Is this the end of capitalism? Nobody can take these media exaggerations at face value.
DMA conference-goers went to bed Sunday night Oct. 12 expecting more bad news from the stock market.
By the time they showed up for John Greco's speech the next morning the market was soaring. But it fell again on Tuesday.
No wonder some sought consolation at the Vegas crap tables.
The market swings magnified the problems direct marketers are facing in their own businesses.
Retailers were braced for the worst holiday season in years even before the meltdown. Credit mailers had pulled back. The phones stopped ringing for one B-to-B company during the week of Oct. 6.
Is this the end of capitalism as we know it?
Well, despite the calamity, that's dubious. Nobody with an ounce of common sense can take these media exaggerations at face value.
And at the risk of sounding like a Successories poster, this is no time to panic. Most of us learn at some age that you have to continue functioning even when the bottom falls out. It gets easier after you've done it a couple of times.
Many people felt similar anxiety in the fall of 2001.
Does anyone remember? That year's DMA event took place six weeks after 9/11. Some were afraid to get on planes. The economy had been in trouble for months prior to the attacks.
These things affected most businesses, but there was one that specifically hurt DMers — the wave of anthrax strikes by mail.
Response had plummeted and pundits were writing columns about the demise of the postal system. The brave and few who attended DMA Annual had plenty on their minds.
The best moment came when the keynote speaker, former President George H.W. Bush, told them “You'll be all right.” And they were. Eventually.
This year's circumstances are different. But as Greco noted at the conference, our industry has the tools it needs to prevail.
Measurement, targeting and cost management saved DMers then.
And they will now.
