Saying "No" to Colbert

 
This week, we found ourselves counseling our clients to turn down national media. The first was The Colbert Report – a venue most of our clients can only dream about being on. The second was 60 Minutes.

Are we crazy for not wanting to reach a national audience – of influencers, no less? Are we nuts for saying no?

Actually, it didn’t even take much deliberation. We suspected from the outset that neither show would do right by our clients.  If you’re Steven Colbert – the point is to be funny. Our client is already finding that not all publicity is good publicity – and the risk of being the target of humor in an emotionally charged debate was too high. Sometimes – quite often, actually – saying no is the smarter approach.  How do you know? Consider the audience – is it a match? Consider the media contact – where does your story fit with theirs? Now consider your own agenda: Why do you want to say yes? How much of it is the pure, personal thrill of being able to say you were there?

That last point is at least 50% of what these producers count on. It’s why people say yes when the bookers call – and fly to New York to sit  in the green room of the Today Show, or the Tonight Show, for hours,  waiting for their 90 seconds in the limelight, even if it does nothing for their story, or their message, or their life.

So we said no, nicely. Because some day, we might want to be swapping laughs with Colbert.  For 90 seconds, anyhow.

(The 60 Minutes story is still in play.)

 - By Amy Bermar

Comments

[Meredith Rutter]

Interesting decision about go/no-go on The Colbert Report. I watch him often and in almost every case he seems to have people on that he can/will poke fun at but nevertheless believes in their message, otherwise he'd hesitate to give them such a major platform. He works hard to make the jokes and often gives equal time to the person's message and lets the (loyal) audience see through his mannerisms, etc., that he actually believes in the message. However, I do think there are messengers who will not do well in the Colbert setting, despite good messages, and that that can be recommendation right there for not putting a person on.

[Amy Bermar]

Meredith, you are absolutely right. Still, it takes a seasoned pro to toss the ball with Colbert and have it be successful -- it's a light touch with a clear point, and still letting Colbert have the first and last laugh.

I admire those who come on and get their point across, though I often wonder whether the audience retained anything from it. I think our client was glad/relieved to take a pass.

If you had a book to promote, do you think you'd go 1 on 1 with him?

[Lore McManus Solo]

Many years ago in prepping human services executives for a 60 Minutes interview, the key message to the executives (separate from the on-air comments) was that these kinds of shows typically have an agenda or a chosen perspective already decided.

The state government officials already had said yes to the show so the goal was to minimize how much unfair coverage they received on behalf of their organization. And that was exactly the outcome, as expected. You've made a wise decision, particularly most people don't play in these arenas with regularity.