Technology drives progress. The challenge is reinvention.
Another bit of technology and history is biting the dust: Movies on film. But shed no tears.
Paramount Pictures is notifying theater operators that, going forward, all its movies will be distributed in digital format only, as was its most recent release, The Wolf of Wall Street. Other studios are expected to do the same.
Did anyone not see this coming? What’s it mean? Not as much as it might seem.
Only the method of transmission is changing, as it has in the past and will in the future. Remember silent movies? Black and white film? VCRs?
For better or worse, movie content will remain the same.
(As one newspaper reader observed wryly of Paramount’s shift to digital: “Who cares? A piece of crap will still be a piece of crap.”)
Significant achievements occur in every era and should be treasured. But keep it in perspective. Those were different eras. Technology sweeps forward and carries society and industries with it — or leaves them behind.
Every industry undergoes change. The question is, How does it respond?
For the past decade-plus, the newspaper and magazine industry has been shaken to its foundation by the move from print to digital. Its monopoly as the source of news and opinion crumbled, and its entire business model was upended.
Printed news couldn’t keep pace with the immediacy of digital. Advertisers, who had been captives of newspapers and magazines, could now reach more eyeballs, more precisely and at less cost, through a multitude of digital means.
The print news industry stumbled. Hundreds of publications were shuttered or became skeletons of their former selves.
Similarly, the relationship with those who do Crisis & Reputation Management was reinvented, as it adjusted to dealing with “journalists” who often were a strident new breed of advocates, less interested in listening and more eager to express opinions — far more challenging.
But not dealing with them isn’t an option.
For a deeper glimpse into our world, see our book on Amazon, A Lawyer’s Guide to Crisis PR: Protecting Your Clients In & From the Media.
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You can reach Roger Gillott and Eden Gillott directly at 310-396-8696.
Gillott Communications is a Los Angeles-based public relations firm that specializes in high-stakes Crisis & Reputation Management with more than 50 years of expertise in strategic communications, corporate public relations, and working with the media.
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