Earlier this week ESPN posted a piece on the storytelling behind the scenes of the US Open, a great look see into telling a story behind the story, documented by comms veteran Dave Nagle. It reminded me of the way ESPN tells stories about the stories, which Chris LaPlaca has called 360 degree communications. It is surprising that other large outlets have not taken steps to tell these amazing stories about how stories get told across all platforms. Maybe some consider it non news, maybe it is cost prohibitive; maybe some consider it not relevant to the job. I beg to differ. This internal storytelling and sharing is a great way to get exposure for those behind the scenes, and to tell a much wider story to even niche audiences that increase the vision of the ESPN brand. It is a really solid best practice that some teams have looked at, and frankly, more colleges should also be looking at.
Here is an excerpt from our soon to be updated book on how and why 360 degree communications works…and how it got here and keeps evolving… 
While the print, digital and broadcast media continue to scramble to find partners, the best example of convergence on all fronts with regard to communications is ESPN. For all of its pieces, the Disney-owned “Worldwide Leader in Sport” was still operating in communications silos…print, broadcast, news, company-specific etc…for most of its existence into the early part of 2009.
The communications team, led by industry veteran Chris LaPlaca, began a transformation in 2009 to what is now considered “360 Communications.” In short, what that means is that the global ESPN communications team, now works in lock step with every part of the company to make sure stories are brought forth that service everything from internal news to their television networks to their mobile offerings and their magazine and all places in between. Although primarily based out of company headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, ESPN as a brand and as a media company makes sure that all areas of the business are included in the thought process when pitching or placing stories.
Putting three communications media platforms, internal, media-specific, and external, gives ESPN the unique ability to effectively communicate to all both in and out of the company, making for a much more effective way of bringing all interested in the ESPN brand up to speed. By being all-encompassing communicators and not just publicists, the ESPN staff is better positioned to deal with crisis and with positive news than many large scale companies. The request is that communicators stay in communication with each other, and also make sure that communication both internally and externally is vibrant.
How does one make communication vibrant? That is another key factor in ESPN’s growth as a communications staff. The staff represents a wide swath of expertise…media relations, digital development, social media, crisis management…each of which brings a different expertise and a different mindset to the table. The result is a more shared knowledge of all aspects of effective 21st century communications, from social media to video to traditional pitching and placing…that makes sure that every aspect of a story is being effectively told in multiple mediums to the audience that uses that form of media. What does that mean? When covering a product launch or a press conference, an ESPN communications staffer may be adept in twitter or Instagram or Snap to provide up to date news to an audience following him or her, or he or she may be able to use video and drop that video onto a platform where business or tech media may want to get a little different perspective or background on an event going on. There may be a unique photo op that comes up with talent, and by being proficient in digital photography that communications staff member can post behind the scenes pictures both internally and externally to best tell a story.
Individually, the ideas are not unique. However what makes them unique is that the media company as a whole recognizes their special place in the communications business as one that both makes news and reports news, and by servicing so many areas of the business with one streamlined department, ESPN is able to tell their story best, both internally and externally, to a very wide and interested global audience.
Mock if you will, but it keeps the communications staff informed and engaged and makes the job more forward leaning and mundane. Does it take time to do? Yes. Is there a way to balance time and effort to make it work? The proof is in the results.
