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PR Fuel: Same as It Ever WasWhen I received the CDs in the mail, I was more excited than I had been in months. Enclosed on the discs were the contents of a hard drive from a computer that I used from February 1996 to May 1998 - a digital history of a little more than two years of my life.There were email exchanges with long-lost friends, spreadsheets containing old NCAA basketball tournament picks and over 1,500 documents. Among those documents, I found a letter to Bell Atlantic about problems with an ISDN line, a proposal for the window procurement and installation at America Online's corporate headquarters, a scathing letter to an ex-girlfriend, a trip itinerary for a trip I never took, and the artwork for an album I released on my long-defunct record label. The folder including the latter document was the most intriguing because it contained hundreds of documents and correspondences from 1997 and 1998 related to my old business. Reading the documents, I was embarrassed by how much money I spent on certain things and how I ignored more pressing needs. I found the contract I signed with the public relations firm that I hired, as well as its monthly bills. I was also able to read the first press release I ever wrote, the emails ending the relationship with the PR firm, and my own futile attempts to drum up press. What I found most interesting after reading all this history was how much PR has changed in the past 11 to 12 years. Here are some of the big differences I spotted: Fax vs. Email: Back then, my PR firm was blasting out faxes to newspapers, magazines and radio stations. These days we blast out emails, but that could certainly change - and is changing to an extent - thanks to text-messaging, instant messaging, social networks, blogs and video sites. Online Media: A 300-person media list from mid-1997 included just three journalists whose primary job was writing for an online publication. Today, more than 30% of the journalists on my media list write only for online publications. The Death of Small Press Publications: One of the biggest PR coups we scored in 1997 was garnering a great review of a record in The Big Takeover, a fabulous bi-annual music magazine that luckily still exists. Sadly, virtually all of the other small press publications, most of them zines, are long gone. Some have been replaced by websites, but you can't pick up a website in a record store or in a club. I've got boxes of old zines, and those publications sold more product for me than any other piece of media. Long-Distance Charges: The funniest email exchange I found was between my PR firm and me. It was related to a billing argument over long-distance phone call charges. Long-distance calling was expensive then and there wasn't really any alternative. Today, we've got cellphones with flat-rate calling, business long-distance plans with flat rates and cheap VoIP. Websites With Frames: Using some modified software, I was able to reconstruct my company's original website. It was awful. The navigation was in a separate frame, the fonts were plain ugly and the images were of horrible resolution. For the time, however, the website was actually rather impressive looking. Such a website today would get you laughed off the web. This Email Thing: At one point, I asked my PR firm for a list of email addresses for journalists and record label personnel. The response? "We're trying to get a list together, but a lot of folks aren't into this email thing." I guess email wasn't ubiquitous in 1997. Can You Hear Me Now?: Speaking of ubiquitous, when I was making plans for a meeting on March 19th, 1996 at a recording studio, I was apparently informed by the other party that there was a payphone across the street in case they couldn't hear the buzzer. My notes stated, "Use payphone across street if no one answers." I swear I had a cellphone then. Didn't I? Contact Sheets: These days we send photos from our cellphone and text them to news agencies. Back then I was Fed Ex-ing contact sheets to my PR firm so they could take a look at some band photos. I think I still have a box of black & white "press-ready" photos somewhere. Burn Baby Burn: I spent two consecutive nights in early 1998 burning CDs and creating custom labels. Today I would just send someone a MP3 or point him or her to a band's MySpace page. As you can see, a lot has changed since my dead computer was last in action. Of course, a lot hasn't changed. Public relations has always been about a story to tell, an opinion to air or simply something to promote. It's about relationships and preparedness - and luck and missing out. The arguments I had with PR people then are the same ones I have with co-workers now, and the importance of PR has not waned. The nice thing about being able to relive a long-forgotten time is that you are given the opportunity to relearn from your mistakes and bask once again in your glory. Now, if only I could rewrite that press release where I misspelled "guitar." ___ P.S. If you ever want to see the magic a photographer can perform, look no further than the current issue of Forbes, which features of picture of yours truly: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0602/112.html
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