Aaron Cushman

From “When Elephants Ski – The Publicity Stunt Is an Institution as American as, Well, the President by Peter Carlson   Washington Post Staff Writer  Saturday, May 1, 2004

 Aaron Cushman, is a legendary Chicago PR man and author of a 2003 memoir, “A Passion for Winning: Fifty Years of Promoting Legendary People and Products.” He’s talking about a shameless stunt he produced for Marriott hotels in the late ’70s. When Cushman learned that Marriott was planning to break ground for three new hotels in one day — in Kansas City, Denver and Newport Beach, Calif. — he figured he had to come up with something sensational, something spectacular, something stupendous. And he did.He chartered a DC-9 in Washington, filled it with reporters and cameras and flew to

Kansas City. There, the plane picked up local TV crews and took off again. While it circled the site of the future hotel, a lovely flight attendant dramatically walked down the aisle holding a purple pillow equipped with flashing lights and a plunger.”The lights were meaningless and the plunger was hooked up to nothing,” Cushman recalls. “She put the pillow in Mr. Marriott’s lap and he pushed the plunger.”

At that moment, the plane tilted on its side so the TV cameras could get a good shot as Marriott’s construction crew broke ground with a gigantic blast of dynamite. Boom!

The plane flew on, repeating the stunt over Denver and

Newport Beach — Boom! Boom!”It was a great stunt!!” says Cushman, now retired in

Florida but still speaking in multiple exclamation points. “We got unbelievable coverage!!”