Earlier in the year, I was approached by a member of the sales staff asking me if I thought we should do a FlatMatt thing over the summer. People could go to our website and download their very own FlatMatt and take his picture at Yellowstone, the Parthenon, and Indiana Beach! I diplomatically said that that was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. See, her reasoning was that legendary WTHR weatherman Chuck Lofton had a Flat Chuck, so we could do a FlatMatt. Seriously...Why in the world would anyone take a paper doll with my likeness with them anywhere?
Um, No.
Fast forward to May 17th. It was the day before qualifications for the Indy500 , and Michelle Dials plopped down in my visitors chair in the Mix 102 studio. "What if FlatMatt came with us to the track tomorrow?"
"How about he didn't?"
It went on like that for some time. Eventually, she convinced me that FlatMatt could be a "thing". A really cool, fun, different, and exciting "thing".It just had to be done correctly... So, I went to my office, and I spent the majority of my Friday afternoon making a FlatMatt.
If you've never had the pleasure of making a paper doll with your own likeness...you're missing out...
The following morning Michelle and Phill headed to the track for the first day of qualifications. That morning Michelle sent me the first image of FlatMatt heading off an adventure..
When I received this picture, I knew that FlatMatt just may turn out to be a really cool, fun, different, and exciting "thing".
It didn't take long, but people were really catching on with the FlatMatt concept. I was getting randomly stopped by people at the store, gas station, my daughter's school...And they all wanted to ask about FlatMatt.
Remarkably, after less than a month from being born, FlatMatt would go global....3 English teachers from Logansport High School Jitka Nelson, Beth Myers, and Melanie Lang, are off to China...and they each have a FlatMatt in their possession...
So where will Flat Matt go? Who knows, but it'll be fun to find out!