Chad Brown

Fifteen-year NFL veteran, three-time Pro Bowler, two-time All-Pro and Modern-Era Pro Football 2023 Hall of Fame nominee Chad Brown, who was on the Colorado Buffaloes’ first and only national championship team, has trusted Annie H. Hoffman to handle his public relations and media coaching for more than seven years. And with good reason: Hoffman has been instrumental in Brown’s continued success in his second career as a broadcaster. For instance, in the first 18 months as his publicist, Hoffman secured Brown 225 appearances on national and local television, radio and podcasts and in digital and print outlets. 

Brown, who is now the Denver Broncos analyst for 9News Denver, a frequent co-host on ESPN Radio and co-host of the “Kill U with TRUTH!!!” podcast about Colorado sports, says that broadcasting can be a harsh industry to break into. Having experienced it first-hand, he hired Hoffman to help get his foot in more doors, which has led to an expansive broadcasting career.

“Having a PR advocate like Annie is an important step in getting your foot in the door,” says the former NFL linebacker. 

Expanding Career Opportunities with PR 

Hoffman specializes in promoting and fostering the second careers of retired athletes like Brown, who are either starting out in broadcasting or wanting to ramp up professional opportunities in the field. 

“There’s an art to keeping your name out there. If you do that, people will keep considering you for opportunities. You stay relevant,” Hoffman says. “Chad has been retired for a while [since 2007], but he keeps getting more and more broadcast opportunities now because of our strategy for people to see him everywhere.”

Hoffman’s outreach opened many job opportunities for Brown, including a co-hosting gig on a weekday radio program on Denver's Sports Station 104.3 The Fan for several years and working as a contributor for PAC-12 Network. It also helped him land jobs as an analyst for ESPN and Compass Media Networks’ coverage of NCAA College Football. What’s more, he was awarded a board position with the National Buffalo Foundation as well as several meetings with potential sponsors and collaborators.

“Annie’s PR has expanded my network of folks who want to contact me and those I can contact as well. She has me talking to different people in different markets with different angles,” Brown says.

Pursuing Public Relations Beyond Sports

Outside of the sports world, Brown is the owner of the reptile shipping company Ship Your Reptiles, a business he began in 2009 because of his passion for the animals. (He has about 20 reptile pets of his own.) Knowing that the media would be interested to learn about this aspect of Brown, Hoffman pitched and landed him several press opportunities to discuss Ship Your Reptiles. These appearances included KDVR-TV’s “Morning News” in Denver, WSMV-TV’s “Today in Nashville” and WFSB-TV’s “Great Day @9a” in Connecticut.

“I’m known as a sports personality, but Annie got me on morning shows around my passion for reptiles. That would be far more difficult for me to do on my own. I needed her expertise and PR understanding to pull that off,” says Brown, who adds that the exposure led to an expansion of his client pool.

Blending Media Coaching with PR 

Hoffman is not only a PR professional, but also a media coach who provides pragmatic advice to increase clients’ confidence and presence on-air. 

“As an athlete and now as an ex-athlete, I’ve always looked at coaching as essential to my growth,” Brown says. “Annie’s informational, instructive sessions included strategies and tips that I could easily put into action. I got good at being in front of media and presented myself in a more polished manner on camera because of her training.”

Brown further highlights that Hoffman’s method isn’t one-and-done. Caring deeply for her clients, she continues to watch and listen to their media interviews and on-air gigs to offer continued feedback for improvement as needed.

“It’s a full-circle process. Annie trains you, books the broadcast opportunities, then gives tips to make you better,” Brown says. “She’s invaluable as a publicist.”

Follow Chad Brown @chadbrown94 on X.