Working Through Terrible

It's mid-November in the mid-Atlantic area that I call home, which means it's leaf gathering time. My house has a significant amount of yard and trees, so I wound up just bundling up and going at it today with the rake and bags. By the time everything was done, I had been working for about four hours, or just about longer than I'll ever be awake and away from any kind of screen. It gives you time to think, not the least of which is how little fun raking is. (I do own a leaf blower, but it doesn't seem to make the job any faster, and I can use the exercise. So the rake it is.)

As I started the process, I was thinking about the events in Paris, the footage, the likely next steps, and just getting more and more depressed. So cyclical, so pointless, so limiting to what we should be able to achieve as a species. So much of what we do as marketers is about finding the positive story and telling it to the right people, so we can put our brands in the best position to succeed. And in so doing, feed their families, expand their businesses, fund their research, and so on, and so on. This news makes all of that seem as pointless as, well, raking up leaves. There are still leaves on some of the trees, after all. I'll be doing this job again in a few weeks, and then again in a year, and the year after that. Just as terrible people will be making terrible choices that cause terrible tragedies, with the power of tools that make those tragedies increasingly large, and impossible to keep from reaching their audience. There will be no end of oxygen for this fire.

And then I saw the gravestone. A couple of years ago, in a terrible accident, the family's beloved dog passed away suddenly. He's buried at the edge of my yard, with a stone, and it's always something of a challenge to do work back there, especially while alone, and not think of that day. I usually get back to equilibrium, eventually, by making myself remember him for better things, because he was a great dog, and his memory deserves better than my sadness. But it requires discipline. That's the nature of grief. It's always there for you, whenever you want to visit.

To get through my task, I had to put blinders on mentally, think of something else, and get back to work. There's no other option. The world is a terrible place every day, provided you keep your mind in those places.

Which brings us back to the attacks, and the proper response from a marketing and advertising perspective. I'm not sure, honestly, that there is one, at least not in a one size fits all fashion. Plenty of brands will express sympathy and solidarity with the victims, but without a charitable aspect, this can seem rote or hollow... and it's not as if there's a go-to charity for donations in the wake of a terrorist act. Perhaps something that the criminals would particularly dislike, like women's equality in disadvantaged nations, or support for some other at-risk segment, but that also puts you in some danger of alienating a portion of your customer base. Similarly, saying nothing can seem like your brand is cold or uncaring, and that's not an acceptable option for youth markets or those doing significant business with the French.

If it's my client, I make my stand quietly, without a sizable PR or social media effort. Make it something that my customers have to come to my site or store to find out about, rather than something that seems ostentatious. As with all such moves, I'd make the action something that customers can join or activate, not for a viral standpoint, but just to not seem stand-offish. Finally, I wouldn't go very long with the move, unless it becomes part of your social structure or culture.

What happened in Paris will be seen by many as a fresh reason for war, as an escalation of a culture clash, or as the start of a new and dark era of conflict. That's a matter for the politics of the day, public debate, and the effectiveness of the world community at turning back the tide of extremism and hate. But it's not likely to be the reason why someone does or does not patronize a brand. It's better for your business if it's seen, and handled, as a crime against humanity, and the perpetrators as garden variety thugs, rather than the vanguard of a new religious or culture war. If, for no other reason, than this fails to give them what they wanted from the attack in the first place.

On a personal level, the choice to find something that is not terrible to think about will come a little easier with the passage of time, as it always does. On a global level, Paris will recover, criminals will be made responsible for their actions, and the world will move forward and away from such revulsion. In both cases, the only sane choice will be taken.

Because, really, there is no other choice.

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