Thanksgiving Holiday Media Observations

A big story over the holidays:

Holiday traffic and the inevitable cliches :

- Interview with the distressed traveller in front of the long check-in line or TSA line at a major airport … Whining about delays…then an older couple staying calm...and the Reporter talking about the heavy traffic expected and delays with the "be sure to call your airline and arrive early" …  a few basic tips for clearing TSA and stock film of a 737 takeoff and the departure board monitor…

Other than the SAME format for the story on every station, that’s been used for 40+ years, there’s an opportunity to tell these stories differently. 

…and of course lines forming at gas stations with heavy comments on the gas prices…and insane crowds at a big box stores.  I’m guessing this year we’ll see a lot of photos of backed up freight too

The point: This is media autopilot at its best… when it’s not hard to make these omnipresent stories interesting and informational in totally new ways that can lead to a rethink that breaks the cliche cycle. 

BONUS CLICHE!-

Christmas' #1 advertising cliche: Changing the lyrics of Christmas songs to a product sell. Last year I  counted scores of versions of Deck The Halls  and other seasonal classics with lyrics changed to pitch products--  OK...kinda clever,  but now EVERYONE is doing it and the clever becomes 'enough already.”