Remember the tech bust in 2001? How about stagflation back in the 1970's? The WaPo laments that, "Unfortunately, the Fed shows signs of overreacting to these pressures and repeating the great blunder of the 1970s." See The Specter of Stagflation. There's more dismal news in BusinessWeek and the AP.
I believe it's time to hunker down because we're fixin' to go on a wild ride. And I'm certain that what lies ahead will make the bust of aught 1 look like an old ABC After School Special.
Here's my torrid take on the bust:
While the VC money flowed like wine back during the dot com boom, [...] I noticed that the pace of hiring and firing accelerated as the dot coms flailed about in desperate attempts to raise revenue. While the repo man banged on the door to collect the ping pong tables and the Herman Miller Aeron chairs, many a PR professional had Security stand guard over them as they packed their belongings. Then, to paraphrase “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg, I saw the best minds of public relations destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the sushi streets of San Francisco at dawn looking for a job. (See Howl.com for a better version.)
Back in 2001, I saw the streets of San Francisco turn into a George Romero film as thousands of howling PR people got pink slipped. I too, was one of the unemployed, the laid-off undead. First, Security came for the PR people. Then the advertising people. Then finally, the remainder of the marketing department.
Here's a prediction: Forget stagflation, now we're in for flackflation. And it's going to smack into the PR industry like a ten ton meteor.
Woe be on to you, those that aren't prepared for what is coming next. Recession, inflation and a dying mainstream media are the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse. If $100 a barrel oil prices is the fourth guy on horseback, then we will all be bicycling to client meetings. I predict that in less than five years public relations -- as it's practiced now -- will cease to exist. Instead, PR will morph into almost exclusively a social media pure play.
Here's how to recession proof your PR agency with social media.
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