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| Unofficial Celebrity Report: Who da' (Larry) King? | | Date Created: Aug 11, 2005, 02:54 PM |
 Since the beginning of the Anheuser-Busch/Dale Jr. program in 1999 (fingerprint inc. officially joined the team in August of that year), we've had a pretty damn smooth run of media coverage. Oh sure, there's the occasional National Enquirer crap that's as much funny as it is pathetic, but we have made some mistakes along the way. There was a Men's Journal cover story that turned sour because Junior wouldn't go to dinner with the writer, who also clashed with a few of us because of the too-many-chiefs assortment of handlers that surround Junior. (Plus the magazine air-brushed sponsor logos off of his uniform on the cover shot. That's NEVER good for sponsor relations.) The worst of my mistakes was a nightmare experience with the 700 Club, a faux-righteous show, in 2001, but that story is also worthy of a completely seperate blog entry.
Overall, I'd say the media have been positive/realistic/fair to Dale Jr. 99 percent of the time. (And not always due to our efforts. In fact, sometimes in spite of them...) We're going to keep at it, trying for 100%.
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 Seeing that Jeff Gordon will be appearing with Larry King next week reminded me of an odd series of events surrounding Dale Jr's appearance on that same show following last year's Daytona 500 victory. While it wasn't a disaster, it was an odd hour of coverage that did little to enhance or benefit the image of Junior or his sponsors.
The folks at the Larry King Show had been interested in having Junior on their program since his father's death, and we had consistently said "no thanks." Following the Daytona 500 win, we believed the timing was right to finally book a segment. So, we worked with a producer who attended a race event and shot footage of Junior and Jeff Gordon, who were scheduled to appear on the show together. We provided a stack of background and research material to help preparation for the show. We believed we had an agreement with the producer that the show would not dwell on, nor feature a significant segment about the death of Junior's father. It's a topic that's too big to ignore completely (we're realists), but the agreement was to focus the show on the success of Gordon and Junior on-track, rather than on gossip or past tragedies.
Less than a week before the show, a news release from CNN suddenly appeared on PR wires: DALE EARNHARDT JR. IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ABOUT THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER AND JEFF GORDON TALKS OF HIS CONTROVERSIAL DIVORCE. A similar version of the promo also aired on CNN.
Within minutes, we were conferring with Jeff's publicist, who was also disappointed and very supportive of our desire to withdraw from the show based upon the promos. We informed the producer that Junior would not appear on the segment. Several hours later, a voice mail - with a familiar voice - appeared on my cell phone.
"Jade, Larry King here. This was a mistake made by a young, new staff person here and I can assure you we've taken care of it. I control what goes on the air and this will not be an interview about his father's death..."
Long story short, and against my gut instinct, we decided to go ahead with the show.
A satellite crew showed up at Dale Jr's garage, and the live show began at 9:00pm Eastern. Within the first five minutes, King addressed Junior and asked, "where were you when your dad died?"
The sucking sound was me gasping for air, falling over in disbelief. It wasn't the worst question ever asked Junior, but it was an uninformed one. It seems Larry doesn't like to research before his show because he wants to ask the questions that any man-on-the-street would ask. He had no clue Junior was on-track at the time. But, Junior handled it well (as usual) and he completed the hour in fine fashion. No blood, no foul.
THE perfect card: When you need to say "I'm sorry..." or if you really like astrology. And please, get well soon.
Advertising Secrets: OK, the word is out on how it's really done. Can also be useful when you're blocked and struggling for the perfect headline on the news release that's past deadline. Examples: "See the Softer Side of Dale Jr." or "Does She or Doesn't She? Only Jade Knows for Sure."
Having a rough day? The Magic 8-Ball just isn't cutting it any longer? Try the Toaster.
While I have always admired FedEx for their innovations and business saavy (did you know FedEx founder Fred Smith funded the movie My Dog Skip?!) it seems they aren't happy about a customer being a little too innovative (LINK NOW ACTIVE) with their shipping boxes...
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They do not in any way represent the views, beliefs or corporate values of any clients of fingerprint inc.
This includes but is not limited to Anheuser-Busch or any other corporate or personal entities mentioned within.
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