Boomerang

It’s almost Groundhog Day, and by Groundhog Day, I mean the entire winter holiday season.  We’re well on our way into the middle of the long, dreary months in which the nightly news and the morning paper are woefully full of stories that seem somehow familiar.  The last Saturday before Christmas, for example, will almost certainly bring a story about how retailers are grading the holiday shopping season.  Every such Saturday in my media memory has this story, so what should make this year any different?   

Wait.  Let me back up, because the season of Report, Rinse, Repeat Journalism began several weeks ago with the annual weeklong media fascination with Thanksgiving travel.  Never mind that it’s as predictable as the rising sun, and never mind that it’s not news – every year, the same stories.  This year the frenzy began on Friday the 16^th with ominous predictions of interminable airport delays and roads as clogged as Larry King’s arteries.   

Had Thanksgiving fallen on December 13^th, it would have been a whole different ball of wax, but fortunately for everyone concerned, the dreaded Nor’easter took Thanksgiving off (instead, we’re dealing with that mess right now).  Travelers enjoyed minimal flight disruption and reasonably clear highways at Thanksgiving because back on November 21^st the weather was practically perfect.  There were some nifty fixes put in place that helped the ease the expected rise in Thanksgiving air travel, but mostly it was the weather.   

Then we got sucked into the vortex of “Black Friday” stories, despite the fact that it’s the same b-roll of turkey-stuffed, bleary-eyed shoppers waiting in pre-dawn lines for commerce to commence.  So begins the annual blizzard of seasonal coverage that always culminates in the inevitable “After Christmas Sales/Returns” story that seem to now begin well in advance of December 26^th.   You know why?  Because there’s a critical distinction between what is termed “news” and what is termed a “story.”  A story without news is called evergreen.  News without a story is called the police blotter.   

In the calculus of PR, a great story + a unique personality + tangible news impact + the omnipresent “X-factor” somehow adds up to coverage.  But when it comes to annual events such as those mentioned above, the “pitch” is already half written, and the equation looks a little more like creativity + timing + “X-factor” = coverage.  Okay, that math is probably a little fuzzy (I’m a words guy, not a mathematician), but you get the idea. 

The key is to find a bit of personality and a new take on the story, even in the most predictable of events.  The sun will rise tomorrow.  It’s the mandate of PR teams everywhere to find a way to make that sunrise fresh and new, illuminating something we’ve never seen before.  As we wind down 2007, it’s a valuable exercise to crack open the 2008 calendar and let loose your creative juices in a mix of the inspired and the absurd.

Although it’s at its absolute zenith around now, the season of Report, Rinse, Repeat Journalism actually lasts a full 12 months.  The happy coincidence is that the season of Report, Rinse, Repeat PR occurs during the very same 12 months (ah, bliss!).  What gets us through the year is being supremely creative even within the confined space of canned, dried or otherwise prepackaged press opportunities.

Move over Facebook, enterprise software is about to steal your headlines. At least that was one prediction that came out of last week’s PRSA dinner at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. The theme of the evening, “What’s Hot and What’s Not in 2008” was a popular topic with PR pros and top technology reporters at the sold-out event. I couldn’t help but think that my colleagues in the room will be among the folks that will help establish these hot trends, companies, and technologies. And, who better to forecast emerging trends in the technology sector than the reporters whose job it is to separate hype from reality.

A panel of luminaries offered their perspectives on everything from Facebook overload to Google’s numerous product initiatives. The panel included the astute Victoria Murphy Barret of Forbes, the very musical Don Clark of the Wall Street Journal (his band “Off the Record” rocked the house), the very funny Jim Goldman of CNBC, the insightful Rob Hof of BusinessWeek, the omnipresent Robert Scoble of Podtech, and the rapid-firing Kara Swisher of All Things Digital.

For the most part, there seemed to be consensus that the looming US recession will have an adverse impact on technology. A few of the panelists commented that with the recession, the ever-popular advertising model that most Web 2.0 companies hang their hat on will no longer be enough to sustain them next year. Also predicted was the return to the limelight of heavyweights such as Microsoft, HP, Oracle and IBM, as consumer tech hype subsides a bit, more than likely a direct result of the recession. And when it was declared that “enterprise software will make a comeback in 2008” – the audience came alive and broke into fervent applause.

Sam Whitmore, everyone’s favorite confidant, was the dapper emcee of the evening while Ann Winblad was the composed and gracious panel moderator. A few more worthwhile panelist predictions for 2008:

Victoria: Consolidations will occur driven mostly by a dip in the stock market as companies ride it out. She also believes widgets will take off and be more ubiquitous.

Don Clark: Second Life will crumble and go away. Clean energy will be a big story next year.

Robert Scoble: He sees “live video” being a huge headliner next year and hopes that unified ID will finally take hold. He also commented that print media will get a huge boost from political advertising in 2008 but will suffer tremendously after the presidential election is over.

Jim Goldman: Yahoo will get acquired or at the very least be seen as an attractive purchase.

Rob Hof: The current technology environment will push more companies into the deadpool.

Kara: Hollywood will finally get digital and become more of a collaborator with technology companies and make entertainment more consumer friendly. She also sees online privacy and presence becoming more of a hot topic in the coming year.

Tom Foremski, an attendee at the dinner but who should have been part of the panel, offers his take on the event at SiliconValleyWatcher as does Brian Solis at Bub.blicio.us. For those of you interested in watching a video of it, our friends over at Podtech.net have captured the lively conversation.

Photo courtesy of Brian Solis - More photos from the event can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/briansolis/sets/72157603331062749/.