Loni's Story Helped Save Lives
Minnesota native's alarm clock tale inspired COPD patients to seek help
Traveling around the country with celebrities who I hired as spokespeople for various medical treatments was always interesting. None were more interesting than the five years I spent with the internationally famous beauty, Loni Anderson.
I had hired Loni in the summer of 1999 after I landed a major pharmaceutical company as a client for my newly formed public relations firm, Ruane Communications. Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), a German company with U.S. headquarters in Ridgefield, Connecticut, was best known for developing treatments for COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a respiratory disease most often developed from years of smoking tobacco. Loni’s parents were both of the World War II generation and heavy smokers. They both suffered from COPD and died from the complications brought about by the deadly lung illness.
I was very lucky to find her, or perhaps I should say, fortunate that her manager, Steve Sauer, contacted me to recommend her. At that time, I was reaching out via fax to a number of agents and managers who represented celebrities whom I thought would make a good spokesperson for the disease. My first fax went to Lauren Bacall’s agent, who called me back to educate me about Lauren’s fees.
“Yeah, Lauren won’t roll out of bed for less than a million dollars,” he informed me.
I replied, “Well, then please, don’t wake her.”
My next two faxes were directed to Raquel Welch and Julie Andrews. They apparently found there way onto the desk of manager Steve Sauer, who represented both stars. Shortly afterwards, I received a call from Steve who informed me that he had received the faxes and asked if I had considered Loni Anderson. I had not and Steve quickly filled me in on why she would be a perfect fit. From his description of her personal story, she sounded perfect. A few days later, I was on a plane to Los Angeles to meet with Loni and Steve for dinner.
Well let me tell you, when I met Loni, saw her in person for the first time, dumbstruck would be the appropriate description for my reaction as I stared in amazement at her beauty. Loni Anderson is an incredibly beautiful woman! I won’t even attempt to describe her magnificent looks, but add a photo or two on here to fill in the blanks for anyone unfamiliar with her.
It was amazing to meet a person with those God-given features. I thought about looking up to heaven to say, “Well done God! Very well done!” And when she spoke, well, God didn’t short-change her in that area as well. She has the most soothing voice, just wonderful!
Unlike Lauren Bacall’s agent, Steve Sauer was far more reasonable and we agreed upon a fair contract that would take us to five cities during our first year of work together, promoting COPD awareness through Loni’s personal story. And for BI’s main interest, we paired her with Dr. Dennis Doherty, who talked about Combivent as a safe and effective medication for COPD patients.
During nearly three decades of conducting public relations campaigns, I have worked with about four dozen celebrities. All worked hard, but none were more dedicated than Loni Anderson. She woke up at 3 a.m each morning to have her hair and makeup done, so she was camera-ready for her day of interviews. Each morning I waited to greet her in the lobby and when the elevator doors opened, there stood one of the most beautiful women ever to walk this earth. “Wow!” was always my reaction, which she appreciated. But there is no doubt that she was “Wow-worthy.” And that wasn’t just once, or twice, but every single time. Every elevator opening presented Loni in an eye-catching outfit or dress, her hair and makeup perfect, presenting a beautiful smiling face. “Wow!” for sure. Better than her spectacular looks however was the fact that she turned out to be a very nice and considerate lady, which I appreciated even more.
I was able to fill her schedule each day that we worked with TV, radio and newspaper interviews. Back then, her celebrity recognition was extremely high from all of the movies and television shows she starred in as well as the world-wide coverage of her split with ex-husband Burt Reynolds. She appeared on every TV news station in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami, during the first year of the COPD campaign.
She did a great job as a spokesperson, always communicated her story and key messages with perfection, and never complained. She told the story of growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota and hearing her father coughing for several minutes each morning, so badly that it became her alarm clock, waking her up concerned for his health. After he finally quit, she had the visual image of him continuing to reach into the pocket of his shirt for a pack of cigarettes that was no longer there. The reaching habit so ingrained into his mind, it was like a muscle-reflex.
Loni was the model spokesperson to be certain, generating more than 50 million media impressions for COPD and Combivent each year. The BI executives were quite happy with her efforts and invited her in to the Ridgefield headquarters to meet the CEO, Werner Gerstenberg. I was especially happy about that event since all of the employees attended to see the introduction of Loni. That major gathering placed a bright spotlight on my direct client, Elizabeth Garofalo, the lady who had the courage to green light the campaigns and opened the door to such great success. Elizabeth joined us on all of the media tours as well, so it was the five of us working to generate COPD awareness, while also sharing many laughs and memorable moments.
There are so many stories from those media tours. One in particular was life-changing. In May of 2003, we were in Seattle for a medical conference. Loni wanted to meet with Bob Flick, a man she had first met in 1963 at a movie premiere. Bob is a musician in the folk band, The Brothers Four. I had one of my staff set up the dinner meeting, which by all accounts was quite special. It was so special that Loni and Bob stayed in touch over the next five years and were married in 2008. I was very happy for Loni and Bob as they have built a life together over the past 13 years.
From that experience, I have to list Loni as one of my heroes, because she was literally the first celebrity who agreed to become a spokesperson for COPD, a disease that received very little media attention until our campaign was introduced. I don’t know if others had tried to secure a celebrity spokesperson up to that point, but I do know that she was the first. And she set the bar quite high, because she has a good story to tell and related it honestly and sincerely each time.
Her story reached more than 50 million Americans annually. The spike in Combivent sales following each media tour proved that COPD patients — many of whom are reluctant to seek medical attention for their chronic coughs and terrible congestion — were going to their physicians for help. The treatment they received allowed them to live with their chronic condition and avoid a life-threatening exacerbation. In other words, Loni Anderson efforts helped to save lives and is truly a Heroic Tale.