After spending 25 years as an award-winning public relations professional in the motorsports industry that included executive positions with three sanctioning bodies, Mike Zizzo was eager to achieve a long-standing career goal of beginning his own agency to provide his creative and strategic thinking to a diverse group of clients and projects.
The result was the creation of Blue Verve Public Relations, a boutique communications firm based in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, in 2019.
Throughout his career, he has been particularly known for his ability to manage and generate significant media exposure for high-profile sporting events in a top-five metropolitan market and on a national level; create unique media, community outreach and charity events; build crisis communications strategies and protocols; enhance stakeholder value through various integrations; create editorial content from press releases to media guides and books; understand the value of social media platforms and integrating in PR plans and strategies; and handle brand management and reputation from a communications aspect.
The first client always is the most difficult to secure when you hang your own shingle, but it was just a matter of a few weeks before that was achieved for Blue Verve PR. INDYCAR hired Mike and Blue Verve PR to serve as a Communications Consultant for the 2019 season with his responsibilities including but not limited to the creation of an enhanced crisis management plan, communications SWOT analysis and a strategic communications plan.
Prior to the formation of Blue Verve PR, Mike spent 13 years as Vice President of Communications for Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, home of one of the nation’s largest sports complexes that annually plays host to marquee NASCAR and INDYCAR race weekends.
While in that role, he became the first two-time recipient of the NASCAR National Tracks Public Relations Representative of the Year that was among several honors he achieved during that tenure. Mike received NASCAR’s “Best Youth Marketing Initiative” Award in 2015 for the Speeding To Read educational program he created with one pilot elementary school and eventually would reach 78 schools and more than 43,000 students.
He also was selected as one of four finalists for the 2015-16 DFW American Marketing Association “Marketer of the Year” award in the Event Marketing category for the creation of the year-long campaign of NASCAR superstar Jeff Gordon’s “Final Season.”
In addition to the Speeding To Read program, Mike has been recognized for innovative events and programs including the world’s largest TV unveiling with Duck Dynasty; Tony Stewart’s Smoke Show; Asphalt Chef celebrity cook-offs with Mario Batali, Guy Fieri and Rachael Ray; 30 Seconds To Mars album debut with Jared Leto; Speeding To Help community outreach; and a multitude of driver, sponsor and charity-related events.
Prior to Texas Motor Speedway, he served in key communication roles for the stock car and Indy-car sanctioning bodies of NASCAR and Championship Auto Racing Teams, respectively. Mike served as Vice President of Competition Public Relations for CART from 1996-2002 before joining NASCAR as the Senior Public Relations Manager with an emphasis on competition from 2002-2005. He was awarded the prestigious James P. Chapman Award for public relations excellence while at CART, becoming the first person from the open-wheel sanctioning body to earn the honor.
He also possesses an extensive journalism background, having spent 12 years as a sports writer for The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel covering various beats including motorsports, the NFL, NHL, MLB, and World Cup, among others.
Mike is an alumnus of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla., where he earned a B.S. degree in Journalism. He lives in Argyle, Texas with his wife, Leesa, and children, Stella and Ben.
For more information on Mike, you can visit his LinkedIn profile.
Photo credit: Getty Images.