March 28, 2003

It takes a long time to trust a kiss from a camel ... and camels take a long time before giving a kiss.

The coalition forces have now moved into Iraq with a historically unrivaled power and military sophistication. We suspect there is little question about the eventual outcome, but many questions remain about the time it will take to achieve a military victory and about the eventual cost - the cost in human and monetary terms.

For all the talk about the perfection of military planning, as our forces penetrate Iraq, we observe a complete absence of the practice of "mass" marketing. By this, we mean the marketing of trust - to a people having the needs of personal safety, of self-determination, of national pride. 

If there is a "positioning" of our cause toward the people of Iraq - we have not seen it expressed in terms we - as marketing professionals -can understand. Perhaps this marketing effort is just not being mentioned, but we are fearful it is really not there. If it is not in place, we hope it will commence immediately.

Contrary to the marketing of trust to those we seek to liberate - it appears that the main thrust of "mass" marketing in this war is being misdirected - aimed at ourselves by corporate ventures seeking to win media ratings - and governments seeking to win our support. It is certainly not marketing to a people from liberators seeking to win their trust. If half the power of the misdirected marketing could be skillfully focused on the people of Iraq, the eventual beginnings of trust among the Iraqi people could be much enhanced.

Instead. we are seeing live feeds from "front-line" reporters - "embedded" in the experience of war. We are seeing the absurdity of a starched-uniformed Ted Koppel - helmet strap loose - playing heroic war correspondent fighting for ratings for perhaps his last time. We are watching Baghdad's skyline in real time - and seeing the flashes as explosions erupt. We are actually present at the coolly-presented military and White House press briefings - and we are seeing the maybe-real enemy leader chat with his bunkered cronies.

Our minds are overloaded with information and bombarded with images, renditions and interpretations. There are locals dancing about a downed chopper, our young men and women - prisoners of our enemy - having cameras thrust into their faces, white flags of surrender setting up guerrilla ambushes and red-brown sand storms whirling it like a high-speed blender - spitting out a smooth drink of delusion.

The media networks parade their studio-based military analysts - retired whatever's who haven't a clue - yet armed with laser pointers. They walk on floor maps, stand inside video maps, draw on virtual maps - while waging their own war of confusion with the counter-analysts from competing networks. All this is repeated on a local, then a national scale. We see the same content - sliced and repeated - over and over again. We have polls to gage our opinions - visits with mothers of the dead and wounded - in-room visits at hospitals and on-scene tours of destruction.

The one thing we lack from all this input, is certainty itself. We are thoroughly confused, because of the very lack of trust for what we are seeing. There is the mistrust of each media - in its exasperating contest to be more trusted than its competition and its own self-appointed role to contest with second-guessing any military plan disclosed to it.

If we - the most informed humans in Earth's long history - are confused as we sit here in relative comfort, snacking on Fritos as we watch from afar, what must it be like for those we aspire to liberate? 

What is happening in the minds of a people whose life has been overrun by new uniformed creatures, thunderous explosions, black oil fires, death and destruction? What would you do, after 30 years with a tyrant holding a gun to your head and now having thousands of foreigners marching through town trying to kill him - along with everyone else in his regime? With a famine of outside information, might you think - like a deer in the headlights - and do nothing at all?

You can't run - the refugee camps just across the borders remain empty. You can't hide. Your neighbor may turn you in - before or after the tyrant's regime falls. For you, this is the ultimate dilemma - and confusion controls your existence. Unlike those who watch your fate unravel - you don't possess the ability to decide.

In that humorous picture, of the man and his camel - only mutual trust - slowly developed in tiny graduations - resulted in that kiss. For that man - the trust is perhaps of his camel not spitting; for his camel - it may be the trust of his bridle not being yanked. It's a trust between two separate species - having no common language - few common bonds. It's a trust developed in small doses - over a time defined by promises kept. 

For companies to "win" new customers - the first thing they must manufacture is trust. For prospects to choose new companies - no matter the urgency of their needs - the first thing they must have is the ability decide, to choose.

For sure, there are many other factors of marketing that come into play, but until these most basic elements exist - no sale will be made. No sale to a new prospect. No sale to Iraq.

Our front line troops are paying a sad penalty. Their displays of trust, and their universal displays of restraint when encountering what seem to be surrendering enemy, or civilians in need - have been taken advantage of. White flags have become weapons - hiding an ambush. And now, suicide bombers arrive in taxis at check-points, asking for help. Our troops are dying, as they take the first steps to show they can be trusted. We must not leave the job only to them.

Note: On April 10th, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair created a "marketing" message to be broadcast and distributed throughout Iraq assuring the people there the coalition can be trusted to bring them freedom and self-determination. We consider this initiative an excellent start.      

That's our thought for now. We cannot close without expressing our admiration and support for the young men and women who are dedicating themselves and their lives to the ultimate kiss of peace - and to the end of a struggle between two worlds that find themselves embraced in a highly confused and trustless combat. May God speed the conclusion.         




William H. Thompson
Principal

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