Ferris Bueller Superbowl Ad. Genius.

Honda's Ferris Bueller Superbowl commercial is an act of advertising genius. 


It targets Honda's demographic nicely, kids who came of age in the 1980s. Ferris is our hero. When we feel nostalgic, it's the John Hughes movies we remember, and without seeing any research for myself I'm betting it's my generation most likely to purchase a Honda CRV.


The commercial features Ferris himself (aka Matthew Broderick) skipping a day of .... work. Watch it here. 


Will this make Honda's CRV the best-selling car of the year? Probably not (though I am not really up-to-speed on car sales and such), but they've hit Superbowl Ad gold: creating buzz before the game.


You're still here? Don't you have anything better to do? Get going, go. Watch the commercial. (and watch it til the end so you'll understand this reference.) 

Free PR Tip of the Week: Silence is Golden

In the wake of the Tiger Woods scandal, I’d like to give you a piece of public relations advice: shhhh.

It’s a natural inclination to try to fill silence, to defend ourselves against detractors, to make things right when we’ve done wrong … and generally say anything that pops into our head to fill an awkward lull in the conversation.

It’s an old reporter’s trick – they ask a question, the interviewee answers, and the reporter continues to look at them expectantly. Pay attention to what happens … the uninformed start jabbering because they cannot stand the silence. The smart ones just look back and keep their lips zipped.

So practice keeping your mouth shut. I find a great way to do this is to ask your kids a question, then just keep looking at them after they answer. Stare long enough and they’ll admit to stealing toys from Santa just to get you to stop looking at them.

Tiger, if you’re listening, decline the interviews. Quit making statements. Stay home and turn off your ringer. Trust me, someone else will do something stupid and the headlines will shift.

No News Is Good News

Today’s my first day back at my desk after a luxuriously news-free week at the beach, soaking up the rays and catching up on a few good books.

I say news-free, because here’s my typical working day: after stumbling out of bed and grabbing my first cup of coffee, I turn on the Today Show to see if Matt and Meredith are reporting any breaking news. Then I read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from front page to back (although not terribly carefully) to see what’s happening locally. Throughout the day I’ll check CNN.com and other news sites, and I browse trade web sites to see what’s new.

Part of my job is to pay attention to which reporters are writing what, and to spot any trends of which my clients need to be a part. I enjoy developing interesting story angles for reporters – especially when one of my clients can play a critical role as a source.

I’ll also admit to being endlessly amused by the antics of celebrities and politicians, and most enjoy sharing various shockers with my peeps (go ahead, ask my family where they first heard about Michael Jackson!) Plus newspapers offer fabulous stories like one I recently read in the Memphis Commercial Appeal titled “Murderous Hillbillies Descend on Memphis.” Top that for an eye-catching title.

But I am not going to kid you – it was nice to take a news break last week. I didn’t see the Today Show gang once. Never read the paper. Honestly, there was one day where I wasn’t even sure what day it was. That was kind of nice.

It seems nothing terribly important happened while I was away … but it’s sort of nice to be back in the news cycle today. So you can relax folks, because if news breaks, I am back on the case. If you’ll excuse me, I am heading to the bookstore to buy the last two weeks’ issues of the Atlanta Business Chronicle.