I was talking to a couple of PR friends about their difficulties attracting business within their agencies. Another one was telling me about potential layoffs taking place if they don’t get some business through their doors. With each of these conversations, I asked why they think these situations are taking place. Their answers were the same–”It’s the economy. People don’t want to spend now.”

That might be true–provided that the agencies where these people work don’t change how they operate. In trying economic conditions, successful firms will change how they do business–provide more virtual teams, adapt work processes to accept lower retainer fees, bill for performance as opposed to billing senior people over junior people. We are talking with companies who have PR counsel, but don’t like that they are not changing the way they do business. What’s more, they like that we can adapt to THEIR needs.

SMPR wants to get to a point where the only excuse we make is that we are already working at our capacity, and that we need to hire more people to meet it.

Will someone please tell the folks on Capitol Hill to stop using the terms “bailout’ or “rescue plan?” People get a false sense of security when they see what could be achieved, only to realize there is more pain on the horizon.

Our current economic conditions require neither a bailout or a rescue. They require ACTION. Define a solution and not spell out processes in order to get people to buy into what is happening on Capitol Hill.

For example, why not establish a guarantee that a home mortgage cannot be had without 20 percent down payment? It strokes a conversation, and puts some assurances to people that change can happen.

We just coordinated an interview for the CEO of Flat Top Grill (www.flattopgrill.com) that is slated to run in the Chicago Sun-Times in the coming days. The crux of the story–authored by Sandra Guy–is about how restaurants in the city of Chicago are dealing with the increased tax of restaurants in Chicago, on top of the sales tax hike recently enacted by the Stroger administration.

Discussions around this story got me thinking about how the city of Chicago might wish to consider raising revenue in a downward economy. At SMPR, we advocate learning from other business models and industries to provide insight on how to do things differently. So let’s throw an idea out there, courtesy of sports stadiums, corporate branding and buzz marketing.

Here is the ultimate sponsorship initiative–rename the city of Chicago, with the assistance of the world’s foremost authority on Internet search.

Chicago + Google = ChicaGoogle

What a way to attract Olympic officials for 2016!!! Mr. Daley, Mr. Brin, Mr. Page, are you there? Has one company or group ever gone as so far to “buy” a city? Kim Basinger paid $20 million for a small town in Georgia in 1989, but not even her (ahem) star power could be as powerful as Chez Google.

Is this idea farfetched? Sure. But raising taxes for Chicago restaurants to 11+ percent seemed like a pipe dream, too–and look where we are now.