Direct marketers are an adaptable group.
They dip and swerve to avoid all types of hazards and unexpected mishaps. ZIP codes or entire regions are suppressed when a hurricane or earthquake strikes. Mailings are adjusted to accommodate major tragedies such as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 when an entire nation is distracted for lengthy periods of time. Most recently, ads with themes of space flight were cancelled after the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas.
And now, with the threat of war looming, experts caution marketers to stay on message.
Don Libey, of Libey-Concordia, advisors and investment bankers to the catalog industry, called for prudence, conservatism and maintaining a solid direct marketing strategy. “Marketers should proceed with business as usual,” he said.
He said that the universal belief among CEOs of catalog companies that he spoke with recently is that should there be a war, it would be a short intense period, a brief interruption that would not threaten business.
“We don
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