The Day Steve Wilkos Came to PlattForm

I get a lot of odd/bizarre/quirky assignments here at PForm.  Imagine my surprise when I got a phone call last week from one of our PForm’s VPs:  “Hey, Michael … Steve Wilkos is coming in to the agency this Friday.  Can you please schmooze him and make him feel welcome since that’s sort of your thing?”

The weird part … that IS sort of my thing.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Wilkos is a protégé of Jerry Springer.  He started as the bald, badass bouncer on Jerry’s show.  He became such a fan favorite that he was given his own segment on Jerry’s dysfunctional program.  And it was that popular segment that convinced producers to give him his own show – now in its 6th season.

When Wilkos showed up, my co-workers were giddy, giggly and nervous.  Over the years I’ve learned celebs put their pants on just the rest of us mortals – so if you fawn over them too much they become skittish.  Plus, I’ve interviewed Mr. Springer himself – and he’s about as down to earth as anyone.  So I figured Steve’s disposition would be similar.

Fortunately – it was.  (Whew.)

Why was Steve at PForm, you ask?  It was a simple meet-and-greet.  We spend an unreal amount of $$$ placing TV commercials in his show.   If you watch any commercial break, likely 3 out of the 4 spots will feature our clients’ schools or colleges.  Steve was impressed, but not as impressed as when we showcased our “Top 5 Steve Moments”.  Each clip was more lurid than the last and he generously gave a brief synopsis of the snippets we flashed on the screen.

My favorite part of the afternoon was re-creating one of the more popular segments on his show, “Steve’s Mailbag”.  We had obnoxious, pre-written questions about our co-workers on note cards.  Steve was supposed to berate, chastise or mock the co-workers in the hot seat.  Instead, he ended up complimenting (read that: flirting with) all the girls and mugging to the audience.  Everyone ate it up with a spoon.

Steve’s show isn’t for everyone, mind you.  But it does make for some good afternoon TV viewing if you’re bored and/or want to make the phone ring for quality leads. 

And Steve is just like you would picture him on TV … larger than life, filled with bravado and ready to punch you in the throat if you lip off to him.

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