Paul Wilmot

Random Thoughts From the Recession

We can look back on 2008 and the “annus horriblus,” and they tell us now that the recession actually began in 2007. I find that almost amusing, because I know how I felt and how things were last year, and gentle readers, it doesn’t seem remotely similar. Last year we bought things that weren’t on sale, we might have spent a little more on a friend’s birthday present and we sure as hell didn’t fell guilty about shopping at a good department or specialty store.

Now we are all too painfully aware of the carnage that has gone on in real estate, the auto industry and in fashion and accessories. Of course the number one issue are the people who have lost their jobs and many times most of their net worth if it was tied up in the firm that employed them which has lost most or all of its value. The second issue is that there is so much inventory out there and in order to get liquid everybody is slashing prices…but still countless numbers of cars, dresses and handbags sit out there unsold.

So for those of us who haven’t lost everything, just how do we carry on? For work, well you had better be playing your “A game” and offer the best you can, which in our case means giving our public relations clients the best service, follow through and proactive attention to their businesses that we can muster.

Personally, this is where the “meat loaf chic” comes in. It is simply out of step to flaunt spending for travel, dining out or buying disposal items that are expensive. However that doesn’t mean that we have to throw all quality life out the window. Me? I have been entertaining at home a lot and I make a mean meatloaf (”Joy of Cooking” by Irma Rombauer). Man, it is good with chopped bacon, horseradish, some cream, green pepper and a bunch of other tasty ingredients. I serve it with mashed red potatoes with fresh chopped chives and fresh baby peas cooked “al dente”. I can feed eight for under $20. However, with that I serve a Robert Mondavi Merlot that is about $22 a bottle. For dessert I make Zabaglione, which is basically, egg yolks, sugar and marsala wine whipped up at the last minute over a double boiler with some fresh berries tossed in (Julia Child, “The French Chef)…10 bucks tops for eight people.  Let’s say we drink four bottles of wine…I’ve fed eight for under $120 and you ought to hear the raves as people are hugging and thanking me on the way out the door. The food is cheap but the wine is still decent.

I just got a new car. The lease was up on my Mercedes and I bought a leftover 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe. It is some kind of beautiful. It has every option you can name…an amazing sound system, GPS, sunroof, leather interior and I even went for the 22′ wheels. It is going to be a great ride and not only did I get 22% off sticker, it will be less than the cost of the buyout on my three year old Benz if I had chosen to go that way. I bought American, which I have to say, pleases me no end and I got a great deal… It’s as American as apple pie and meat loaf.

The point to all this is we can spend but spend wisely, not ruin the quality of life we’ve worked so long to achieve and actually enjoy new experiences that embrace what has to be the wisdom of our time. Enjoy yourself but put some damper on it pal. This is not 2006.

PW

So I am going to be writing a blog three times weekly that will chronicle some of our travels, tell some stories gathered over the 35 years I’ve been doing this, offer some observations along the way and happily react to whatever questions or statements you might care to contribute.

I like to write and I like to summon past experience in the running of our company Paul Wilmot Communications. Hopefully I may inform along the way, amuse sometimes but most of all appreciate the opportunity to have a voice to express opinions I may have (oh hell I’ll have a lot of them…can’t help myself) along the way.

Twelve years ago almost to the day in 1997 we opened Paul Wilmot Communications. I was finishing a six-year run at Conde Nast Publications where I had been Corporate Vice President for Public Relations for the company. As a going away present the art department on the publishing side of Vogue designed our PWC logotype and it’s the one we still use today.

We found space in the form of a 4700 square foot floor loft on Avenue of the Americas at 17th Street in an old building that had been the offices of the music visionary, Bob Giraldi who was best known for producing the Michael Jackson music video, “Thriller” some years before. The place was a wreck and while we occupied temporary space on West 28th Street we completed the renovation here and moved in February 1997. I think we had a compliment of 12 people at the time and we were thrilled with what the open loft afforded with high ceilings, cream walls, light carpeting and filled with a treasure trove of mid century Knoll furniture I stumbled on in a warehouse in Long Island City. Wendy Goodman did an interiors piece for New York Magazine on the offices and we were off in a dash.

Most of us were a youngish group of people out of college a few years and some right out of school. We began developing magazine editor relationships and got to know broadcasters and newspaper writers and editors mostly in the fashion, accessories and beauty areas.

In a short three years we found we needed more space and were able to take the next floor above us and double our size to almost 10000 square feet, which continues to be our home today. With almost 40 people in the office we have enjoyed steady growth both in terms of clients and headcount over the dozen years we have been around. This past September a majority stake in the agency was acquired by Fleishman-Hillard, the venerable St. Louis based public relations firm and wholly owned subsidiary of media giant Omnicom.

But that is only the nuts and bolts of what has happened. During this time we have witnessed and been a part of the most dynamic and explosive growth in media that has occurred since, in my opinion television came on the scene. During this period of course there has been a proliferation of television channels and shows mostly on cable. Everything has gone global, so if you have a profile as a celebrity in film or music, have a fashion line or even market cosmetics, chances are you are known all over the world through celebrity publications, television following red carpet and awards shows and truly through the “elephant in the room”, the internet.

Now anyone reading this doesn’t need much of a tutorial about the internet. It’s just faster, reaches more and has a greater daily impact on peoples’ lives than all the other media combined. And the way for all of us in the business of public relations to stay relevant is to not only to look for digital and online opportunities for our clients but also to do what I am initiating here, joining the community.

Later everybody.

PW