Michael Vick Apology Believability Varied Moment by Moment

After my earlier post on Michael Vick and his apology, I was contacted by the folks at HCD Research about some interesting research they did on the believability of Michael's apology moment by moment.

Turns out that HCD got a panel of 300 folks to watch the apology and to move their mouse either left or right to indicate how much they believed or did not believe Vick as he apologized. As you can see in the video, he was doing fairly well when he was saying he was wrong straight up.

But when he said he'd come to realize that dog fighting was wrong, people didn't believe him. And when he said he'd found Jesus, his credibility fell to near zero.



This sort of "dial testing" has been used for years to test ads and the like. I wasn't aware of MediaCurves using an online panel and a mouse to do it before they reached out. This is a fascinating way to analyze what "works" and doesn't work in public relations.

If you look at the MediaCurves channel in YouTube, you can watch similar panels about American Idol, Barry Bonds, and the apology of Cardinal Roger Mahony. Great stuff.

Thanks to Marcella Inserra at HCD Research for reaching out to me. A) It's the first time I've been "pitched" as a blogger, so I feel all grown up now and B) It was really interesting.

Michael Vick's Apology, Crisis PR and the Analysts

Michael Vick apologized today for his role in the dogfighting scandal. In a press conference, he stood up, without notes, and accepted responsibility. Does it make it right? Of course not. But it's been a while since we've heard a complete apology from a public figure who has been busted. Take a look:



PR experts were saying he's toast (and maybe he is), but going up there, without notes and just talking for a few minutes was the best possible thing he could do.

Lots of people think crisis PR people can get you out of a jam. They can't get you out of this. When you've done wrong, and as wrong as he has, this was the best possible thing he could've done in the hopes of salvaging his career in a year or so.

My two cents. What are yours?