How Tragedy Affects the Marketing Business World

Yvonne Bianchi
Bellingham Business Journal
October 2001

The events of September 11th have changed how business is being conducted for just about all of us. Perhaps even more so in the marketing, advertising and design industry, as marketing people around the world - and here in Bellingham - grapple with the immediate need to assess the "appropriate-ness", or lack thereof, of currently running or planned promotions.

And it doesn't stop there. Not only are marketing messages being called into question, so are actual products in the marketplace.

The most obvious example, of course, is occurring in the entertainment business. TV programmers are still working feverishly to alter the content of season premieres. Ellen DeGeneres's new show, "The Ellen Show", made reference to a business "collapsing". A character replies, "I'm glad I wasn't there at the time". A new CIA drama dropped footage of an exploding plane. A miniseries on bio-terrorism has been yanked. Networks are going so far as to review credit sequences showing the "old" New York skyline. Even Homer Simpson got nabbed. A scheduled rerun was pulled because it contained a scene in which Homer parks a car in front of the World Trade Center. And we've all heard that several movies slated for release this fall have been pulled due to content that, in our new world, hits too close to home.

How has the tragedy affected advertisers?

If your business was scheduled to run any broadcast advertising the week of September 11th, it probably didn't. Because ALL advertising on television, and most on many radio stations, was pulled. Ad campaigns in Bellingham and around the world, along with regularly scheduled programming, were put on hold, which of course was the correct thing to do, despite the corresponding portent of economic pressures.

Once the networks resumed a more regular schedule, advertising messages that did play were dramatically different. In fact, they weren't "commercials" at all - instead, they were like mini-movies, playing an integral part in the necessary healing of our wounds. They did this by each essentially saying the same thing: "I am here, I am safe, I am unbowed, and if we stick together we will prevail because of our amazing spirit".

While these messages will continue to play, we will eventually get back to business. A new poll with results released October 1st indicated that out of 1,000 adult consumers interviewed, 75 percent now think it is appropriate for advertisers to resume the business of product and service promotions. But it won't be business as usual.

NBC's Tom Brokaw refers to how we will proceed as going "into an unknowable future".
I do believe that with marketing and advertising, the future will include dramatic changes in how advertising messages are created. And they will be changes for the better. I would predict that there will be far less arrogance in ads - less of the "in your face" style that had become so popular, but now seems so obnoxious and self serving.

New ads may be less self-righteous in their attitude, and more honest in their content. Not that all advertising is untruthful, but some I've seen in the past certainly has pushed the edge of the envelope in that area.

I hope that newly aware advertisers will give American consumers more of what they are seeking right now, which includes a renewed sense of what is truly important in their lives. Not the least of which is personal contact - particularly as we enter the holiday season.

Even if retail rituals like holiday shopping prove steadfast and comforting, this holiday season will be unlike any we've experienced in recent history. We won't see the giddy "irrational exuberance" of 1999, and even the 2000 post-dot-com-crash doom and gloom won't approach the mix of feelings brought about by the terrorist attacks.

Making this holiday buying season a success is a big challenge. To help meet it, the advertising industry is counseling clients who advertise to focus a lot on really understanding their customers, personalizing your offers AND your methods of communication to the best degree possible. If knowing your customer was ever important to you, then this is the time to make that knowledge appreciated. Because for most American's, our hearts probably won't be in the same holiday spirit as they would be if September 11th hadn't happened, if our economy wasn't in the shape it is in, and if we weren't being threatened with the prospect of war.

Being sensitive to these changed priorities doesn't necessarily mean you can't sell, but you can position your company as a helpful hand in a difficult time. And mean it. People still will want to keep for their families some sense of normalcy, some sense of holiday spirit, and they will appreciate your help. Consider the packaging together of items that make sense, so many gifts can be purchased with one fell swoop. If you haven't offered shipping, think about doing it now. Make gift wrapping a give-away. In short, make things as easy as you can for your customers this year, and be innovative in the ways you accomplish this goal.

Things that Americans have grown to value more strongly in the wake of the disaster - communication with family, love of country, and civic spirit - will unalterably color the marketing messages of this holiday season, as these changing values color the fabric of our culture. And in the long run, the changed values will most likely be for the better.

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