I placed a call to the book editor, who loved the idea of writing about a local author for a Christmas feature. A few days later, she called back to say the features editor was interested in taking the item into the entertainment section for publication a week or so before Christmas. Great. I travelled downtown with Masterpiece Editions in tow, and the reporter and I had a very nice chat in the middle of bustling newsroom. Then Chris Farley died. Farley hailed from Madison, Wisconsin, and attended Milwaukee's Marquette University. His funeral was big news, and the writer working on my piece was dispatched to Madison to cover the event. My little piece would have to what until after New Year's, negating my effort to create a Christmas gift suggestion. Fortune smiled on us, however. The story appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on January 1st, greeting thousands of morning-after readers on their day off. Then, since New Year's Day is a slow news period, the Associated Press picked up the story. And just what does an appearance on the AP wire mean? It means fielding calls all day from everyone from England's BBC Radio (I ended up appearing following Star Trek's Jonathon Frakes) to ABC News Online (THE WOLF FILES at ABCNEWS.COM). As any publicist will tell you, sometimes you gotta bang your own drum.
Order GI JOE: The Complete Story of America's Favorite Man of Action by John Michlig (Chronicle Books) Read an excerpt from the book.
Associated Press MILWAUKEE (AP) - A Wisconsin man has written the story of "America's Greatest Fighting Man," but it's not about Gens. Colin Powell or H. Norman Schwarzkopf. It's about GI Joe, the plastic adventure figure that was popular among children in the 1960s. John Michlig's history of Joe is included in a "Masterpiece Edition" - a $50 collectible package featuring a replica 1964 GI Joe. It's geared toward baby boomers who want to relive Joe's adventures in the back yard. The new action figure is true to the '64 version by Hasbro, right down to the disproportionately big feet and long toes, a scar on his cheek, and 21 moving parts and rivets - what manufacturers can't include nowadays because they are not child-safe. The book that goes with it, titled "GI Joe, the Story Behind the Legend," charts Joe's history according to the men who designed him, molded him, posed as models for him and sold him as a toy for boys. Joe started out as a soldier available in the uniform of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines. During the Vietnam War, he took on a more ambiguous identity as an adventure character dressed for action, but not wearing a specific military uniform. The book includes a two-page color photo spread of boys unwrapping their GI Joes on Christmas morning. Michlig, of Franklin, got hundreds of family snapshots of Joe owners. The replica and book have given Michlig a bit of newfound celebrity. When Target introduced the product last year, they sent him on a series of promotional visits. "I'd hear, 'Is it a NASCAR driver? Is it a country singer? Is it Amy Grant?'" Michlig says as he recalls his arrival by limousine to various Target towns. "The first town I had to do it at was in Milwaukee at the same Target where I buy my underwear, my socks and my deodorant." © 1998 Associated Press
Public Relations 101
As Christmas 1998 approached, it occurred to me that I'd done a good deal of promotion of the Masterpiece Edition up to that point - - but I'd never bothered to contact my local paper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"Wisconsin Man Leads GI Joe Charge"
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