OLYMPUS PUBLIC RELATIONS
1. Executive Summary
1.1 Company Overview
At Olympus Public Relations, we focus our attention and skills in helping athletes and
athletic corporations achieve and maintain an image as high as the gods. Our drive is to help
clients such as yourself accomplish professional and personal short-term and long-term goals.
We offer you our services we have perfected since our company began, and you will find, Mr.
McGwire, that these services cannot be matched. Our familiarity with sports media, fans,
philanthropy, and entertainment will be at your fingertips. We are an extremely successful firm,
and you will not doubt that the future of your image and reputation are in good hands.
1.2 Career Overview
Mr. McGwire, your remarkable professional career began, following your place on the
1984 U.S. Olympic team, when you were drafted 10th overall by the Oakland Athletics in the
1984 Major League Baseball Draft. As a rookie in 1987, you hit an impressive 33 home runs
before the All-Star break and were a unanimous choice for American League Rookie of the Year,
finishing with 49 home runs, 118 runs batted in, and a .289 batting average.
In the following three seasons, Mr. McGwire, you hit 32, 33, and 39 home runs, and were
the first Major Leaguer to hit over 30 home runs in each of your first four full seasons. In 1988,
you hit game-winning home runs in the 16th inning of games on both July 3 and 4. Your most
famous home run came soon after in Game 3 of the 1988 World Series against the Los Angeles
Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth inning, which brought the only victory for the Oakland
Athletics in that Series. In addition, you won a Gold Glove, an annual award given to players
who displayed signs of superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position, in
1990. In the 1992 season you hit an impressive 42 home runs; the highest of your career up to
that point. Your spectacular performance helped the Oakland A’s clinch the American League
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West Division title in that year; their fourth in five seasons. In 1996, you impressed fans with 52
home runs in 423 at-bats, also hitting a career high .312 batting average, while leading the league
in both slugging percentage and on-base percentage. These great accomplishments were just a
preview of what you had in store for Major League Baseball.
In the 1997 season, you were traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. Following this trade, you
then led MLB with 58 home runs. At the end of that season, you signed a contract to stay in St.
Louis. As the 1998 season progressed, you, along with Ken Griffey, Jr. and Sammy Sosa were
competing to break Roger Maris’ single-season home run record. After an intense rivalry, you
finished the season with an astounding 70 home runs, four ahead of Sosa’s 66. You are also
credited with “saving baseball,” along with Sammy Sosa, for the incredible performances that
encouraged younger and older fans to attend games after the famous 1994 MLB Strike. You
ended your career in 2001 with 583 home runs, which was the fifth-most in history. In 2009,
you joined baseball once more by accepting a position as the hitting coach for the St. Louis
Cardinals.
2. Situational Analysis
2.1 Situational Analysis
Mr. McGwire, throughout the late 1990s you were unfortunately under suspicion of using
the performance enhancing steroids. During this time you continually refused to talk about your
involvement or admit to any usage of these substances. This in turn caused rumors to circulate
and your silence seemed to confirm your usage to your fans and other individuals. In 1998, you
broke the record for single home runs in a season and this accomplishment in particular drew
more attention to the possibility of steroid use. Although you continually denied using steroids,
in 1998 you did admit to taking the muscle enhancer androstenedione. Even though
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androstenedione wasn’t yet banned by Major League Baseball, your use of this drug did not help
support your previous statements of non-steroid use.
Then in 2005, Jose Canseco released a book that contained personal testimonies of
professional baseball players using steroids, and claimed that you had used performance
enhancing drugs since the 1980s, and that he had personally injected you with them. In this
same year you, Mr. Canseco, and nine other MLB players and executives testified at a
congressional hearing on steroid use in professional baseball. On March 17 you made a
testimony, under oath, that neither confirmed nor denied your use of steroids. Later, in October
2009, the St. Louis Cardinals offered you the position of hitting coach. After accepting this
position, you admitted to using steroids during your playing career, including your infamous
1998 season. However, your confession also contained claims that your usage of steroids was to
recover from injuries rather than for performance enhancement. Your recent failures to attain
election into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 have been said to be due
to the infractions associated with the use of steroids.
3. Planning
3.1 Objectives & Goals
Our goal is to repair your reputation as one of the greatest baseball players of all time and
help you obtain a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Mr. McGwire, you were a phenomenal
baseball player and have continuously demonstrated your knowledge and passion for baseball by
your work as hitting coach for your former team, the St. Louis Cardinals. Your name is still
synonymous with baseball and home runs, but dealing with the stigma that comes with your
admitted steroid use has kept you out of the Baseball Hall of Fame. We suggest you continue
your positive involvement in Major League Baseball, and additionally focus your efforts on
community involvement and philanthropy. This will favorably change your persona and gain
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you positive media coverage, in hopes of swaying the votes of the Baseball Hall of Fame voting
board.
3.2 Target Audience
Target Audience Description of Audience
Males and Females, Ages 14-24 Aspiring Middle School, High School, and
College athletes who would benefit from a
lecture series about steroid use in sports.
Males and Females, Ages 35+ Audience who were and/or are fans during your
career and especially the 1997-2001 HR record
chase with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Baseball Writers Association of America These individuals are member of the voting
board that determine your entry into the
Baseball Hall of Fame.
3.3 Strategies
3.3.1 Fan Relationship
At Olympus Public Relations, we believe it is important to continue the positive
relationship you have with your fans. Your fan base increased during your home run race with
Sammy Sosa, as MLB had just come off the player’s strike in 1994. You essentially helped to
reestablish the fans’ enthusiasm for the sport again. It is essential, to keep these fans and garner
new ones by answering fan mail, signing baseball cards, and even mentioning your appreciation
for them in an interview before or after a St. Louis Cardinals game. We feel that your decision
to return to MLB, and your former team, as a hitting coach was a very good move, and was a
definite step forward with your fans, as they gave you a standing ovation prior to the Cardinals’
home opener on April 12, 2010. It is important to show a kind of “Fan Appreciation Day,”
everyday. When your fans see that their support matters to you, it will continue to grow.
3.3.2 Associations
Even though your use of steroids were for health reasons, were not banned in MLB, and
were available over-the-counter (meaning it was legal and safe), they still carry a negative
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stigma. Now that you have openly admitted the use of steroids, it is important that you sever all
ties with those affiliated with the use of the drug. This includes former and current athletes, and
especially Jose Canseco, who accused you of illegally using steroids in his published book.
What we advise is further enhancing your relationship with revered individuals in the world of
baseball. One such person is former MLB player, Ken Griffey, Jr. Throughout his major league
baseball career, Mr. Griffey was a popular player and fan favorite around the league. His
popularity reflected well upon professional baseball. Griffey has been called one of the most
prolific home run hitters and is fifth on the list for most career home runs. Home runs are not all
you have in common; Griffey recently retired this past year, but still works in professional
baseball as a special consultant for the Seattle Mariners. He, like you, is also a big contributor
to philanthropic endeavors. Associating yourself with Mr. Griffey will highlight your
similarities and all of the positive accomplishments you have achieved.
3.4 Activities
3.4.1 Educational Engagement
One way to improve your image in the public eye is by lecturing to middle schools, high
schools, colleges, and especially student athletes, about the dangers of the use of steroids and the
positivity of sportsmanship. Seeing as you have first-hand experience, we suggest showing your
goodwill by telling others your story, and encouraging young athletes to shy away from any use.
This will also allow you to tell your side of the story and why you regret using steroids, because
the audience will be able to hear it in your own words, rather than obtain a skewed version from
a third party. Beginning at local Missouri middle schools and high schools for free can enhance
your image. Then you can move on to finding an agency, such as The College Agency, that will
designate you an agent that can book you at colleges and universities and showcase your lectures
at conventions, such as the National Association for Campus Activities, NACA. The College
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Agency is a reputable organization and has been a nominee for Agency of the Year in 2007,
2009, and 2010. It is used by colleges and universities all over the country for their various
speaker and lecture series’. You will be able to tour throughout various locations during the
school year because the baseball off-season correlates with Fall, Winter, and Spring semesters or
trimesters. We at Olympus Public Relations will create press releases and pitch letters to send to
local, regional, and national media outlets in order to garner good press regarding your efforts to
educate youth. Some of these media personnel will include reporter T.J. Quinn of ESPN, who
reported a great deal on performance enhancing drugs and is a member of the BWAA; New York
Times sports journalist, George Vecsey, who wrote about your home run record chase against
Sammy Sosa; and many great writers at Sports Illustrated, including “America’s Best
Sportswriter,” Gary Smith.
3.4.2 Community Involvement
Your current work at the Mark McGwire Foundation for Children to support agencies
that help children who have been sexually and physically abused is a wonderful philanthropic
endeavor. Because this foundation was created before your admittance to using steroids, we
believe that you would also benefit from adding to your community involvement by working
with the St. Louis Sports Commission’s Sportsmanship Initiative. More community involvement
will build your public image and fan morale, which is essential to your long-term success. The
Sportsmanship Initiative is a series of programs implemented by the Sports Commission to make
St. Louis a model community for good sportsmanship and to create more positive environments
for kids to play sports. It hopes to reinforce the ideals of respect, civility, integrity, and fair play
at all levels. Not only will your image benefit from donating your time, but also by adding to
their known scholarship fund to create more college scholarships for graduating seniors in the St.
Louis area. Your participation in this organization will show the community your stance on
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sportsmanship, and your love for athletics. You will ultimately be recognized as a good
community citizen by supporting a program that improves the quality of life in the community.
Any events your foundations are a part of will be promoted to the media via a media alert that we
will create at Olympus Public Relations.
4. Administration and Evaluation
4.1 Staffing
4.1.1 Personal Assistant
Mr. McGwire, being the iconic baseball player that you are, while also holding the
position of the St. Louis Cardinals’ hitting coach, you will require additional staff to help you
throughout your day. In order to maintain positive relations with the fans and media, a
professional personal assistant is imperative. Your new personal assistant will assist in simple
tasks, such as sorting various fan -mail, managing and updating your schedule, keeping track of
all invoices and emails, and running personal errands as needed. We highly recommend, Mr.
McGwire, that your personal assistant be male, primarily in his mid-twenties to mid-thirties, and
have at least obtained a Bachelor’s degree. He should have extensive experience as a manager or
assistant in, yet not limited to, the sports industry. Desired qualities for your assistant include an
extremely responsible, flexible, accountable, detailed, respectable professional who maintains
the utmost confidentiality throughout his work. We will oversee the preliminary selection of
potential candidates, but of course, you will make the final decision in the selection process.
Your assistant is a gatekeeper; he will organize all aspects of your professional and personal life,
therefore making it easier for you to keep track of everything and act accordingly and timely.
Thus, during the baseball season, the ability to focus on your success in coaching will be
improved, thanks to your new personal assistant.
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4.1.2 Event Coordinator
Hiring an event coordinator will further improve your balance between coaching and
positive relations with fans and media. A professional event coordinator will assist in planning
events for your charity, educational speeches or visits, and all other fundraisers or occasions that
will arise. Mr. McGwire, at Olympus Public Relations, we know how difficult it will be to find
equilibrium between family life, your career, and the interactions you will encounter with the
public. Along with your personal assistant, your event coordinator will work behind the scenes to
allow you to focus on balancing these three aspects of your life. The coordinator’s main job is
establishing a budget, scheduling dates, times, and locations, setting up transportation, and hiring
support and security if need be. Your event coordinator will manage every fundamental
background element of fundraisers or events, while also listening to any input from yourself, and
therefore will allow you to not worry about these background details and focus more on your
status and positive attitude throughout the events you attend. We feel the most appropriate event
coordinator for you, Mr. McGwire, will be a highly driven individual with at least a Bachelor’s
degree. It is ideal that your event coordinator will have a degree in Communications, Marketing,
or Entertainment Management, but this is not a requirement. Your coordinator must have a
background with other high-profile athletes or celebrities, and he or she must have a positive
reputation throughout the industry. He or she will work around the St. Louis Cardinals’ schedule
and will set up school visits and charity events on off-days, the off-season, and post-game, if
possible. Your event coordinator will add numerous events to your schedule, providing many
opportunities for you to enhance your relationship with your fans.
4.1.3 Personal Coach
Lastly Mr. McGwire, we believe that maintaining connections throughout the community
of Major League Baseball is the most vital aspect of amplifying your Hall of Fame eligibility.
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Throughout your years as a successful slugger, you have created relationships with managers,
coaches and teammates. It is important that you uphold all positive relationships that you have
made throughout your tenure within Major League Baseball. It is essential for you to have a
personal coach, or mentor. Many athletes, celebrities, and social icons have turned to mentors
during times of need or personal advising.
Mr. McGwire, it would be ideal if this mentor were highly regarded, as well as connected
to the Major League Baseball organization and community. Conveniently, you already have a
strong history with Tony La Russa. He was your manager for the Oakland Athletics from 1987 to
1995, and your manager for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1997 to 2001. Mr. La Russa is a
reputable manager known throughout the league, and has great potential to be a Hall of Fame
manager. Not only is he a respectable in those aspects, but he is also a respectable man who is
liked all throughout Major League Baseball. You need a mentor who has integrity and a strong
personality, and Mr. La Russa possesses both characteristics. Although you have a highly
likeable personality and reputation, it is our job to increase awareness of these characteristics
throughout the league, thus furthering your chances to be voted into the Hall of Fame. If you
continue your positive relationship with Mr. La Russa, he will act like a spokesperson for you,
being more apt to speak positively of you to the media. He will be your confidant and role
model. He is someone you can trust, and who will, in turn, trust you. We cannot stress enough
how important it is to maintain constructive contact with Tony La Russa. Also, positive relations
with players such as Ken Griffey, Jr., Albert Pujols, and Matt Holliday, who have large fan bases
and respected careers, will enrich your public standing. The relationships you currently possess
are key aspects in safeguarding your reputation throughout the world of baseball.
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4.2 Timetable
Today 6 Months 12 Months 36 Months 10 Years
• Fan • Associations • Philanthropy • Educational • Baseball Hall
Relationships •We will help •You will further Lectures of Fame
•You must start you attain your •You will begin •Our ultimate
with assocations with involvement in work on a goal is to have
maintaining well respected your current lecture series you inducted
relations with individuals in foundation, as that will help into the
your fan base in the MLB well as establish further your Baseball Hall of
order to garner community that yourself as part agenda of Fame which
positive media will further your of the St. Louis educating young will be the
for yourself and positive image Sports athletes about epitome of your
the St. Louis with current and Commission's sportsmanship success in MLB.
Cardinals. potential fans. Sportsmanship and the dangers
Initiative. of steroid use.
Joining The
College Agency
can build your
credibility as a
serious speaker.
4.3 Tracking & Monitoring Progress
In order to keep track of your progress, we at Olympus Public Relations will continue to
poll the public to monitor their opinions of you as an individual and as an athlete. By monitoring
their opinions of you we will be able to see which tactics for improving your image and
reputation are working. We will also track the number of votes you receive each year for the
Hall of Fame. Any decrease or increase in votes will help us determine where to adjust our
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approach accordingly. Any good media awareness garnered by your philanthropy efforts will aid
us at Olympus Public Relations in tracking the increase in your image and reputation.
5. Budget
5.1. Bottom Line
As your public relations firm, we will advise you on ways to make the most of your
current financial aspects in your personal and professional life. You will find our suggestions are
flexible pending your personal interest, but are emphasized due to success they have had for
other clients in the past.
5.1.1 Hitting Coach Salary
As the St. Louis Cardinals’ current hitting coach you obtain a steady and generous salary
as personal funds. We suggest you consider setting up savings accounts for you and your
family’s future. You might be interested in looking into investments that can not only increase
your revenue, but can also show support for the businesses and organizations in which you
choose to invest.
5.1.2 Celebrity Endorsements
Mr. McGwire, it is our goal to obtain various endorsement deals for products and services
that enhance your positive image. Though we believe most of these offers will come after you
obtain entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame, we will strive to acquire them immediately. If there
are certain products, services, or organizations you feel strongly about representing, we will
work to meet your preferences. At Olympus Public Relations, your image is our first priority
and we do not want you to endorse something you do not believe.
5.1.3 Philanthropy
You have already taken the first step of creating your own charity, the Mark McGwire
Foundation for Children. Donating your time and money are equally important in keeping this
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foundation alive. We also suggest you work with an organization that is sports-related, which
will further highlight your positive reputation. The St. Louis Sports Commission’s
Sportsmanship Initiative is a perfect vehicle to do so. Your participation in this organization and
especially through contributions to their scholarship funds, will only further strengthen your fan
base in the community of St. Louis.
5.1.4 Staffing
As we stated previously, acquiring a personal assistant and event coordinator is an
integral part to our plan. They will ultimately make your life easier, but both require a set fee to
be negotiated at the time of hire. You must also keep in mind that working with The College
Agency will require you to give a percentage of your contractual fee to your agent associated
with that company.
5.1.5 Olympus Public Relations Fees
As a leading public relations firm in our field, we charge $25,000 a month, plus expenses.
It would be in your best interest to invest in our firm’s skills and resources, including our
phenomenal staff and our contacts throughout the industry and media. We will be with you and
constantly monitoring your success and achievements in every step you make toward reaching
the Hall of Fame.
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