Tuesday, December 02, 2008
What Messages Now?
Here is an interesting PR problem. What messages do you send to a society that has moved from consumption to saving? We assume consumers will spend again when the recession eases, but what if they don't? There have been such losses in housing value that many consumers will be in homes with underwater mortgages. Will they spend again or put discretionary money in the bank?
Some cultures are savings-oriented like China and Japan. The US hasn't been that way for decades. It would disrupt the economic engine of the country, if US society begins to save rather than spend. The irony is that the savings rate for the US has been too low for far too long, so pulling back on spending is what citizens should do, but the recovery of the country is dependent on spending. In PR, we will keep urging people to buy, buy, buy, but shouldn't we be thinking of a new scenario?
Some cultures are savings-oriented like China and Japan. The US hasn't been that way for decades. It would disrupt the economic engine of the country, if US society begins to save rather than spend. The irony is that the savings rate for the US has been too low for far too long, so pulling back on spending is what citizens should do, but the recovery of the country is dependent on spending. In PR, we will keep urging people to buy, buy, buy, but shouldn't we be thinking of a new scenario?
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