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It was October, writers and commentators in the news were using words like “recession” or even worse. It was cold as I rode the bus scanning the “What’s News” column for anything good. Wall Street had, for the first time in memory, hit a “trading stop” falling hundreds of points in a single day. The market closed early. There was widespread fear, of “a lasting downturn.” I wondered how many cancelations would be on my voice mail.

Just a few years later, in my car, the Dot com bubble had burst! The news came over the radio. Historic market drops and “maybe worse to follow” was the fodder of the day. That was March of 2000, and it had gone from any other day, to a day with uncertainty. My BlackBerry was a buzz with changes, drops, and hiatus weeks. 21 months later, we all know what happened in September. I watched it from my office, in total disbelief, one second everything was normal, the next everything had changed.

Do you recall Sandy? A devastating hurricane that hit the Eastern States of the United States. My wife and children watched it from our porch, we barely even got rain, or so we though, until the morning. In reality, many lives were lost, and the devastation has been long lasting. However, even during the worst of it, I found myself taking the bus to go into the city every day. That experience changed us too. These are just some of the mile stones both in our recent society and in my personal life that were tragic, shocking, and jarring. We were not prepared for any of them. And yet, we have come out from all of them. As marketers, it is our job to know that these tragedies come to a relative end. Just as it was my job to find a way to continue to support my family even through chaos.  

The watershed events of the past are real. They had significant impact. In some cases, events changed the way we live, shop, travel, trade and build communication. The COVID 19 virus with all of its closings, cancelations, and “self-isolation” and “social distancing” of 2020 will be no different. Like all the others, it too will end. Markets and consumer demand will come back. The real question is: What should we be doing now? How do we “get on the bus” to to speak?