Pitch perfect media interview by Hyundai CEO

For an example of a corporate spokesman giving a great media interview, check out the interview of Hyundai CEO John Krafcik on All Things Considered last week. Krafcik was on NPR to tout Hyundai's Assurance Plan, under which consumers can return the car during the first year if they lose their job.

The write-up doesn't do it justice. You really should click on the link and listen to it. These NPR interviews are one of the few places we can hear spokespeople being interviewed with minimal editing, and it is often very instructive.

Among the things I like about this interview:

• Krafcik is relaxed and conversational, but he never loses his professional demeanor


• He is facile with facts and figures and has many to share


• He's self-deprecating and honest: in response to a question about whether the company might "take a bath" with this program, he says, "well, we're only 3% of the U.S. auto market," implying that they are too small to have this program sink them


• He doesn't engage in double-talk or corpo speak. He's clear and direct. Of course, his audience is consumers, so he has to be, but that hasn't stopped some spokespeople I've heard from being unintelligible.