We Honestly Didn't See This Coming?

It's been almost impossible to pick a newspaper, watch a news or financial-oriented television program or network or even in many cases watch a local newscast, without seeing a report on the chaos that is wrecking Wall Street. While this is certainly a tragedy, one has to wonder why we didn't see it coming.

Because this blog isn't intended to be a financially-oriented outlet, I'll skip over all the arcana that's inherent in things like auction-rate securities, credit default swaps, etc. While all those things, in addition to housing certainly played a role, the elements involved aren't as important to note as the behavior.

Basically, what happened is that we all got swept up into euphoria over a trend that reality was really telling us wasn't based in fact and wasn't likely to hold up. Unfortunately, our society tends to be one that favors riding a wave until there's a big wipe out, which results in an end that's much more chaotic and has a much bigger impact on our economy and society. This trend was rooted in the fact that many of us, both businesses and consumers, were relying on assets for our economic well being that were either overvalued, improperly valued or suddenly had no market.

All of this is a symptom of our desire to concentrate on maximizing immediate returns, often at the expense of overall stability and long-term results. An examination of long-term financial trends after all this is over will likely show this crisis will rank at the top of near the top of all the nation's financial calamities.

At this point, you're probably saying "All that's fine, but how does this tie into PR?" I think our industry is exactly the same way and that basically the same behavior causes much more cyclicality than would otherwise occur. It's also important to note that until this crisis and the economic upheaval its causing in sectors far afield from finance is over, marketing budgets will be squeezed like they haven't been in more than a decade. This makes it all the more important for PR pros to clearly communicate the advantages the discipline presents over other forms of marketing and to specifically communicate with current and prospective clients regarding what can be expected in a PR program.

By using the current climate to once and for all alter the playbook that's come to dominate PR, we can put the industry in a position to better weather the next crisis that arrives.