SHRIIIIIIEEEEEEK!!!

Yesterday was Halloween, and in between the popcorn balls and too-old revelers dressing up like Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, I was thinking (always a dangerous concept) about how our market loves to be scared.

We come up with new and exciting ways to be scared, to worry, and more importantly to rise up in righteous anger at an enemy of our own creation.

Think about it--eight years ago there was wailing and moaning about Debit Cards--that they would visit ruination on the Incentive Business. "It's just cash!", went the cry. "We must save the market!", went another.

Then the Sharp Pencils at our clients started doing the math and realized that $1.00 of buying power was costing them $1.25 and the Debit Cards waned. Crisis averted.

Next, it was the Gift Cards--The Antichrist. Apocalypse Now. "It's just cash!", went the cry. "We must save the market!", went another.

Then, the clients realized that while impactful in some applications, there remained a need for an actual gift with actual Trophy Value. And the Gift Cards are facing new challenges (albeit not quite "waning"). Crisis Averted (or at least diverted).

Today, it's Amazon. The Death Knell of the merchandise business. "It's worse than cash!", went the cry. "It's going to eat us alive!", went another. "We must save the market!", said a third.

Notice a pattern? The Naysayers concoct a Bogeyman for us to rally against. We get all exercised and decry the fate of the business. Then, we examine the Bogeyman a little more closely and realize the fangs are not quite so sharp, the threat not so ominous. The Market shrugs, and we all get on with our lives.

When I saw Alien all those years ago I was genuinely scared--until later, when I saw a model of the Creature. We never got a good look at it during the movie, and once I saw it I was amused at how non-scary it appeared.

Why? Because skillful editing only allowed me to see a glimpse of it onscreen, and my brain did the rest--making up what I couldn't see into a much more threatening entity. After closer examination I realized I was much more afraid than I needed to be.

And so it is with Amazon, and whatever else comes to the market. Evolution of delivery systems (like Debit/Gift Cards, and Amazon) do not change the essential foundation of our business--that we need to find out what our clients want to do and how much they can spend to reward and recognize their key performers. If we allow the delivery system to overshadow the achievement we get what we deserve.

Gotta go now--popcorn balls are terrible after a couple of days on the shelf...


Pete