Crazy and fun still sells.

Two industry headlines in this morning's AdMall Minute email serve as great reminders that anything is possible in advertising. Both reference recent stories in Advertising Age magazine.

First, and most timely, is Richard Sherman. At this point even the most sleepy non-football fan is likely aware of the Seattle Seahawk's TV tirade following his team's win last Sunday, punching their ticket to the Super Bowl. This pro-wrestling-meets-Darth Vader rant featured a deep cutting insult aimed at San Francisco 49er receiver Michael Crabtree, a "mediocre" player according to Sherman (who also pointed out that he himself is the best at what he does).

True? Who knows. Rude? Definitely. Inappropriate? Not according to national, big-label marketers who want to cash in on Mr. Sherman's streaking notoriety. According to the story, this is what many marketers hope for: an opportunity to ride a huge wave in the middle of an ocean of hype that is the Super Bowl. Cha-ching for Richard Sherman and his entourage of agents and advisors. Underneath the surface of this sometimes angry athlete is a very smart and savvy man. This was no accident.

Local advertising lessons: non-criminal crazy behavior by the suddenly famous can be an opportunity to latch on to. The key is to move fast and grab the wave while it's there. Super Bowl size events probably don't happen in your market so look for opportunities that do occur that you can squeeze for ad dollars.

Second is a humorous account by writer Sally Abrahms whose husband happens to be a dead ringer for "the most interesting man in the world." You know who he is..."Bigfoot once took a picture of him!" He "doesn't always drink beer, but" when he does he prefers you probably know what. The look-alike's life is full of sightings and folks who want their picture taken with him. Probably a mixed blessing. The point of the story, though, is the opportunities created for mature models and spokespeople as the gracefully aging population buys more goods and services than ever before.

Local advertising lessons: know your market, know your audience and use appropriate models, terminology and scenarios to entice them.

Selfish reasons for this: if you're an FCPNY member, use your AdMall. It's a tremendous member benefit, full of data and information. It's paid for by selling CPAN network ads, especially ClassifiedsNY ads. When you sell these ads, we keep benefits like AdMall, CVC Audits, training, conferences and more flowing to you. If you don't sell the ads those benefits and your edge in the local marketplace go away. And we all know that once you lose something good, it seldom returns.

Need help with network ads, AdMall or local opportunities? Call me at 877-275-2726 or email me at tcuskey@fcpny.com and I will do all I can to assist you. Thank you!

New beginnings

Happy New Year! I attended a worship service on New Year's Day and the presider gave a wonderful homily about being granted opportunities to start over. He opened with a cute story about a man who started each day with a review of the local obituaries. Finding his name among the obits one morning, the man called the newspaper editor to complain. After taking an earful of grief from the caller, the editor promised to make it up to him by including his name the next day among the listing of new births. "We'll give you a whole new beginning," he told the man.

Hopefully neither you nor I want to go back that far, but it is nice to get a chance to make a fresh start in any aspect of life. Taking advice from the same preacher, we should do the following before making resolutions:

1. Examine the past -- where are you coming from? You can do it anytime but the New Year is a nice time to restate your personal credo. What do you stand for? What few words describe your ethics, your beliefs and your values? What experiences -- both in the past year and in life generally -- need to be processed and evaluated as you move forward?

2. Identify the present -- where do you stand today? This is the transition moment. You've looked back and now you're turning your head to the future. Don't try moving forward while still looking back; you'll surely bump into something or trip and fall if you do, maybe even hurt yourself. Look ahead and identify where you want to go. The homily included another story. The great Mickey Mantle was walking one afternoon in New York City to Yogi Berra's apartment. Getting lost on the way, he stopped at a payphone and called Yogi. "Where are you now?" Yogi asked. "On the corner of 5th and Main," replied Mantle. In keeping with his well-known style Berra then said, "Great, just keep coming this way!" and then hung up. Moving without a destination in mind leads to wandering and squandering of time, talent and treasure. Know your destination before moving forward.

3. Chart the course and evaluate frequently -- once you start moving toward an objective you need to regularly measure where you are. Is the course you charted getting you to the destination you want? If not, re-chart and move in the new direction. Don't abandon the goal, even if you have moved farther away than you were when you started. You can still get there and, with the right outlook, might even enjoy the longer than expected ride.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and fruitful year and beyond. Drop us a note at tcuskey@fcpny.com or call 877-275-2726 if we can be of help to you.