Project Hug: Rehabbing Bertuzzi

While police pursue a criminal investigation of suspended Canuck winger Todd Bertuzzi, the rehab of his public image progresses in the media. Latest success: April 6th's front page headline in the Vancouver Sun: "Big Canuck winger has a loving fan in Audrey, 78."

The story details Bertuzzi handing his jersey to a senior citizen fan in a ceremony after Saturday's game.  According to The Sun, when Bertuzzi, who was suspended for sucker punching and breaking the neck of an opponent, came on the ice to deliver his jersey "the five-foot-three superfan did what everybody wanted to do: Give him a big hug. And then another one."

Score another point for the spin doctors handling the Bertuzzi crisis at Canucks headquarters.

On March 8, when Canucks winger Todd Bertuzzi leapt onto Avalanche forward Steve Moore, his heart probably wasn't the only one pounding. As blood pooled on the ice around the motionless rookie, Vancouver Canucks media relations director Chris Brumwell's pulse likely raced as he launched into creating a crisis communications plan.

The hit took place during the third period. Before the game ended, a press conference was announced for the next morning. As well, Canucks captain Markus Naslund was prepared for making a few brief post-game comments where he admitted that it was a dirty hit.

The next morning, media expected Bertuzzi to be on hand at the press conference, but instead General Manager Brian Burke spoke, saying that the player was too emotional. It wasn't until two days after the incident took place that Bertuzzi faced media to make a few brief comments. This was followed the next day by Burke's scathing remarks about media coverage of the story.

The Tyee spoke with three of Vancouver's top crisis communications experts - Laura Ballance of Curve Communications, James Hoggan of James Hoggan and Associates, and Norman Stowe of The Pace Group - to find out how they think the Canuck's post-March 8 public relations campaign is going and what more they think needs to be done to rehabilitate Bertuzzi's image.

We tried to contact the Canucks for insight into the matter, but no one from the team's public relations department responded to The Tyee's repeated requests for an interview.

Say sorry or 'people will kick you'

For starters, all three of our experts said that while the now-famous tearful apology was well-crafted and let the public know just how regretful and sad Bertuzzi was about the incident, it came too late. They would have pushed to have him appear before the media within 24 hours of the incident.

"I would have pushed him to apologize sooner," Hoggan said. "Classic crisis management is eat big, eat fast. There are public relations implications if you don't eat big and fast, and legally it can put you at risk. But in general, you come out better if you take responsibility right away."

That said, Hoggan thought the Canucks did a good job of managing the different forces at work, which included a potential civil suit, possible criminal charges and showing sensitivity and concern for Moore.

Ballance, who used to work as a reporter, writer and producer for BCTV News and CKNW, added that in a situation as obvious as this, the faster you apologize the greater the positive effect.

All agreed that his preaching non-violence directly to his young fans was a good move.

"When someone genuinely apologizes and makes amends, most Canadians will forgive them," Stowe said. "If you don't apologize, people will kick you while you're down."

Don't criticize the 'maggots'

Our crisis communications experts were split on Burke's tactics in dealing with the media. While he receives kudos for his initial heartfelt statements of concern for Moore, his attack on the media is a classic no-no. Burke is infamous for having called reporters "scumbags" and "maggots" and was very critical of the media's coverage of the Bertuzzi/Moore incident.

"Being highly critical of reporters or blaming the media or calling them names is not media relations 101," Hoggan said. "It makes you look bad. Whenever you see politicians blame reporters for their problems, you know they're in big trouble."

However, Stowe felt that having television reporters show up in Bertuzzi's neighbourhood and talk to area kids about the attack was too much. He feels that the community agrees it was over-reported.

"A lot of the media stuff was over the top," said Stowe, who is also a season ticket holder. "Criticizing the media was not so bad."

Despite Burke's sometime adversarial relationship with the media, overall the Canucks have established good rapport with local reporters.

Perhaps the most glaring example of this positive relationship was the front page story on the Saturday, March 20 issue of the Vancouver Sun stating in the headline, "All Todd Bertuzzi needs is a Hug" featuring a large photo of the Canuck with his arm around 11-year-old fan Cory Hug of Lumby. The column by Gary Mason includes a letter from Hug saying that Bertuzzi has a great character, a big heart and will always be his inspiration and hero. Ballance estimates the positive PR value of that story well in excess of $60,000 based on the advertising rates for the Vancouver Sun. 

Banking on community support

Being a good corporate citizen can definitely pay dividends, as the Canucks have discovered. It's no secret that the Vancouver Canucks do a lot in the community for sick kids, including visits to B.C. Children's Hospital and supporting Canuck Place, a hospice for seriously ill or dying children.

"The community likes them and trusts them," Stowe said. "Having a public relations bank account of goodwill is critical. They can afford to make a withdrawal and can replenish it through their community program. They're very lucky that their PR bank account was full."

But Hoggan believes that to truly win over the community's support and respect, the Vancouver Canucks should take a more enlightened, socially responsible position on violence in hockey. He says the Canucks spent too much time defending Bertuzzi's actions.

"The best way to defend your reputation is not by fighting, but by admitting you're wrong," Hoggan said. "The game has evolved this way and it's not just a Canuck problem or a Bertuzzi problem; it's a systemic problem in the game."

Next steps: tread very carefully

Ballance says the Bertuzzi story is still hot because of lack of media access to the highest paid player on the Canucks. She says that before the summer he should speak with media again, which would be big news, but that it wouldn't be as dominant a story until there's a flare-up in the case.

"It's important not to let it go all summer and into next season. I'd to make him available sooner rather than later," she said. "They need to get it out of the mass media and make it a sports story again."

Ballance added that she would plan to have Bert speak with reporters at a practice or just after the Canucks finish up in the playoffs. "I wouldn't announce it in advance, I'd watch which media show up to cover the practice, make sure it's the right group of sports media, and then have him speak directly with guys who understand the sport. It will continue to be a really big deal until he comments again."

In Stowe's ideal world, he'd like to have Bertuzzi and Moore shake hands for the camera before entering a classroom to talk about how brutal violence doesn't belong in hockey.

Overall damage for the Canucks?

Stowe believes the star Canuck will never really be able to shake questions about why and how the terrible incident occurred. Yet Ballance and others don't think the Canucks' reputation has been seriously damaged by this incident. "Canadians love hockey and are very knowledgeable about the game. The average hockey fan in Vancouver wants to put this behind them as much as the Vancouver Canucks do."

Our experts believe that if the litigation issues die out that Bertuzzi will be marketable again for the Canucks. In fact, Stowe says he wouldn't be surprised if Bert got a standing ovation his first game back.

Brenda Jones is a freelance writer and part-time PR professional whose stories have appeared in the Vancouver Courier, The Tyee and other publications. She also wrote a sports column for the former Vancouver Echo for three years.