The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) was holding a meeting, dubbed “What Gives a Magazine Buzz?.” It was a prestigous panel: Glamour Editor in Chief Cindi Leive moderated the panel that comprised of Keith Blanchard, editor in chief of Maxim; Amy Gross, editor in chief of O, The Oprah Magazine; and Stuart Zakim, a spokesman for Wenner Media, which publishes Rolling Stone and Us Weekly. Stuff magazine’s editor in chief hired some “little people” to cause some trouble at the meeting. To quote the article I got this from, “The pint-sized pranksters started setting their cell phones off every few minutes and coughing and tearing open bags of potato chips, which they munched loudly throughout the panel discussion. Finally, Cindi Leive, the moderator, got up and said to one of them sitting in the front row, ‘If you don’t turn off your cell phones, you’re going to be asked to leave.’ And he said, ‘You’re just saying that because I’m a little person!’ Then Cindy said, ‘No, no. I’m a little person, too!'” Then the midgets started peppering the panel with questions. One asked O editor Gross, “When are Stedman and Oprah getting married?” Another simply bellowed, “Rolling Stone sucks!”
The moral of the story, according to the Stuff editor? “The moral of the story is that to get ‘buzz,’ you’ve got to do something unexpected.” And I agree. Talking about generating the buzz is nothing like actually getting it, which is why Stuff is so popular.