Alta Fox Proxy Fight

 

After my interview with a reporter from NPR for a story about the proxy battle brewing inside of Hasbro (See FCBD Rating Problems, Hasbro Responds to Alta Fox), I came away learning one thing and getting reminded of another:

1)      Reporters spend a whole lot of time talking with their interviewees and only a fraction of the material discussed appears in the story. The reporter, Wailin Wong, and I spent just under an hour discussing Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, Dungeons and Dragons and the proxy battle Alta Fox has brought seeking seats on Hasbro’s board. From that material, only about 45 seconds worth made it into the actual story. Wong said, when I asked after listening to the story, that was not atypical. She had conducted 2 hour interviews for Planet Money with only a fraction of the material making it into the published work.

2)      Everybody, and I mean Everybody, likes to talk about their characters. One of the reasons Wong asked to get assigned to this story is that she plays D&D so, of course, we spent several minutes discussing her 5^th level druid and my 3^rd level cleric.  Everyone likes talking about their character and their adventures. However, unless you are well acquainted with them, do not do so in stores with the store staff. Not everyone is as fascinated with your character as you are, and the staff cannot readily walk away (See Did You Know People Still Play Boardgames).

I    Incidentally, the attempt by Alta Fox to put three of its nominees on the board was, as Hasbro put it, "soundly defeated".

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