Economy Branding

Hey media: Knock it off.

We get it.

Economies worldwide are having difficulties. Investments are losing value. Consumer confidence is decreasing.

Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy. A so-called "expert" starts shouting "Everyone's selling! You might want to sell now before it's too late!" And (gasp!) people start selling and (gasp!) prices drop, prompting (gasp!) more selling...

I'm no economist (thank goodness), but it seems to me that a lot of the panicking (at least in the places I've personally been living during the past few months) is enormously unjustified and exagerated. I still see pages upon pages of Help Wanted ads in the paper.... Housing prices are still at ridiculously high levels... Shops and malls are stuffed with people... Construction projects are still going full-steam, and new ones continue to be announced... I have difficulting finding avails when booking an ad campaign...

So why does it feel, even to me, like I should be nervous? Why is there this general sense of "the sky is falling"? Why is, literally, everyone talking about economic tough times?

It almost feels like a really successful branding campaign.
Somehow the governments, media outlets, activists, and other fear-mongers have managed to create a general sense of economic unrest, uncertainty, and even panic.

I can almost picture a boardroom filled with marketing-types reading through a client brief and brainstorming ways to build their message.

"Okay, so a few sectors are having trouble. US banks really screwed up. Iceland is having some troubles. Consumers are currently thinking 'I should be careful where I invest and what I spend'. How do we change this to 'Oh my gosh! Everything is terrible! I'll be unemployed and living on the street in a week!', guys?"

"Let's release a white paper showing the worst-case scenarios!"
"How about a PR blitz with some experts talking about how scary everything is!"
"Great idea! And I'll send out some talking points to my media contacts that they can refer to in every single article they write!"
"Can we get a few celebrity endorsements? Maybe a pop star or former world leader?"
"We need a tag line. What do you think of 'It's an economic crisis!' or 'Here comes the Credit Crunch(tm)!"
"Awesome!"
...


(No, I'm not a conspiracy nut who actually thinks this happened. I just think it could almost make a case study for building a brand image and shifting consumer perspectives)

(And yes, I realize that the economy IS having a lot of difficulty in certain industries and geographic locations.)