To Pander or to Pounce!

We currently have a client who is going through a standard bureaucratic process. It all seemed to be going smoothly until the inevitable happened and those in the public sector jumped in with their two big feet.

What does he do – drag the story into the public domain and expose it for the nonsense that it is? All the PR advice is no, he needs to go through the process and deal with things one by one. It doesnt matter that this will cost him more money and delay his project – you can’t upset or argue with those in authority.

I don’t claim or want to be Michael O’Leary’s biggest fan but he is someone that is focused and committed to what he believes in. During the recent radar fiasco at Dublin airport, O’Leary and Dermon Mannion (CEO Aer Lingus ) were interviewed on the radio. Mannion pandered – said that the Dublin Airport Authority were doing all they could, thanked them for their hard work (even tho they knew about the problem for 5 weeks before it brought the airport to a near stand still and delayed hundred of thousands of passangers). O’Leary said it for what it was – a disaster and the DAA just sat on their hands and waited…while the passangers waited, planes sat on the runways and companies lost millions as a result (O’Leary stated (pinch of salt time) that Ryanair were losing a million euro a day because of the issue).

So who faired better – Mannion or O’Leary? I dont know but Aer Lingus hope to break even this year while Ryanair will be in profit. And in 5 years, will Aer Lingus still be here? O’Leary says no but Ryaniar will be.

To come back to our client, maybe he should draw out the issue intp the public, highlight the bureaucracy and mentality of the public service that is attempting to stall any development or growth in our stagnating economy.

What has he to lose – maybe making a slow process slower, what has he to win – getting a stalled ship moving and giving two fingers to narrow minded authorities…what to do.

Can the doom and gloom be a bright spark for marketers?

All the talk at the moment is that we are in/will go into/have been in a recession. Is this the usual bad news for marketers as the chaps in Finance take out their red markers and start slashing advertising and marketing budgets? Maybe, probably…however rather than accept this faith, marketers can embrace it and potentially also do a job at improving our reputation with the lads in Finance and the rest of the departments. Maybe we can shed the image as being cost centres that spend money willy nilly and have no interest in what it delivers.

 

Now more than ever marketing spend needs to be accountable and now is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the value we add. Even in times of recessions brands still need to work, campaigns need to deliver and the marketing job goes on. It is continually demonstrated that the companies that marketing themselves well in the bad times rather than go into hiding, perform considerably better in the good times than those that come back out of hiding.

 

The last time there was a recession (mid 80s), one of the marketing results was the mass development of direct mail. Now twenty or so years on, there could be another new dawn for marketing but only if marketers decide to stand up and be counted rather than cry into skinny extra shot no sugar frappe wappa…ccinos. Make marketing more accountable and maybe accountants will get marketing!