and scammers
DOUGSACKSsumsuptheheadlinesthathavebeen
rigorouslydiscussedacrossvariousmedia,Stateside.
Iflaw
putbackintothebottle.It’sout Americanhumoristofold, onfearsofswinefluspreadlike,
therenowandpeoplesee WillRogers,oncesaid,“AllI well,ahighlycontagiousvirus,
enforcement
nothingwrongwithit. knowiswhatIreadinthe acrosstheInternet.
Pleasenote,Ihavenot papers.”Oh,forthosedays TheUSComputer
hadmoved
suggestedthemarketing again.Amodern-dayWillRogers EmergencyReadinessTeam
fasteronthis,
industryregulateitselfto wouldsaythathebelieves issuedawarningofanumberof
preventthistypeofabuse. everythingEXCEPTwhathe emailscamsrelatedtotheswine
thegrass-roots
That’safailedexperimentif readsinthenewspapers. flu.Theattacksarriveviaan
evertherewasone. Maybethat’swhyno-oneis unsolicitedemailmessage
vigilantism
readinganymore?Thatbrings typicallywithasubjectline
Swinefluscare ustothenexttopic. relatedtotheswineflu.Online
wouldn’thave
It’ssuchaneasylink,jumping securityfirmF-Securereports
beennecessary.
fromswinishmarketerstoa Trustinthemedia thatdozensofnewswineflu
swinishvirus. Yes...but.AccordingtoTNS domainnameswereregistered
Iamveryhappythisdidn’t Global,peoplenowtrustthe daysafterthemediascare.The
becomeaglobalpandemic,butI informationtheygetfromonline FederalTradeCommissionand
didn’treallythinkitwould–just newsroughlytothesame FoodandDrugAdministration
somuchhype.Anothercaseof degreeasnewsfromtelevision sentalertsonbogusproducts
themedia‘cryingwolf’and andinformationfromfriends. relatedtothis‘killerflu’.
losingabitmoreofitsrapidly Globally(andmarketersare http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/05/swin
disintegratingcredibility. takingnote),themosttrusted eflu.shtm
Whathappensif/whenthere informationsourceisfriends,
isaglobalpandemicor with42percentofthose Butwait,there’smore!
something?Willanyonebelieve surveyedsayingtheytrusted AdspendingintheUStotalled
itbeforeitistoolate?Herein word-of-mouth $141.7billionin2008,down4.1
theUSwesawabarrageof recommendations. percentfrom2007,according
newsreports,daily,almost Aboutanequalnumber toTNSMediaIntelligence.
hourly,atthelocal,stateand trustedTVnews(41%),online Inthefourthquarter,ad
nationallevel. news(40%)andnewspapers spendingwasdown9.2percent
Werethesedesignedto (39%).Butnoneofthese fromtheyearearlierperiod.
informorjustscare?Ifthe sourcesofinformationeven Internetdisplayadvertising
latter,itguaranteedasteady approach50percent.Sothe grew4.6percentin2008,the
streamofviewersatleastuntil majorityjustdon’tbelieve slowestratesince2002.Other
thecrisishadpassed. anythingtheyhear,seeorread mediatypesthatshowedgrowth
Here,everythingonthenews anymore.Andwecanthankthe lastyearweresyndicatedTV
isscary.Don’teatthat.Don’tgo mediaforthat.Atleastyoucan (6.5%);Spanish-language
there.Don’tbuythis.Don’tdo allbelieveeverythingyouread magazines(4.9%);cableTV
that.Don’tfly.Don’tdrive.Don’t inthiscolumn.100%! (2.1%);free-standinginserts
breathe.Butdon’tdieeither. (1.8%);andSpanish-language
Weatherpersonswhipthe Pandemic=money-maker TV(0.1%).Newspaperswere
publicintoafrenzyeveryweek Sohowdowecombineroguish hardesthit,withadspending
ortwointhewinterovera marketerswithtrustinthe down11.8%fortheyear.
potentialkillersnowstorm mediaandswineflu? Iguessadvertisersdon’t
sendingthefrightenedsheep Easy.Globalpandemic= believewhattheyreadinthe
bleatingtostorestostockupon money-makingopportunities. newspapersanymorethanthe
thingslikewater.(Ilearnedlong Theentrepreneurialspirit restofus.
agothatifyoumeltsnowyou continuestothriveinAmerica.
getwater.)Ohwell. Notonlyvaccineproducerssaw
Thenthestormturnsintoa agoldmineintherecentswine
DouglasSacksisVP–strategic
planningandpartneratFocus
jokeofanon-event.Amere fluhysteria.Itdidn’ttake
WorldwideLLC,specialisingin
dustingthatwouldonlyshut scammerslongtolatchontothe
globaldata,analyticaland
downLondon,nowhereelsein latesthot-buttontopictotryto marketingsolutions.Email:
theworld. makeaquickbuck.Scamsbuilt doug@focus-worldwide.com
www.dmi-news.com June2009 15
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