• by John Gaffney , September 3, 2002

Playing Offense: After several Labor Day weekend catch-up conversations with business friends and non-business friends, I am more convinced than ever that there are two personality types when it comes to dealing with an economic downturn. The first is the gopher. The gopher wants to sit this one out. The gopher type may have even moved to Paris to spend his or her dot-com fortune while waiting for this storm to pass. Nice work if you can get it. The other type is what I’ll call the Jason Kidd-type, (hypercompetitive guard for The New Jersey Nets). This type will chase business like tomorrow is a rumor. This type will “kick the darkness ‘til it bleeds daylight” (stolen from Bruce Cockburn). This type will not sit this one out, regardless of the odds against success. Myself, I’m trying to play like Jason Kidd.

Wanted: Jason Kidds: Which leads me to a quick housekeeping item. We received an overwhelming response to our Forecast 2003 registrations. There is still room, but it’s going fast. You'll need to register at www.mediapost.com/forecast. Once again, the theme of the day will be exploring the foundational changes in media, for better or worse. We have panels planned on consumer perceptions of advertising, cross-media, alternative marketing and an essential panel on the factors that will make 2003 a disaster or one for the books. It’s at the Yale Club, Wed. Sept. 25. That’s three weeks to go, folks.

Breast Practices: Just an idea. If CBS can turn “Green Acres” and “The Beverly Hillbillies” into reality shows, why not turn “The Anna Nicole Show” into a sitcom?