This recent story about Greece made me think.
Apparently some folks in Greece are by-passing the Euro and/or the Drachma and using a currency they created call Tem, which is used to barter for goods and services.
It made me wonder what would the value of PR be in such a system?
I suspect at first the system would be built on small operations. Families or individuals selling a specific good or service. Then over time, those who were most successful would end up with surplus 'Tem' which they would probably use to buy other small vendors, forming a corporation of sorts.
At this point, to grow market share they would need to develop a brand. In order to develop said brand, they would need to communicate with their stakeholders. This would mean positioning their offering, extolling the benefits to customers and managing negative events that could damage their brand - in essence they would be engaged in PR.
But would PR have a role in the beginning stages? Probably not.
Or perhaps it would. Perhaps PR folks would barter their services in exchange for goods and services and actually be the deciding factor in which of these nascent businesses flourished. Perhaps they would be the 'king makers' in such a marketplace.
But they could just as easily find themselves left out in the cold.
They would definitely have to generate the business as small barter businesses would be hard pressed initially to see the value in giving you say bananas in exchange for helping them develop and promote a brand. They would more logically want to barter their bananas in exchange for something they physically need, say home renovations or apples or a mule, you get the point.
Either way though, I think it would be a fascinating world to live in for a while. A much more personalized form of business that would play well to PR's core principles.
Anyway, just food for thought. If Bernanke does QE3 and QE4 and QE5 and successfully destroys the US dollar (and by association all world currencies) we may all be living in a barter system soon.
Apparently some folks in Greece are by-passing the Euro and/or the Drachma and using a currency they created call Tem, which is used to barter for goods and services.
It made me wonder what would the value of PR be in such a system?
I suspect at first the system would be built on small operations. Families or individuals selling a specific good or service. Then over time, those who were most successful would end up with surplus 'Tem' which they would probably use to buy other small vendors, forming a corporation of sorts.
At this point, to grow market share they would need to develop a brand. In order to develop said brand, they would need to communicate with their stakeholders. This would mean positioning their offering, extolling the benefits to customers and managing negative events that could damage their brand - in essence they would be engaged in PR.
But would PR have a role in the beginning stages? Probably not.
Or perhaps it would. Perhaps PR folks would barter their services in exchange for goods and services and actually be the deciding factor in which of these nascent businesses flourished. Perhaps they would be the 'king makers' in such a marketplace.
But they could just as easily find themselves left out in the cold.
They would definitely have to generate the business as small barter businesses would be hard pressed initially to see the value in giving you say bananas in exchange for helping them develop and promote a brand. They would more logically want to barter their bananas in exchange for something they physically need, say home renovations or apples or a mule, you get the point.
Either way though, I think it would be a fascinating world to live in for a while. A much more personalized form of business that would play well to PR's core principles.
Anyway, just food for thought. If Bernanke does QE3 and QE4 and QE5 and successfully destroys the US dollar (and by association all world currencies) we may all be living in a barter system soon.
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