah, I no, this was fun. It's fun to
get back behind the mic. I'm happy to be on again.
I don't know what their rotation is like, but yeah,
I always love I love coming on these things.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Welcome anytime. We will take you up on that.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
I'll be back
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