Snow Jam 2015
The schools are closed, the grocery store shelves pillaged and the downtown connector is traffic free. Welcome to February in Atlanta! How much snow you ask? Well…none. Not even a flake. You see, last year about this time Atlanta got walloped with a winter ice storm that literally froze the city in place. Kids stranded at school, the highways immobile, the lost and tired sleeping at Home Depot. The storm caught us off guard. We sort of knew it was coming but didn’t pay much attention; our local TV weather stations having cried wolf so many times before…who takes them seriously.
Once it warmed up the affected got mad, started pointing figures. Their ire crossed political lines and nobody was safe from Mother Nature’s wrath; the poor governor and mayor directly in the cross hairs of a locked and loaded constituency.
This brings us to today, where we find ourselves huddled in our homes warm and snug under the blanket of a governor declared state of emergency. Look, I get it. What governor wants to be burned twice? I probably would have done the same thing given that, in all fairness, the weather experts have predicted some sort of wintry precipitation this afternoon…Vegas giving even odds.
We could all just enjoy the day off, but I can’t help but wonder why the city and state’s PR machine has not doubled down and turned this weather event into a marketing bonanza. “Georgia, Home of the Snow Free Snow Days!”
Now, let’s turn to your business. What are you doing today to take advantage of the snow day? Are you hiding under the covers, shut down under impending doom? There are hundreds of businesses out there under performing because of an attitude that a force bigger than us is causing some sort of financial pain; the economy, trends, whatever. I would say that a lot that is made up, fabricated in the mind. The question is what to do about it?
What do kids do on a snow day? They’re not sleeping. They are digging deep in the closet for boots, scarves and gloves. They are looking for anything that slides, rolls or moves because they’re heading outside to experience the event.
Opportunities like these do not come around all the time. No marketing budget in the world can create the exposure that comes with the fear and excitement around an event such as this. Snow Jam 2015 is free, and it provides unmatched production value. The consumer’s mindset is whacked out of its routine right now and searching for things, events and happenings to fill the void. This is your chance, your businesses chance to occupy a unique place in the psyche of consumers. “they were open during the state of emergency”, “they served free coffee during the state of emergency”, “they set up a dog park in their parking lot during the state of emergency”…whatever!
Now go out there and make something happen!
Deep Thought Like This Goes into Every Urban Eats Project
