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#194928 - 02/02/10 05:01 AM Re: "Preparedness doesn't sell." [Re: clarktx]
wildman800 Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 11/09/06
Posts: 2846
Loc: La-USA
From the "Book of Bo - Vol II":

The strangest animals on the plant all get around primarily on two legs!
_________________________
QMC, USCG (Ret)
The best luck is what you make yourself!

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#194932 - 02/02/10 05:52 AM Re: "Preparedness doesn't sell." [Re: Blast]
LED Offline
Veteran

Registered: 09/01/05
Posts: 1474
Preparedness doesn't sell, but fear does. Call it "foraging after the apocalypse" or something like "surviving doomsday" and that should work. The trick is to make people panic about some vague, dangerous, dystopia. And emphasise that by taking your class, YOU will teach them skills they need to stay alive. Too dramatic?

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#194943 - 02/02/10 07:29 AM Re: "Preparedness doesn't sell." [Re: LED]
Susan Offline
Geezer

Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 5163
Loc: W. WA
I think she's out of touch with what is going on these days. Preparedness is much bigger now than it was a few years ago, esp with the combination of economic problems and natural disasters.

Sell it through your wild edibles class. Word of mouth is still the best recommendation -- always has been, and always will be.

OTOH, remember the young woman in NYC who was asked after the power outage if she intended on making any changes in her life to prepare for a similar episode? Her response: "But if you prepare for things like that, well, it's like admitting it could happen again."

Sue

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#194969 - 02/02/10 03:08 PM Re: "Preparedness doesn't sell." [Re: NightHiker]
Lono Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 10/19/06
Posts: 1013
Loc: Pacific NW, USA
Don't blame the program director, 'blame' the millions of years of evolution behind her amygdalae, they are what are dictating her disaster response for her. Throughtout time our brains are telling us the best path to an abundant, fear-free future, free of starvation and risk and danger, and reminders that sudden disasters occur conflict with that message, and there's a hard urge to push it away (denial). Of course she resists the message, so does her audience. So do most politicians. Neuroscience is a couple levels above my pay grade, but its interesting the things they are learning about how our brains actually work. Some folks are working on getting disaster messages through despite resistance, usually it comes as a wild plant class or wilderness first aid. "Wax on, wax off" - was that really about buffing the man's car?

Never underestimate the power of denial.

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#194983 - 02/02/10 06:04 PM Re: "Preparedness doesn't sell." [Re: Blast]
nursemike Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 11/09/06
Posts: 870
Loc: wellington, fl
Maybe a green spin on disaster preparedness would work:
Water storage spun as rainwater conservation through collection/storage of roof runoff. Backup electricity spun as collection/storage of solar energy through photovoltaics. Food storage as a shift down the food chain to grains and legumes and bulk purchase/storage thereof. You could make a green case against charcoal grilling due to the petroleum cost of charcoal production, suggesting substitution of scavenged branches as a heat source-weave in carrying a knife so that a fuzz stick could be used for ignition, rather than petrochemical starter fluid. You could have people looking and living like Jeremiah Johnson without ever mentioning disaster preparedness.
Then we rebrand "Equipped to Survive" as "Ecology Tending and Sustaining" preserving the acronym, and rename the DR personal survival kit to become the DR habitat preservation kit. The knives could become the DR aboriginal environmental tools....
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Dance like you have never been hurt, work like no one is watching,love like you don't need the money.

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#194986 - 02/02/10 07:09 PM Re: "Preparedness doesn't sell." [Re: nursemike]
Blast Offline
INTERCEPTOR
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 07/15/02
Posts: 3760
Loc: TX
Originally Posted By: nursemike
Maybe a green spin on disaster preparedness would work:
Water storage spun as rainwater conservation through collection/storage of roof runoff. Backup electricity spun as collection/storage of solar energy through photovoltaics. Food storage as a shift down the food chain to grains and legumes and bulk purchase/storage thereof. You could make a green case against charcoal grilling due to the petroleum cost of charcoal production, suggesting substitution of scavenged branches as a heat source-weave in carrying a knife so that a fuzz stick could be used for ignition, rather than petrochemical starter fluid. You could have people looking and living like Jeremiah Johnson without ever mentioning disaster preparedness.
Then we rebrand "Equipped to Survive" as "Ecology Tending and Sustaining" preserving the acronym, and rename the DR personal survival kit to become the DR habitat preservation kit. The knives could become the DR aboriginal environmental tools....


The problem with that approach is it would be a misrepresentation of the class. What's funny is I'm also involved in the Houston Transition program which is trying to convert Houston into a self-sustaining city on many levels. Most of the people involved in this are Green/AGW/Peak Oil people and they want me to teach the emergency prep class. It really just seems to be this one lady blocking the path. I've choosen to pity her rather than continue to be angry at her. Pity is a much more satisfying emotion. smirk

-Blast
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#194989 - 02/02/10 07:49 PM Re: "Preparedness doesn't sell." [Re: Blast]
airballrad Offline
Gear Junkie
Enthusiast

Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 248
Loc: Gulf Coast Florida, USA
You could always find a hook for it... Make it more appealing to the target audience, and then switch it up. Like being ready for zombies or something.







...Nah, that would never fly. wink

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#195004 - 02/02/10 11:02 PM Re: "Preparedness doesn't sell." [Re: Blast]
nursemike Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 11/09/06
Posts: 870
Loc: wellington, fl
Originally Posted By: Blast


The problem with that approach is it would be a misrepresentation of the class.

-Blast


First of all, you have to abandon any negative feelings you have to "misrepresentation". Re branding, positive spin, emphasis of neglected features all have a more positive connotation, and these are things that have made our country great. ETS folk are all devoted to the preservation of Gaea, and strive consistently to fit into the natural order (as it exists, or as modified by TEOTWAWKI) in a fashion that precludes being frozen, broiled, crushed, dehydrated, starved or eaten by something bigger. Those ecology kits that DR has constructed for aviators are designed to permit the fallen pilot to establish a green and symbiotic presence at the crash site, rather than to damage the natural balance by dis-harmoniously putrefying among the wreckage.
_________________________
Dance like you have never been hurt, work like no one is watching,love like you don't need the money.

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#195010 - 02/03/10 12:09 AM Re: "Preparedness doesn't sell." [Re: Blast]
Roarmeister Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 09/12/01
Posts: 960
Loc: Saskatchewan, Canada
Did you tell the part that "prepared" people have more sex? And more often? laugh

Whether or not that's true - my point is, sex sells and is the easiest way to spice up any marketing campaign. Just talking about it adds a bit of spice and perhaps lightens the mood. Perhaps "preparedness" is just too serious of a topic? A little bit of irrelevance and/or comedy can make a boring topic meaningful to some people.

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#195021 - 02/03/10 03:28 AM Re: "Preparedness doesn't sell." [Re: Blast]
Susan Offline
Geezer

Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 5163
Loc: W. WA
"According to her "preparedness doesn't sell" ... In her thirty years of radio she has come to the conclusion that people DO NOT want to be reminded that things can go wrong. They do not want their illusion of safety ruined."

And she wants to perpetuate that. Nice.

Talk to her competition?

Sue

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