Case Study: Boston Sports Clubs

As the publicist for Boston Sports Clubs, I was continuing to do the tried and true press releases rolled out from corporate offices with significant results. Attention grabbing headlines such as The All Star Workout, the Beach Blanket Workout, New Year New Body, and the Wedding Ready Boot Camp were launched with solid, yet predictable results.

Then Tiger Stockbridge appeared one morning on my front doorstep in the form of the front page of the Boston Herald with a huge T-bone steak in front of him. Anticipating imminent stomach stapling surgery, Tiger was setting out on a pre-operation eating binge and having all his favorite foods in large quantities for one last eating hurrah.

The news gal in me stopped breathing!

I had to find Tiger immediately. My idea was to offer him a membership and personal trainer to BSC. Corporate approved the idea so the hunt was on to find Tiger, and to find him before another health club’s publicist had their own "light bulb" moment. Securing Tiger was my big enchilada, so to speak!

I obtained Tiger’s home number and got him on the line almost immediately. He was open to what I was pitching him on behalf of BSC and wanted to meet me that very night. At 9 PM on a Friday night, Tiger and I met at the BSC South End club. Tiger took a chance on my word and the commitment that BSC offered him, a full, one year complimentary membership and a personal trainer 3 times a week in the name of Jed Cronin.

The Boston Herald and other media outlets chronicled Tiger’s ongoing weight loss over the next year. Predominant in the headlines was the fact that Tiger was now working out regularly at BSC with his trainer Jed Cronin at BSC, with our logo always proudly displayed in the background.

Tiger would appear again on my front doorstop just a few short months later in the form of another Boston Herald front page. However, this time instead of him eyeing the T-bone steak, he was hugging his wife and children. Tiger had made the decision not to have the stomach stapling surgery and instead was embracing the healthy life style choices first offered up to him by Peggy Rose and BSC.

When all was said and done, Tiger stated, "Peggy Rose helped change my life for the better."