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PRESS ROOM Press Release/ Announcements About Sports Media Challenge Contact Information: Kathleen Hessert, CSP President E-mail: khessert@preptowin.com Tel: 704.365.5027 MAILING ADDRESS: Sports Media Challenge 2700 Coltsgate Road Suite 203 Charlotte, NC 28211

News Release June 29, 2001 "Image Matters" Advertisers are constantly on the lookout for athletes because their high profile personalities can make them, and the products they endorse, household names. But athletes are human and they do make mistakes. When their image is tarnished advertisers will look elsewhere for their endorsers. According to Kathleen Hessert, President of Sports Media Challenge, not all has to be lost. Hessert explained her policy on dealing with athletes who have cast a shadow on their own persona to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa," she said. "If the public perceives the apology as genuine, it will forgive especially if you are a winner." Hessert believes that the best way to deal with a crisis is to inform the press as soon as the story breaks. One of her golden rules is to "Go for the quick bleed, not the slow hemorrhage." In general, the public will forgive as long as the athlete owns up to his or her responsibility and takes immediate action to resolve the situation. Athletes can save their reputations and millions of dollars worth of endorsements simply by publicly recognizing and owning up to the mistakes that they have made. CONTACT: Sports Media Challenge | Rocky Welsing, Director of Sales and Marketing, 704/365-5027, rwelsing@preptowin.com | http://www.sports.mediachallenge.com