Pub Note: We invite visitors to the site—especially members of the Seattle marcomm community—to share their thoughts on any subject, and we’ll consider it for posting here. Veteran brand consultant Duane Knapp of Anacortes is the writer of this timely message.
By Duane Knapp
As brands reset, in the wake of the pandemic, here are keys for future success:
• Begin communicating about your reset strategy; actions, plans, procedures etc. Avoid using the term “new normal.” Normal requires a consensus of generally accepted beliefs and behaviors. People’s perceptions of normal, will vary widely and will really be determined by each person’s expectations now and in the future.
• Create changes in your business that are based on your clients’, customers’ and stakeholders’ desires, instead of what someone else does or suggests. Evaluate each communication and action based on how it will make people feel! Any kind of experience— dining, shopping, traveling etc.—will be challenging. Every business should focus on optimizing its customer experience. Our Guide for Exceptional Experiences is available to our clients.
• Begin using terminology such as “safe” service or safely serving, safely open, safe practices etc. whenever possible, rather than reinforcing the unpredictable perceptions of “social distancing.” Avoid using the “COVID-19” wording (unless legally necessary) and begin using words such as the current situation, challenging times, etc. Every time someone uses the “C” word, it reinforces images of fear, anxiety and death. People want to move on.
• Describe business changes or initiatives in the context of “enhancing or supporting economic opportunity” for your community, employees, clients, etc. Everyone wants to support economic opportunity. However, people may have different feelings about economic development, tourism, flattening the curve, etc.
• This is a perfect time to build your brand and to develop or evaluate your BrandPromise commitment. We have created a Promise Map for your success.
Duane Knapp is the principal of BrandStrategy. based in Anacortes, which provides strategic expertise, including perceptual research, creative design and digital-media thought leadership with its partners. You can contact him at dknapp@brandstrategy.com or 360-293-8810.
Julie Blacklow On Racism
By Julie Blacklow
I never thought of myself as a racist which now, in the wake of what I consider the ‘great awakening’ going on in this country, is a clear example of the white privilege I’ve had from the day I was born. I was basically raised by two black women—Pauline and Thelma—who worked for my parents. They were family and sat at our Thanksgiving and Passover tables. How could I be racist? I was expelled from high school for cursing out a racist librarian who was insulting my black friend. How could I be racist? But now…as the events of this week and these past years have made abundantly clear, just ‘thinking’ I am not a racist is not enough to let me off the hook of my own responsibility and complicity.
I need to own this, apologize and make amends for my own ignorance and failures. I thought it was good enough that I could say I had friends of all colors and backgrounds. Black friends, Brown friends, Asian friends, Native American friends, Filipino friends. But that is not ‘good enough.’ If the agony of this past week has taught me anything, it has taught me that my justification of having friends who looked different than I looked was enough to excuse me from the label of racist. It was not enough. Not even close.
My failures are many and I want to own them now. I failed to deeply investigate the whole subject of racist acts when I was a reporter. I saw things. I heard things. I did not bother. I failed to ask what some of my very best friends were experiencing as parents of children of color. It was not their job to tell me. It was my job to bother to ask. One of my best friends – the amazing and brave journalist Joyce Taylor – spoke privately and publicly recently about her fears for her black son in NYC and her fears for him growing up here. I wept when I heard this.
Never once in my entire life did I ever worry about my white son being killed by a policeman. That is my white privilege made real. I apologize for my failure to act, failure to ask, and failure to listen and try to really hear the pain of my friends. I’m hearing it now and I am crying as I write this. But I am also remembering one of my favorite quotes from Joseph Campbell: “Where you stumble, there your treasure lies.” As a nation, we have all stumbled and I believe together—really together this time—we can uncover the treasure that awaits all of us.
