Wired: I'm a Geek Cover Boy

Old timers like me back in high school will remember Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show's novelty song "The Cover Of The Rolling Stone" written by Shel Silverstein.

Whether it was tongue-in-cheek, brilliant marketing, honoring a bet or a dare, the group made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine three months later on March 29, 1973. The text next to their picture read: "What's Their Names Make The Cover."

The Cover Of The Rolling Stone

Well we're big rock singers we got golden fingers
And we're loved everywhere we go
We sing about beauty and we sing about truth
At ten thousand dollars a show
We take all kinda pills that give us all kinda thrills
But the thrill we never know
Is the thrill that'll gitcha when ya get your picture
On the cover of the Rolling Stone

Chorus:
Gonna see my picture on the cover
Gonna buy five copies for my mother
Gonna see my smilin' face
On the cover of the Rolling Stone

Later that same year, Todd Rundren's album "A Wizard, A True Star" came with a postcard asking for your name. Bearsville Records (Warner Bros) created a poster with all the names sent in. The poster was included in the record release of "Todd" - a 2' x 3' b/w head shot of Todd Rundgren himself, made with the names who sent in their postcard! My name is somewhere on his lower right jaw line. One day, I'll find the poster which is somewhere in my attic in a box underneath other boxes.

Thirty four years later, for a techno geek like myself, I responded to a Wired Magazine and Xerox subscriber inquiry to upload a jpeg for a custom July issue mailed directly to my mailbox:



This integrated marketing campaign was in response to Wired's July cover story on the future of personalization. All I had to do was submit my photo in time to be one of the first 5,000 Wired subscribers to participate.

Unfortunately, I can't buy five copies for my mother, but standing at the intersection of narcissism, staying humble, digital technology and interactive marketing, I can say with all due respect "I now know the thrill that'll gitcha when ya get your picture on the cover of Wired Magazine."

(I'll throw this in a box and look for it thiry four years later!)

For more, see NY Times article