• by OMMA Magazine Writers , December 2, 2008

Remain calm, reader. As we write this from OMMA’s secret underground bunker (except for Editor Pollice, who is in seclusion at an undisclosed location) and gaze out at the destruction all around, we can’t help but think back to last year’s Survival Guide. As Laurie Petersen pointed out in this space back in the happy, carefree days of late 2007, it might seem presumptuous to engage in this sort of activity. For instance, who thought things would go so bad so quickly?

Our metaphor of needing a survival guide to make it through another year has become more or less a reality. The industries whose heads are above water now look around the room at their peers the same way the characters in the movie Scream looked at theirs at the end of the film, when they realized they were trapped. They all knew a serial killer was loose in the house, and they all knew the rules of the game: They’d be picked off one by one.

The breathless and yet arch media coverage brings to mind the old Faith No More song “We Care A Lot.” Remember Chuck Mosely singing, “We care a lot about disasters, fires, floods and killer bees, about Los Angeles falling in the sea.” No? Maybe you were listening to Bon Jovi.

The good news is that online marketing might be the least affected by the downturn. Put the “ROI” in rejoice. Amp up the search marketing services. Troubled companies will come to you.

But that doesn’t change the dark mood that permeates nearly every industry. The impending destruction playing in theaters, such as the end-of-days flick 2012 and the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still, are an apt metaphor for our collective psyche. This year’s Survival Guide, which we affectionately refer to as “The Meltdown Edition,” aims not only to capture the mood of the moment, but also to remind you that out of calamity comes true progress.

The Editors
editorial@mediapost.com