Since Wednesday of this week, tweets from a person known only as FakeBMorrissey (FBM, on the AgencySpy ticker) have trickled through Twitter’s unending stream of useful, semi-useful and useless remarks. Those following the real Brian Morrissey (RBM), know that this uber-important AdWeek digital editor and journalist has a propensity for talking about things like how much mayonnaise is on his sandwich and the number of Starbucks that will close in Manhattan.
But amid the complaints, as true as they may be, one person has found room far the kind of satire that the limp-necked advertising industry needs. Well, we shouldn’t say advertising is the only area of interest; there’s always the running world, too.
We got the chance to speak with the anonymous author, and learned a bit about what it’s like to put words in the mouth of the man who’s responsible for tweets like, “think that’s only the second dutch update i understood. smaaklijk,” and “never gotten shoe shine. something asbout it seems wrong.”
We contend that, when it comes to shiny wingtips, there is no wrong. More from the “interview” after the jump.
First things first, FBM assures us that he/she is not RBM. “Well, I’m not BMorrissey,” FBM said. “Well, the real one anyway. Although, how bad ass would it be if real bm set up the fakebm account?”
“Really bad ass,” I replied.
MATT: OK — so your motivation is clearly…fill in the blank. I have my thoughts, but don’t want to put words in your mouth.
FBM: Well, the motivation is pretty simple. Brian Morrissey is this really smart, very influential person in the ad industry. But, at the same time, he can be someone’s worst nightmare. He tweets about the stupid shit that people say to him on the phone. He tweets about random people on the street. He had 2 tweets (!) about how much mayonnaise was on his sandwich. I don’t want it to be making fun of BM, it’s more of a caricature of BM.
MATT: Do you think his tweets are affecting people’s perception of him as a journalist?
FBM: No, not at all. He’s a great journalist, and he’s still the top guy in the ad industry. (It’s) just (that) a lot of people have noticed that 90 percent of his tweets are complaints. So, this is all lighthearted.
MATT: have you ever met the RBM?
FBM: No comment, that could give me away. Haha. I did like your article on mediabistro. That’s part of the reason I re-activated the account.
MATT: So you meant it t be a 1-day thing?
FBM: No, I wanted it to be longer.
MATT: Are you aware of the lesser-known but still snarky FakeBMorrissey2?
FBM: Yeah, he/she follows me. But I think I do a better RBM impression.
MATT: Are you two in cahoots?
FBM: No, promise. But, I actually thought about publicly posting the FBM account password so anyone could log on and contribute. (ed’s note: the account info has not been posted publicly.) But, I do like some of your suggestions for FBM posts.
MATT: Sweet. OK seriously though, what the hell does twitter do for Morrissey? In your opinion…Whoever you are.
FBM: I don’t know why Morrissey Twitter’s as much as he does. Any time he solicits suggestions for articles, he always bitches about PR people following up.
MATT: Well I have to defend him there — journalists and PR people…not a lot of love there.
FBM: Oh, I know. And I agree, PR tactics vary from agency to agency, so it’s hit-or-miss.
MATT: Personally I am not a flack fan — but I did speak with the nice ladies at Fallon MPLS yesterday and they charmed the shit outta me.
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