The Pac-12 Conference has hired one of the world’s top public relations and crisis management agencies.

Its mission?

Fixing the conference’s broken brand.

The repair is necessary, but what the conference members need most to compete is additional revenue. The brand isn’t broken because of public perception. It’s busted because of results.

FleishmanHillard, whose notable clients include Levi’s, Chevrolet, JPMorgan Chase, Crocs and Alibaba Group, has been retained by the conference. In 2017, Fleishman took the lead on crisis-management work for USA Gymnastics, which was enmeshed in a sex-abuse scandal.

Documents obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive outline the Pac-12 Conference’s relationship with the public-relations agency. In an Oct. 31 memo addressed to the Pac-12 CEO Group, the conference’s head of communications, Andrew Walker, indicated that one of the primary objectives of a new communication strategy was to protect and enhance the Pac-12 brand.

At the time, the conference was smack in the middle of an instant-replay officiating scandal. League executive Woodie Dixon interfered with the outcome of a call during the Sept. 21 Washington State vs. USC game. The Pac-12 was reeling.

Walker wrote to the Pac-12 university presidents and chancellors in that memo: “Our shared interest in a strong Pac-12 brand is a strategic priority given the brand’s impact on the valuation of our collective media and sponsorship rights, recruitment efforts on campuses, impact on overall University brands, and NCAA selection processes in football and basketball, among other reasons.”

Walker confirmed on Tuesday that FleishmanHillard was retained. He added that the move was made, “to provide a review of our overall communication strategy as part of a collaborative process with our members.”

The Pac-12 football programs, which finished 3-4 this bowl season, were left out of the College Football Playoff for the third time in five seasons. The men’s basketball programs went winless in the NCAA Tournament last March, and just posted the worst December by a Power 5 Conference in the last 20 seasons. The conference currently has no men’s teams ranked in the Top 25.

The conference’s brand needs immediate repair, for sure.

But without consistent positive on-field and on-court results in football and men’s basketball leading the conversation, is that possible?

The Pac-12’s ongoing issues were outlined in depth in a four-part series published by The Oregonian in November. The conference distributes far less financial support to its members than its Power 5 Conference peers. The SEC, for example, distributed $11 million more annually to each member vs. the Pac-12 in the last fiscal year reported.

Also, the conference itself operates with significantly higher expenses. Some of that is due to the fact that the Pac-12 also fashions itself a media company, producing its own content and retaining ownership of the network.

Conference commissioner Larry Scott recently pitched his bosses a plan that would sell a 10-percent equity stake in the conference’s media rights to private investors for $500 million. The hiring of FleishmanHillard is designed to help position the conference for that possible offering.

Still, when your motto is “Conference of Champions,” being left out of the championship tournaments in college football and failing to matter in men’s basketball is far more impactful to your brand than talking points.

On Nov. 11 at the conference’s downtown San Francisco headquarters FleishmanHillard executives J.J. Carter and Alexa Waltz addressed the Pac-12 athletic directors and presidents at a cocktail reception, dinner and meeting.

Also, the public-relations firm produced a 34-page brochure titled “Communications Strategy Development Project” that was distributed to conference members. (View it here)

The internal memo aimed at the Pac-12 CEO Group from Walker listed the recommended objectives and strategies from FleishmanHillard.

Among the recommendations:

“Conduct in-depth analysis of the influencer landscape to identify neutral to positive voices and systematically build relationships with these influencers to shift the conversation.”

“Expand upon media partnerships with The Players’ Tribune and Los Angeles Times and identify new national partner(s) to increase national and regional coverage.”

“Enlist one of comedy’s great ‘coaches’ or ‘fans’ to star in a digital series that addresses the challenges of last-minute schedule and late games in a way that honors the true commitment of the Pac-12 fan.”

The conference declined to say how much FleishmanHillard is charging it for the services.

The U.S. Mint contracted with FleishmanHillard in 2000 for $4 million to help market and brand the dollar coin. It never really caught on. Not because of marketing, but because it didn’t outperform its alternatives.

The firm has also represented Western Union and Pepsi’s Quaker Oats brand. But no matter the crisis management effort, those entities won’t ever succeed while failing to produce a quality product.

View a sampling of the new PR initiatives for the conference here:

3 Pac-12 Crisis Management

The Pac-12 went 1-8 in the bowl season a year ago. This season, it won three games by a combined four points. That’s a two-game bottom-line improvement, and it will help the new PR firm do its job. But I’m not sure the success is sustainable unless the conference headquarters cuts its own bloated costs and finds more money for its members.

Washington State beat Iowa State by two points in the Alamo Bowl. That victory snapped a nine-game football bowl losing streak for the Pac-12. Cougars’ fans and personnel believe the perception of the conference’s brand is what kept a 10-win regular season team from being selected to play in a higher-profile New Year’s Day bowl game.

On a conference call after the Alamo Bowl berth was announced, WSU athletic director Patrick Chun said: “For Washington State and the rest of the Pac-12, this is an important bowl season for all of us. We can easily infer that where we’re ranked is maybe a reflection of the perception of the league and the good thing for us is that we have an opportunity as a conference to make a national statement.”

Chun has it right.

The product always speaks loudest.