Marketers should be commended for not taking advantage of the Washington, D.C.-area shootings – at least, as of this writing.
Sick and cynical? Maybe, but not out of character for American business. Retailers, for instance, build a January sale around a holiday commemorating a slain civil rights leader.
Our industry is not immune from such opportunism. While by no means celebrating the initial stages of America’s response to Sept. 11, last year H. Robert Wientzen, president and CEO of the Direct Marketing Association, correctly observed that during a crisis consumers become less likely to travel as part of their shopping efforts. “If they are going to be home watching television, they are less mobile,” Wientzen said.
Catalogs, he said at the time, offer a bit of escapism from the news.
There’s a more immediate threat now than then due to the sniper attacks, at least for consumers in the Washington, DC metro area. On Oct. 14, Linda Franklin was killed in front of a Home Depot at the Seven Corners Shopping Mall in Fairfax County, VA. She was the 11th person shot, and the ninth killed.
“What surprises me is that people are still going out shopping,” said an executive with a major catalog retailer. “Why would I want to go out to a mall?”
He continued, “It would make sense that this will cause consumers who would not normally shop online or through a catalog to do so until this is solved.”
The catalog executive said that, in anticipation of the holiday season, his company has been contacting customers via e-mail roughly once a week, and that he didn’t see any need to generate additional efforts for customers in the D.C. area.
Perhaps. But if the shooter isn’t captured soon, I wonder if other marketers will be as reluctant to hold back on this regrettably captive audience. I’m betting it’s only a matter of time before the call of the opportunity proves too strong.
To respond to the opinions in this column, please contact mailto:[email protected]
Network
