It used to be that Media Relations was a game of phone tag, snail mail and riding the fine line between persistence and patience. Then the internet and email introduced PR pros to the future of the industry; to bloggers and same day coverage; eliminating the need for patience! OK, not completely... yet. Still, we happily let the fax collect dust; eagerly turned our backs on pens and paper and embraced online reviews. We tell newbies of the dark days when we would wait for the mailman to bring word from editors and the like.

Well thank god for email and FedEx, I say. But those services are old news. I'm more interested in what's next, or rather now for our industry. Lately I've noticed that a good percentage of my clients' online reviews use video to highlight product features. Not only is this media more engaging, in some circumstances it may bridge the gaps between consumer interest and purchase.

A great example of this is a new game by Fun Slides- Face-Off Frenzy PowerBand Hockey. The game itself can be converted into three sizes and is almost the size of a standard air hockey table fully extended, but the fact that FOF can be broken down and sold in a tiny package, causes confusion for consumers upon seeing it on the shelves of their local retailer.

So we arranged some FOF video reviews to show consumers the packaging versus the size of the actual game, how it's played and even stored, resulting in less confusion about what the game actually is, and more sales!

I foresee more and more of these types of reviews, especially as we continue to move away from print. The best part? You just need to know how to point a camera (like we did making my Carpet Skates video).

Gear Diary is a great example of a blog that uses these types of reviews. Just this week they posted a video review of Coghlan's LED Micro Lantern and Face-Off Frenzy. Thank you Gear Diary bloggers and all the others who follow suit! Here's to the future of coverage-