Well, it's day three of the Daniel Lyons fallout and I'm still intrigued by it all. I'm fascinated by Daniel Lyons - he's frickin' hilarious. One of my favorites was when FSJ meets Fergie about iTunes and "some promotional stuff."
She kept licking her lollipop and saying, "Wapasennahmanagit? Hmmmm? Wapasennahmanagit?" And I was like, Excuse me, I'm sorry, but could you speak English? Finally her lawyer just told me, "Fergie would like to know what percent of sales she will receive as a royalty." So I said it was all spelled out in the term sheet, she'll get the same as everyone else, it's kind of a standard deal. So she comes over and leans over the table in front of me like some kind of lap dancer, showing me her panties -- and her cottage cheesy cellulite, which I really didn't need to see first thing in the morning -- and looks over her shoulder, holding the lollipop on her tongue, and she goes, in that same baby voice, "Wazzagirlie gonnageeet? Wapasennahmanageeeeet?" I think she actually believed she could get a better deal by showing me her ass or something. I was like, Lady, I gotta go, just deal with my lawyers and good luck with your "career," such as it is. I actually did the finger quote thing.
Anyhoo (as FSJ would say), the element of this whole fall-out that I love the most is Forbes' publisher, Rich Karlgaard's response to the revelation. Karlgaard knew for months about the real identity of FSJ. However, just a year ago he was speculating that FSJ was John Hodgman. When asked if he was mad when Lyons revealed his secret identity, his response was, "Angry? Dan had pulled off one of the great spoofs in journalism. I had a ringside seat to the show. Dan and I laughed for days."
As FB (Fake Bono) would say, "I fookin' love this."
Why? Because Karlgaard can laugh at the situation. Er, wait, was that the Real Rich Karlgaard or the Fake Rich Karlgaard?
Anyhoo, it takes a bigger person to laugh at themselves and a potentially sticky situation. Karlgaard could have fired Lyons, but he didn't. He rolled with it. Karlgaard knows good PR when he sees it. Clearly he sees, that at this juncture, everyone is laughing - even Bill Gates and ... Steve Jobs' daughter. By laughing at the situation, and capitalizing on it (Lyons is now writing a book about FSJ), Karlgaard is going to see a completely new audience filter in to Forbes.com.
Fookin' ingenious!
Clearly, in this blogging age, we are seeing a shift in public relations. The message? LIGHTEN UP! Don't take yourselves so serious. Whether you are Bill Gates or Bill Smith, Hillary Clinton or Dicky Cheney, if you come across as uptight you WILL become fodder for public mocking.
So, to my fellow PR peers, what have we learned from this lesson? Be honest with yourselves, be honest with your clients and make your clients be honest with the rest of the world.
Recent Comments