After winning an Olympic gold medal in boxing at the 1960 Olympics in Rome as an 18-year old amateur, Ali—then known as Cassius Marcellus Clay—defeated Sonny Liston in 1964 to become heavyweight champion of the world.
Ali’s words and actions made him an icon of both the civil rights and antiwar movements, but he also faced enormous backlash. Throughout, though, he kept his convictions. “The heart of the champion is this: One never repudiates one’s deepest values, one never gives in,” Joyce Carol Oates wrote in The New York Times.
Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome in 1984, a disease that sometimes results from head trauma in boxing. Throughout his illness, he made public appearances advocating his convictions on religion, race, freedom and justice.
Ali was among the first, and arguably the greatest, of the self-promoters and trash-talkers. Ali taught many marketing and public relations lessons. His principles can be applied to corporations, not-for-profit organizations and individuals:
Identify your values and convictions.
Live them every day and proclaim them.
Ali’s platform consisted of freedom from racism and oppression, justice for the poor and people of color, strict discipline in professional training, and bold strategies. He proclaimed and acted on all of them during and after his professional career until his death last week.
Aggressively defend your positions and convictions.
Many people, including many in the media, refused to accept Ali’s religious-based decision to change his name. Many also didn’t respect his decision to refuse military induction based on his religious and civil rights convictions. Ignoring or refuting criticism, Ali kept championing (pun intended) his positions.
Be bold in your product positioning and claims.
Prove it. Ali’s self-proclaimed positioning was: “I am the greatest.”
As Ali said: “It ain’t braggin’ if you can back it up.”
He also commented: “Braggin’ is when a person says something and can’t do it. I do what I say.”
To gain market awareness, be bold and brash.
From his earliest appearances as Cassius Clay, Ali was known as the “Louisville Lip.” It earned him media attention. He kept attention focused on him through his unexpected pronouncements and by winning fights.
Communicate with simple, catchy, and quotable phrases.
Ali spoke a musical cadence and often used doggerel or rough poetry.
Here are a few of Ali’s best quotes:
“Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”
“Don’t count the days. Make the days count.”
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“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”
“A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”
“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”
“Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you’re going to be right.”
Ali’s quotes shouldn’t just be read. You should hear them to get a full sense of their effect.
Develop a good strategy.
In his early years, Ali won bouts because of superior speed, power and skill. After the three years of not fighting, however, his skills diminished and he had to use more strategy in each fight. He developed the rope-a-dope and other techniques to compensate for his waning skills. He also moderated his public shtick, often giving thoughtful speeches.
Be accessible.
During training, Ali invited the press and public to his workouts. He was readily available to the press for interviews. Most days he had a quotable quip. He also attended and spoke at many public events, including many black-tie events.
Repetition works. Ali repeated the same catch phrases over and over again. He reiterated his civil rights messages at most every opportunity in both formal and informal settings.
Ali’s life shows the importance of being true to your values. Values must be an integral part of your message. Ali’s ground-breaking media relations and communications methods inform today’s PR and marketing.
William Comcowich is the chief marketing officer of CyberAlert, a media monitoring and measurement service. A version of this article originally appeared on the CyberAlert blog.
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