There are several reviewed here, and thank goodness, they’ll be we’ll be bringing us more throughout 2009.

PUBLIC RELATIONS
If ever there was a business built to be counter-cyclical, it was crisis PR.
Gene Grabowski, senior VP of Levick Strategic Comm., said crisis has been good for business, and that 85% of the agency’s workload is made up of financial, litigation, issues-management and crisis work.

Financial assignments involve managing bankruptcies and messaging for companies that have gone under. While the PR industry still employs more people in media relations than in crisis management, bigger shops will benefit from the strength of their crisis and public-affairs departments, and perhaps from a few smaller-budget marketers ditching traditional advertising in favor of an often-cheaper marketing option.

U.S. PR-agency employment in June 2008 reached its highest point (52,300 jobs) since the 2001 recession.

CABLE TV, MARKETING CONSULTING
While we’re talking BLS stats, here are two other bright spots: cable TV and marketing consulting.

Cable employment in November reached a record high of 96,900 jobs, according to the data. Cable networks are doing comparatively well in a slumping ad market. Magna Global’s Robert J. Coen expects national ad spending on cable TV to edge up 1% this year vs. a 7.5% drop for broadcast networks.

Marketing-consulting employment hit a record 153,000 jobs in October. As marketers slash payrolls, companies have brought in the consultants on a project basis to chart a way out of this mess.

We are bombarded with forecasts of the foreboding future ahead… and, there are plenty of statistics, forecasts and analysis to support this. Is it the truth? We’re talking about the future! So, in regard to what we can do… We are creative marketers and it’s our job to be innovative and say what the future’s going to look like; quite often, not having much if anything to do with what’s going on in the present. WE DO IT ALL OF THE TIME!

Look at Terra Chips, When they launched their company in 1990, the thought of ever paying almost $7.00 for a bag of chips was unfathomable. They said they were worth 5x more than ordinary chips, and I remember the jokes well. Almost 20-years later, I am proud to be among the thousands of people who still agree, often!