CBA: Challenging Times, Tough Decisions

Challenging Times, Tough Decisions

By Carl Bloom

Since September 11, our world has become more unpredictable and challenging. But direct marketing requires that our work be predictable, and as innovators, we’re always up for a challenge.

So how do we conduct business in the current environment of conflict, threats and uncertainty? Here are a few thoughts and experiences to help guide you during these tough times.

When should the mail drop?

One of the most often asked questions during the threat of terrorism and the Iraq war is, “when should we mail?” Should we hold up our fundraising or sales campaign to await the outcome of the war, or at least during the early stages of hostilities, to get a sense of how our troops are doing and if it will be short or long in duration?

Under normal circumstances, the public is subjected to a wide variety of stimuli that compete for our attention and try to make us take some form of action – like making a purchase or giving a contribution to some worthy cause.

Now, in wartime and with the threat of further terrorism, consumers are naturally distracted; people are captivated by TV and radio coverage of the war and interest in other matters is diminished.

Why, in such a troubled time would someone give money to a charity or buy a magazine subscription or respond to a mail order offer? As the war is raging, consumers may not respond to these type of promotions for a while, until they’re ready.

What will make people ready for mail?

Even under the worst of circumstances people tend to adjust to negative situations. After time passes, and if the situation gets better and not worse, people want to get back to their regular routines, including exposure to advertising and fundraising. It makes them feel that things are still OK or “normal”. Plus, they need diversion from the news – they need entertainment, information and education – which is what advertising is supposed to do – educate, even if it’s about what to buy.

Regarding the initiation of a promotion during a crisis, our advice is to evaluate your product’s or service’s relationship to the situation and wait a few days until things settle down. When life has gone back to as normal as possible, determine if you need to do anything special in your marketing and creative to offset the publics’ fears or deal with a unique situation. For example, during the anthrax scare, plastic envelopes were used by several mailers to calm recipients' fears of mail from unknown origins.

What to say?

Some of CBA's nonprofit clients felt that they needed to say something about the Iraqi conflict in their mailings and not just ask for support for their causes while members of the armed services were facing danger. The consensus among savvy marketers is that it’s okay to mention the war in your promotion if your message or service is connected in some way to the crisis.

Several public TV stations prepared inserts wishing our troops good fortune and expressing their hopes for an early end to the conflict. They also made the connection between their quality coverage of the war and asked for support to keep this vital broadcasting service going.

If this is a route you feel comfortable taking, we suggest that you not dwell on the crisis in your copy because:

You don’t want to overwhelm the reader with the negativism of the situation.
You don’t want to minimize the importance of your appeal.

Emergency Appeals

The work of some organizations could be influential in positively altering the lives and conditions of people affected by the event. Your organization may need funds even more urgently to help give comfort to those whose lives have been directly or indirectly changed by an event.

During the 9/11 disaster, the Salvation Army, The Red Cross, and other organizations like the Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens helped people impacted by the tragedy. The Catholic Charities provided safe havens and counseling for people walking over the Manhattan Bridge moments after the attack in downtown Manhattan. They helped people with financial aid and even temporarily made mortgage payments to those without immediate access to funds or paychecks.

The Actors’ Fund of America helps people who work in the Theater. 9/11 put many of them out of work because Broadway virtually shut down - and tourists and local theater-goers didn’t come into the city for a long time after the disaster. The Actors’ Fund helped their actors, stagehands, lighting specialists - anyone earning a living in theater with grief counseling to families and friends who lost loved ones and medical and financial assistance to fellow workers who fell on hard times because of the attacks.

Both of these organizations sent special urgent appeals into the mail within a week and half of the attacks and raised considerable amount of revenue to carry out their missions. After time passed they went back to their regular fundraising schedules.

It is important not to exploit a tragedy or conflict. You don’t want to appear to be taking advantage of the emotionality of the situation for your company’s or organization’s interests, while others are suffering losses.

Use common sense about your promotions. Ask yourself how you would react to one of your own mailings, ads or telephone calls.

An uncanny look back

Just about a dozen years ago, during the 1991 Dessert Storm war, as Saddam Hussein was lobbing SCUD missiles into Israel, an urgent mailing was prepared and dropped for a Jewish organization whose mission is to support medical facilities in Israel.

The copy was written and altered as the missiles were exploding; we had to get the story straight and maximize the threat to the country in order to get support for these medical facilities – which needed to be ready to assist citizens targeted by Saddam and in case the war came to the Jewish state.

The results were astronomical. This was a perfect example of an organization being called to action to serve those affected by a current crisis and how an urgent appeal was justified and necessary.

No doubt the 2003 war in Iraq will require some urgent appeals; hopefully the need for them will be limited in scope and duration.

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