9 lessons for marketing from the terror attack on Easter

The Easter attack was part of a bigger plan strategised in 2010

Tuesday, 30 April 2019 

It was not only Sri Lanka that was shaken from the Easter attack but also the world. The lights on the Eiffel Tower were switched off, parliaments around the world observed a minute’s silence. US President Donald Trump made a special comment to the media. Sri Lanka became a top of the mind brand globally in the backdrop of ‘Lonely Planet’ declaring Sri Lanka as a must visit destination in 2019.


GDP drops to 3.2%

Whilst the dust is settling down on Sri Lanka, all we see in media is funerals and policymakers levelling charges on each other in Parliament and on media whilst the President and Prime Minister are stating that they were totally unaware of the threats communicated before the attack which is very poor leadership. My mind went back to the management philosophy, “The strength of leadership can be only tested when a crisis situation emerges.” On this premise the Sri Lankan Government failed on 21 April.

Whilst Sri Lanka was focussing on the tragedy, the Central Bank announced the economic performance in the last couple of years. The performance further took the leadership to the gutter. To be specific, the GDP growth was 5.3% (2015), 4.2% (2016), 3.8% (2017) and 3.2% in 2018 which is very sad given that our neighbours are registering a growth in excess of 5%.

Let’s accept it, this is not what we expected from a Yahapalana Government, not to mention how the Central Bank was robbed by the current Government and the country ran into a power crisis just a few weeks back. I guess the tourism theme ideally fits the situation – ‘So Sri Lanka’.

Let me take a positive perspective and capture the lessons for marketing from the terror attack on Easter. I dedicate this article to the people who lost their lives on 21 April.


Lesson 1: Bigger picture 

The attack on 21/4 was not just a terror attack but a masterminded plan as far back as 2010 when the ISIS focused on Sri Lanka. Initially it was a PR initiative and somewhere around 2014 the mastermind Zaharan and his team trained from Syria started operating in the country with radical thoughts.

As per a specialist on this subject Prof. Rohan Guneratne, only 10% of this entity are suicide bombers. There are another 90% who operate in a country creating the infrastructure and preparing the ground work to convert peace-loving Muslims into this thinking. Hence, finding the 139 core cadres by the Sri Lankan security is the easy part but dismantling the other 90% of the operation will be the tough task especially because it’s an election year.

Implication to marketing: When we are monitoring competitor activity we see new brands being launched or new advertising campaigns on media. Rather than just reacting to competition activity more data needs to deep-dived so that a bigger picture can be un-earthed.

For instance, when Lifebuoy soap some years back launched a white soap, it was not just a competitor move of a brand but a strategic directional move to move from a male-oriented germ kill bath to moving the brand to a family soap which was milder but on the DNA of germ kill. Hence, if we do a deep dive on the gains and loss of this brand, most beauty soaps will also become sources of business. To summarise always look at the bigger picture.


Lesson 2: Data-based decisions

We see that the Government is being run on perceptions and personalities with limited experience in proactive decision making. Hence, it is very evident that the thirst for data-based decision making is not in their working grail.

Even though the Indian authorities alerted the Sri Lankan Government on the massacre to take place on three occasions – 4 April, 9 April and 16 April (also reported in Colombo Telegraph website) stating that the President was also briefed, the data did not stimulate the policymakers for action. This also does not absolve the PM not being able to take action as mentioned by the former Army Commander in Parliament last Friday.

Implication to marketing: There are two pick-ups. Let’s say you are working for a FMCG company. Get hard data on household consumption (LMRB panel data), retail availability (Nielsen retail panel data) and then link it to your own company’s primary and secondary sales, so that you know if stocks are piling up in the value chain. The second being that the relevant decision-makers must be privy to such data and empowered to take action. In essence ‘data-driven’ decision making must become a way of life in today’s complex market place.


Lesson 3: Work on skillset

Since the time the current Government came into power in 2015, we have seen on many instances how the policymakers have demonstrated their low skillset – be it the recent power crisis, the four-year attempt to launch an integrated global marketing campaign to this disaster that killed 300 odd innocent lives that included 40 foreign nationals not to mention the Central Bank bomb scam. The most recent being the ‘skill disaster’ on the post 21/4 crisis management strategy of the country that included the poor management of interviews by the Prime Minister on Sky News and BBC.

Implication to marketing: If you are running a brand, you cannot wait till information comes to your table. You must design your work to ensure that the key data reaches you irrespective where you are based. Once the data is received, consult your team and reach for the experts to get their view and drive for ‘gold’ standard implementation. Remember that in marketing one does not have to invent solutions. There is always a “best practice” in the marketplace. Pick it up and make changes based on the situation at hand, and implement speedily. You can keep improving the actions on the run.


Lesson 4: Cutting edge leadership 

From the outset we see cracks in the leadership. The first being the denial from the leadership on the aware of the attack. Then came the bombshell from the Prime Minister that action cannot be taken against a militant group on Sri Lankan soil that was shredded by the respected lawyer Prathiba Mahanama. To add insult to injury, the overnight reduction in the casualties by almost 100 people was not very professional. It only just revealed to the world the poor leadership in control manage this ISIS debacle. Some professionals from the tourism industry commented that if we had managed the post disaster actions and communication, we could have avoided the tourism/travel advisories that were dished out by countries like India, Britain and US.

Implication to marketing: If you have been around in the world of marketing, disaster management and issues related to product quality/service levels are common. Take control and get a hold of the reality first. Thereafter ensure the senior leadership is behind you on the strategy. Get feedback at every stage of the implementation process and do course correction. Keep the senior management informed of the progress at regular intervals. People must have confidence that you are in control. Then half the battle is won.


Lesson 5: Get the media behind you

What we see in Sri Lanka is that in the absence of a strong leader in the post disaster activation, the media is loaded with bickering between the opposition and ruling party, not forgetting the politicians allegedly involved in providing material for the bombers and being closely associated with them. As at now the news editions are more like ‘discovery movies’ than progress on the ground. I will be failing in my duty if I don’t commend the strong leadership seen by the Army General in ‘Operation Samanthurai’. The confidence I got from the regular/focused communique must be highlighted.

Implication to marketing: When disaster happens, separate the problem from the people who created the issue. Remove the people from the situation and get to the core of the issue so that the media picks up your desire to solve the issue. For instance when the Tiger Woods scandal broke out some years back, Nike immediately took the decision to disassociate the company with the celebrity and move to damage control on the brand. These kinds of hard decisions are required so that the media backs you.


Lesson 6: Come out clean

The biggest issue with the attack on 21/4 was that the government did not come out clean. The Prime Minister revealed to global media that he was not aware of the ‘impending attack’ as he was not invited to the Security Council meetings for almost six months. The question asked by the former Army Commander in Parliament was why did he not inform the Parliament and may be even resigned as the PM. The other was that a multitude of ministers are allegedly implicated to have protected or been doing business with the family of the bombers. This did not help the Government given that some are senior cabinet ministers.

Implication to marketing: It goes without saying but in the job of marketing ‘financial integrity’ is a hygiene factor. Also when a situation happens, one must take responsibility and agree on the next steps for correction. The media and public must see you as a person above board and sincere to the task at hand. For instance Cadbury India was 100% transparent on the product issue and also bringing in Amitabh Bachman to be the brand ambassador. Remember one thing, SL media does not lie – there is some truth to any story reported.


Lesson 7: Heads must roll

Even after the most powerful person in Sri Lanka – the President – announcing that key heads would be changed within 24 hours, even as we speak as at today the IGP of the Sri Lanka Police continues to remain in his seat. This demonstrates weak leadership and creates a serious credibility issue of the administration, not only in Sri Lanka but globally.

Implication to marketing: If a serious issue happens that questions the credibility of the organisation, then heads have to roll. The best example was in 1984 when the famous Coca Cola product issue happened in the US, the Brand Manager immediately resigned. Later on, after almost 10 years, the same person was hired by Coca Cola as the Marketing Director, signalling to the world the uniqueness in values of the organisation.


Lesson 8: Focus on brand value

The last point is that the winner in marketing is singlehandedly the brand value. We must add value to the brand. Sadly, Sri Lanka as a brand has been battered in the last four years due to corruption allegations and the deteriorating performance of its key parameters like GDP growth. Brand Sri Lanka that was growing at an average 35% post 2009 till 2015 has now crashed to single digit growth in 2018. Countries like Algeria and Ukraine have beaten Sri Lanka on brand value performance in the last two years. The devastating Easter attack will compound to the Central Bank corruption issue. We might end the year at just around 90 billion dollars as a nation brand, from the current $87 billion is what analysts predict.

Implication to marketing: We must track brand value building as the single-minded performance measure in brand marketing. Currently, due to the difficult trading conditions in the marketplace, the focus of marketers are sales and net profit for obvious reasons. This is the reality, but we must move to the high order discipline of brand building which is more long-term and strategic in nature, especially in the tourism sector that is challenged on the profitability end and organisations are essentially making money on ‘asset enhancement’.


Lesson 9: Technology track

It’s scary but all attacks on 21/4 has been tracked via technology that it is almost like a horror movie. This is the first Sri Lanka has seen the power of CCTV and how people’s behaviour has been tracked up to the point a bomber having breakfast before casually walking up to the middle of the crowd and blowing himself and those around. It’s eerie and chilling but that is the reality of the world today.

Implication to marketing: Given the development of technology we now can track consumer conversations in the digital footprint and thereby conceptualise trends the very consumer who does this is not aware. Especially with the launch of Artificial Intelligence (AI) predicting consumer behaviour and understanding the brand equity strengths can be done at ‘time’. Marketers now need to use such technology.


Next steps

Whilst the 21/4 incident is very sad, we see the lessons it can teach business and practical marketers. The challenge is if we have the mindset to conceptualise such learning and change our behaviour in the organisations in which we work.

(The writer is an award-winning marketer and business professional who has worked for 23 years in top global multinationals including the UN and then went on to become Chairman of the Sri Lanka Export Development Board and Sri Lanka Tourism. He is the President/CEO of a foremost global AI company based in Sri Lanka.)