Fergus-GONE

It seems fitting, writing a Spark blog on the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson from Manchester United. After all, as the only member of the Spark team to actually come from Manchester I am of course a proud supporter of Stockport County. However, when the longest-serving and most-successful manager in history leaves your eighth team it’s worth pausing to reflect on what we could learn from this.

I’ve gone over how organisations shouldn’t see the departure of a charismatic figurehead as spelling the end of all things before. Indeed, in this case it’s clear that Manchester United had plenty of fame and success before Ferguson and doubtless will again afterwards: it’s not like he’s even the club’s first iconic Scottish manager. Yet for nearly three decades Ferguson has been very much the face and voice of Manchester United: players, staff and owners have been and gone but Ferguson as the spokesperson has remained.

From a PR perspective, this consistency in spokesperson and voice is certainly something to strive for. While not always possible, there is a lot to be said for having consistent, core personnel who are ready and able to be the public face of the organisation at all times. It makes it easier to provide a consistent message. It allows the spokesperson to build relationships that then help the business directly and indirectly. And it focuses attention, allowing those workers who are maybe less comfortable or confident to focus attention on their core jobs. Admittedly this isn’t always possible: eventually everyone will retire, spokespeople may move on and sometimes a subject will be so technical that it needs a specialist to discuss in depth. Yet in general, a business should have a core of faces that it presents to the public and ensure that it never has to thrust anyone into the limelight unprepared.

Similarly, it’s easy to overlook that Ferguson didn’t get instant results: there was a long period of building and refining before the club became the “don’t win anything with kids” colossus that it is today. Likewise, PR should not be focused solely on instant results. Instead building relationships and ensuring that a message is settled and consistent will provide much greater benefits in the long term. Of course, hiring a PR agency to help with this process can often be a bonus and there are a number of highly recommended agencies available: there may even be a link on this very page.

In the meantime we can steel ourselves for a wave of tributes and speculation over the eventual successor. Although doubtless my suggestion of Jim Gannon won’t be considered, more fool them.