I was not sure of the answer to her question, but figured that some of you may be able to help her out.  This is what she asked,

I was thinking about continuing my education with a masters degree in the USA, and I’ve been looking for universities that specialize in Sports PR. I just wanted to ask you, if you are able and willing to help me out, if you are aware of institutions that provide students with that chance. Because my research so far hasn’t been very productive. Do you happen to know any universities I can contact?

I know of universities that offer specializations in Sports Business, Sports Law, and Sports Management, but how about Sports PR?

My colleague Douglas Sanders with The Sports Link introduced me to the new service, which strives to make it easier for athletes to connect with their fans by providing “text only once, but update fans everywhere” convenience.  If an athlete sends a text message to MogoTXT, MogoTXT can automatically forward that message to the athlete’s fans on MogoTXT, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and all other websites.

Terrell Owens, Shane Battier, Chris “Beanie” Wells, Santonio Holmes, Jordan Farmar, and even Mr. Holdout, Michael Crabtree, are on board, along with many more athletes and rising journalists.  Some entities use the service more than others.  T.O. is updating the world on his life almost every second of the day…Beanie Wells, not so much.

In addition to providing ease and convenience to athletes, MogoTXT is able to aggregate the fans of an athlete that are located on several different websites into a single large audience to enable the athlete to achieve critical mass much faster for purposes of fan relations, marketing, advertising, etc.  The theory is that the service will empower athletes and their agents to strike better endorsement deals by enhancing athletes’ reach and providing marketing data.

MogoTXT can also facilitate revenue generation for athletes and their selected charities by working with athletes and their agents to feature desirable ads and clickable links to additional content and ads at the bottom of the athletes’ text messages before these messages are displayed on MogoTXT and also distributed to fans on all of the major social networks.

And for the Yao Mings and Kobe Bryants with huge international appeal, MogoTXT can also translate the messages into foreign languages on a near real-time basis.

Best of all, the service is free for its clients and their fans.

Celebrity and soccer player, David Beckham has recently inked (another) endorsement deal; this time a two-year deal with permanent marker company, Sharpie. The deal was negotiated by BrandBuzz, NY, a division of Young & Rubicam Brands, a fully owned subsidiary of WPP Group plc. (WPP is the world’s second-largest advertising and marketing conglomerate).

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it marks the largest global integrated campaign in Sharpie’s history. The former Manchester United star will become the brand’s global ambassador and will star in a global marketing campaign supporting two of the brand’s new products, the Ultrafine Retractable marker and the Sharpie Pen.

I know you’re asking, “What does David Beckham have to do with markers?” Well not much on the surface, but when you dig deeper you see that Sharpie is launching a global campaign and DB is a global icon. Beckham is the prime example of an athlete that has branded himself. This effort has paid off huge for DB as he has racked up sponsorship deals with Adidas, Georgio Armani, Pepsi, Motorola and Coty. These brands also love Beckham because he is a great vehicle for reaching their target market. The consumers that the aforementioned companies want to reach are the same people that identify with the David Beckham experience. If you are thinking, “How can I become as popular and rich as David Beckham?”, then take note of the following 5 steps that every athlete that must follow for Beckham-like success. Agents pay attention, you may learn something too:

Step 1-Form a romantic relationship (marriage is ideal) with some one more famous than you (Marry up!). At the time when Beckham married Victoria “Posh Spice” Adams, Victoria was one of the most famous women in the world as a member of the Spice Girls.

Step 2-Improve your public speaking. DB does interviews and appears on TV all the time. Companies want endorsers and fans want celebrities that can communicate well. Think about how many more endorsements Shaq would have had if he didn’t speak in a monotone.

Step 3—Serve your community. Become a humanitarian. Beckham has won awards for his service to the world. People and corporations love someone who gives back. Find a charity or organization that you can start supporting now! Also if you have been doing service, begin to make it public.

Step 4–Start an official website (and Myspace page). Beckham is a brand with a state of the art site where his fans can visit and discuss the life of Beckham. Take the next step from obscurity by getting people to talk about you in a controlled environment (a site you moderate). The point is to create a pull on the consumers that will subsequently get the attention of sponsors.

Step 5—Dress the part. Beckham is as recognized for his fashion sense as he is for scoring goals. Dwyane Wade was named as one of the world’s best dressed men by both Esquire and GQ Magazine, and look at the wealth and fame that has accompanied young Flash.

Last but not least is skill. I did not list this as a step because it should be a prerequisite. Tiger, Beckham, Lebron, ARod, and Venus are arguably the top competitors in their respective sports and this plays a huge reason why everyone is infatuated with them. But if you are a young athlete or agent with something prove, let the branding process start now! Do not let the window of opportunity pass you by!

Of course becoming a megastar is more complicated than this but if you follow these steps I guarantee you will be off to a good start. In the words of my deceased neighbor Biggie Smalls, “Follow these rules you’ll have mad bread to break up.”

Notes: Other steps that were honorable mentions were 1) A hot nickname 2) Celebrity entourage (Ari Gold included)

I want your opinion, “What else do you think an athlete needs to become a recognizable brand to fans and corporations?”

New Jersey Nets investor, music, and fashion icon Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter will be teaming with long time friend, business partner, and Translation Consultation & Brand Imaging (TCBI) founder Steve Stoute to form a new advertising agency aimed at helping corporate clients gain access to multicultural consumers, who represent $2 trillion in consumer buying power. Jay Pesos from the web based hip-hop business lifestyle publication, thecorporatetakeover.net explains that through Translation Jay-Z and Stoute will be “providing consultation on what’s hot and what’s not, specifically in reference to hip-hop consumers who usually set the trends for the general market, but whom corporate advertisers have no clue on how to reach.” In a recent New York Times article Stoute and Jay-Z point out the company will operate under Stoute’s Translation Consultation, which Stoute sold last year to the Interpublic Group of Companies for $15 million. 51% of Translation Advertising is owned by Stoute – while Interpublic owns the other 49% of the company.

One reason that Interpublic grabbed 49% of stake in Translation Consultation is the growth of the African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American populations in the United States, which together account for an estimated $2 trillion in consumer buying power. “Another is the escalating influence of minority consumers on the general market, by setting trends and influencing buying decisions in categories like apparel, music and sports” adds Jay Pesos.

This past Super Bowl is a great example of how advertisers on the biggest advertising night of the year are using minority athletes and entertainers to create brand awareness and (hopefully) increasing sales for their clients. For example, a Diet Pepsi Max TV spot featured recording artists like LL Cool J, Missy Elliot, and Busta Rhymes. In addition, Naomi Campbell danced in a commercial for SoBe Life Water to a song by Michael Jackson. T-Mobile and Vitaminwater made use of basketball players Charles Barkley, Dwyane Wade, and Shaquille O’Neal for their TV spots, and comedian Carlos Mencia appeared in a spot for Bud Light. With all these multicultural stars making appearances in advertising campaigns, the biggest figures are still the ones behind the scenes. The biggest name in this ad industry shake up is rap star turned boardroom executive, Jay-Z.

Jay-Z, fresh off stepping down from his position as president of Def Jam Recordings and the success of his critically acclaimed album, “American Gangster,” has made it clear that attaining success in the advertising industry is his next career move. In the past, Jay-Z has had athletes such as Jamal Crawford, Kenyon Martin, Winky Wright, and Larry Johnson signed to his recently sold clothing line Rocawear (Team Roc). In addition Jay-Z is a fixture at basketball venues around the nation and is an Entertainer Basketball Classic (EBC) alumnus where his S.Carter team made it to the championship game in 2003. From street basketball to professional basketball, Jay-Z is a fan of the game and do not be surprised if Translation Advertising uses the sport of basketball to speak to the multicultural market.

Not to be forgotten, branding Guru Steve Stoute has a long line of success in matching athletes and entertainers from the hip-hop culture with corporations that want to establish authenticity in the multicultural markets. Most notably, Stoute worked with Reebok, at a time when the brand had stagnated and needed to revamp its image. He brokered Reebok’s ad campaign with Jay-Z, whose S. Carter Collection brought in an estimated $100 million in sales for Reebok. “Steve understood the synergy between music and sports, athletes and musicians, and knew there was an untapped market for combining the two,” says Paul Fireman, former Reebok CEO. Dennis Baldwin, Reebok’s former top marketer asserts, “Steve is credible in the music and entertainment worlds. Then he can switch gears, walk into the boardroom of a Fortune 500 company and speak his ideas in a way they can understand.” Thus it is not surprising that Stoute would team with his most successful benefactor, Jay-Z to bring the street culture of sports, entertainment, and fashion to the doorstep of corporate America. “He’s the conduit between corporate America and rap and the street, and the music industry generally,” says Jay-Z. “He speaks both languages.”

American culture is infatuated with sports and entertainment and in this time period where the lines between sport and entertainment are blurred it is necessary for marketers to find people and trends that have relevance in both aforementioned areas. Jay-Z and Steve Stoute are great mediums between the streets and the boardroom. Translating is a skill that everyone can learn but few can master, but it seems that with Translation Advertising Jay-Z and Steve Stoute are getting close to perfection.