Episode VI: A Little Strategy, and What Not to Do

Somewhere around the time I did the first trial run, I had gotten a few more sponsors, a venue for the show, and a date set for the whole thing. The first graphic I made for the One Percent Productions website was on October 20th, 2008. That graphic was soon replace with a second graphic from the show flyer.













I talked to to Jim Johnson and Marc Leibowitz from The Waiting Room Lounge and One Percent Productions and they generously donated the venue for the date of November 14th, 2008. I specifically chose this date for a few reasons. First of all, I wanted the benefit concert to be on a Friday or Saturday so more people could come out. Todd at Universal recommended that the press conference be held on a slow news day like Monday or Thursday, but Monday is a terrible day to hold a concert, so that was out. Thursday isn’t bad, and I thought about maybe splitting it up and holding the press conference on a Thursday, then the benefit concert on a Friday. After thinking about it for a while, I thought it would be better not to split it up. I wanted it to be an all day event, where I hold the press conference in the morning, then go around town wearing the Mohawk and stopping by different radio stations and television to talk to them, and promote the benefit concert in the evening. Then the day would be topped off by jamming with The Filthy Few while wearing the Mohawk. The whole day event just felt like a better idea to me, like it was more of a story, with a beginning, middle, and end. So I decided to hold it on a Thursday to get the best media coverage I could.

I can’t remember why, but I wanted to do it in November. I think it was because that would give me enough time to prepare, and it wouldn’t put me too close to the Christmas season. There were only two weeks in November where I could get maximum news coverage, the weeks between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. Well, the Thursdays in both of those weeks were already booked up at the Waiting Room, and so was the first Friday. The only date that would be available and still be within the time frame I wanted was Friday, November 14th. So, I decided that would be fine. I was trying to get the most news coverage as possible because it was a requirement for Guinness that the record attempt get into the news. I also wanted to get as many people at the benefit concert as possible for The Filthy Few’s last show and to raise a lot of money for the charities, but I figured I had done enough to ensure that it gets covered pretty well. Besides, I had originally wanted it on a Friday anyway, so it all worked out.

I remember a feeling I had when I got off the phone with Jim from The Waiting Room after we agreed upon the date. "That’s it”, I thought, “its set in stone. No turning back now”. Not that I wanted to turn back, but it was a feeling of skittish relief, and finalization. It was Like I had just set a date for a surgery, or something that was going to change my life forever. I tried not to let that feeling overcome me, because I didn’t want to get a big head, or set myself up for disappointment, but it was definitely a feeling of things to come. I had no idea it was going to be blown up as much as it was, but I knew it was going to be big.

As long as I am talking about strategy behind my decisions, let me tell you about a decision I made that I thought was good, but ended up being a mistake. What I did was wait until the last few weeks before getting a hold of media outlets like The Reader and 89.7 The River. My thinking behind this was that I did not want my plans to get out too soon for fear that someone else would get wind of it and break the record before I did. What I should have done was contacted the media a month or more out, and shared with them my thinking on keeping it a little quiet. They would have understood, and we could have had more time to work together. This point really hit home when I got a bit of a tongue lashing from the reader. On October 30th, I sent them a proposal, and asked them if they wanted to help out by donating a page or two for advertising the event. I received a prompt response from John Heaston who wrote, and I quote, “You should be shot for sending this to me 2 weeks before the event. That said, let me see what we can get done.” I laughed my ass off when I read that! I know he was not seriously upset, and I took it as I think he intended it and thought it was funny. However, it was a good point. If you ever have an event you need to coordinate, don’t wait to talk to anyone because you are afraid it will get out, just talk to the right people and tell them to keep it on the down-low. Anyway, the Reader was very kind, and donated a couple of adverts for the event in the issues to come.
I also sent proposals to Capes Comics, and Paradigm Gardens around this time, and I contacted Tim Bazer at Omaha Fight Club, and Wayne Brekke from Worlds of Wayne. There is some good stories and lots of pics and video that go along with these sponsors, so I am going to talk about them some more in the next episodes. Wanna see what it’s like to be in the Octagon? How about behind the mike at Worlds of Wayne Podcast? Come back soon to find out!