A Marketing Puzzle For You

I have a very crazy friend who is a chiropractor. (That's probably redundant.)

In my opinion, my friend is the best chiropractor in the history of the world. I have known him closely for 20 years. He treated my son (muscular dystrophy) for many years. He has achieved results with impossible cases that no doctor of any kind has ever achieved. I'm currently working on Chapter 31, the last chapter of the book I am ghost-writing for him. It will be a sensation & best-seller.

But that's in the future.

You may wonder what makes him crazy. Thank you for asking.

Steve is a total believer in what he does. Much of his brand of pain relief and stress reduction therapy could be DIY, and he is driven to spread the word.

About 3 years ago, he decided the way to do that was to get on the Oprah Winfrey Show. And how could he make that happen? A lot of ways, no doubt, but he chose one of the less obvious methods.

Steve collected a couple hundred Oprah Winfrey quotations. Then he hired 2 photographers to travel the world to photograph the greatest examples of beauty they could find. Then he had an assistant put the quotations together with the photos in coffee-table book form. They created a beautiful cover, listing Oprah as the author. Steve's plan is to simply give her ownership of the book as a gift.

Then, of course, he spent another gazillion dollars to have a couple dozen of these books printed. In hardback.

I have a copy. I can tell you, it is a beautiful, beautiful piece of work. If Oprah sees it, she will flip.

Ay! There's the rub!

So Steve came to me asking how to get this book directly into Oprah's hands. Considering all the money my crazy friend has spent on this project, and the terrific product he produced, I believe that's the least he deserves.

My first thought was to contact producers of her TV show. But she's been on a long time, and I've found dozens of names, and I have no way to figure out who is currently closely connected, or how to be certain I reach them.

And so my question for you is:

How would you get that book into Oprah's hands?

I appreciate any ideas.

Thanks,

Richard Dennis

[MMacGillivray]

Well, you might try a couple of ideas -

• The Oprah Book Club - http://www.oprah.com/community/community/obc - suggest the book for inclusion in this
• This is the last edition of the show - https://www.oprah.com/ownshow/plug_f...ml?plug_id=216
• Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey
• Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/theoprahshow
• Oprah's California Ranch - Winfrey currently lives on "The Promised Land", her 42-acre (170,000 m2) estate with ocean and mountain views in Montecito, California. Winfrey also owns a house in Lavallette, New Jersey, an apartment in Chicago, an estate on Fisher Island, Florida, a house in Douglasville, Georgia, a ski house in Telluride, Colorado, and property on Maui, Hawaii and Antigua. Her base during filming of Winfrey's show is Chicago, so she spends time in the neighborhood of Streeterville.

Best wishes for this very unusual quest.

Margaret

Margaret,

I'm doing a "short list" of our first promos. I especially like your Oprah's Book Club idea. So does Steve.

Thanks so much for your help on this.

Richard

[Ankesh]

Thats an awesome idea to win attention!

Couple of ideas...

Direct approach:
Oprah has a message board. She may not read the posts over there - but pretty sure a good post over there will be noticed by people who can deliver the message to her.
http://www.oprah.com/community/mb_list_landing.jspa

There are 152 people on linkedin who say they work at HARPO.
http://www.linkedin.com/company/harpo-productions
Try and get in touch with them.

(And if you really want to go the extra mile - hire someone to find out the addresses of all these 152 people. And mail them a copy of the book with a letter.)

Indirect approach:
Make a list of the last 20 guests on the show. Search for them online. You may find someones email address or a twitter a/c. Get them to put you in touch with a producer of the show.

Hey Richard,

Here's the Exact contact information including her Agent details etc. that'll Get you in Direct connection with Oprah...

His name is Kevin Huvane and he lives in California. You can write directly to Kevin at: Kevin Huvane, Creative Artists Agency, 2000 Avenue Of The Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067. Or call him at: (424)-288-2000. Just remember that if Kevin is very likely an extremely busy man, so unless your later can make a very good case for him to pass on your message to Oprah, it's likely to get ignored. So make it short and powerful - and capture his attention at the very start of the letter...

The Key Focus now is Getting in contact and Delivering the "Winning" conversation that (Get's) that Special invite and Appearance you Know where With Oprah and Company...
http://www.ehow.com/how_5094308_emai...y-noticed.html

By the way...

Also! ... Don't Totally disregard the Tons of other Celebrities...

Many that Might just be Glad to Listen to your "Winning" message and Help get you Much more well Connected with that Ongoing Talk Show circuit and Travels...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_talk_show_hosts

All the best...

Phil

Phil,

Wow. The agent's mailing address is perfect for our plan.

Thanks so much.

Richard

Hi Richard,

Just finished watching an [Awesome] Special...

Regarding: A Marketing Puzzle For You answered! ...

And thought of your Hunt for Oprah connections...

Those who missed the Special, I'm sure will Also enjoy, Especially the Ongoing Success stories after appearing on Oprah and How it all Happened...

CNBC The Oprah Effect:

If you're still interested in Oprah related Brands and Oprah's Growing network as Oprah get's ready for Life after Oprah! ...

Either catch the following Oprah special on CNBC re-run or repeats...

Or through Susan Harrow...
http://www.prsecrets.com/6opraheffect_long_vid.html

Also maybe consider...
http://www.prsecrets.com/store/the_o...super_kit.html

All the best...

Phil

Phil,

Thanks. That Susan Horrow link has a lot of good info. Definitely moves us forward a couple squares.

I have found 2 real good possibilities so far for that Oprah connection. Weird ... one of them is Noreen, who used to sit in front of me in homeroom in high school. She just put together our 50-year junior high class reunion. If you keep telling people what you want, you run into stuff.

Also ... Oprah & HARPO Productions have an interesting policy. They accept delivery of no fan mail and no packages of any kind. Anything they get is immediately returned to sender. And you can't call up and talk to anyone there unless you have an actual name. I'm sure there's some key to unlock that puzzle, but I haven't found it yet.

Again, thanks for Susan Horrow.

Richard

[MMacGillivray]

Hi, Richard - how about going for the top -

http://www.oprah.com/packages/guest-book.html - there's an online guestbook for oprah

Also, Executives of Harpo Inc.

Oprah
http://investing.businessweek.com/re...tions ,%20Inc.

Two Presidents -

Also, http://investing.businessweek.com/re...t ions,%20Inc.

http://investing.businessweek.com/re...t ions,%20Inc.

According to Yahoo Biz -

http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/42/42591.html

Here's a video of some of the male production staff - some names on the video

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Men-of-Harpo-Video

I don't know how many will lose jobs with the end of the show - so you may have to be quick.

cheers
Mar

Margaret,

Wow - thank you. Those are terrific connections.

Funny you mentioned the top ... yesterday we talked with "the best friend of" the President of a cable network, a person who knows Oprah. We're optimistic this may be the connection that does it ... but I'm starting work on the ones you pointed out here, just in case.

Thanks,

Richard Dennis