Marketing's role: business decisions made in the wake of a disaster.

• Position: Marketing News

Business and relief decisions made in the wake of a disaster can impact a financial services institution's reputation and image, observes Curt Olsen, principal of High-Definition Consulting Group, a San Francisco-based marketing and business consulting firm.

He pointed to two differing business reactions to the recent Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Wal-Mart had a disaster relief plan in place. When Katrina struck, Wal-Mart donated $20 million in cash, 1,500 truckloads of merchandise and food for 100,000 meals. In addition, it promised to maintain a job for every one of its workers displaced by the disaster.

"By contrast, big oil companies and refiners made a business decision to allow supply and demand to determine the price of gasoline," he says. "As refineries were temporarily disabled from the disaster, the price of petroleum products rose dramatically throughout the USA, even as the federal government provided some of the needed oil from its strategic reserves."

Olsen says he does not want to second-guess the decisions made by the oil companies, but he adds that, "It wouldn't be a stretch to note that oil producers and refiners may have lost out on a great opportunity to improve their image by dramatically lowering prices at the pump in the states most affected by the hurricane and by transporting additional refined products to the disaster areas as part of a relief effort, at least for the first few weeks of recovery."

He offers the following rules of thumb about corporate action and the implications for marketers relative to disasters:

Be ready: Have a disaster marketing plan, as Wal-Mart did, as part of your business recovery plan. It is no longer sufficient to implement an operational recovery plan (i.e., get your business running again) in the wake of a disaster. Once you know your business will recover, what will you do to help the community you do business in recover as well? Back your plan up with whatever resources are necessary.

Remain "in character" to your brand: In other words, don't do anything inconsistent with your corporate culture or your brand. For example, Microsoft has set up special Web-based message boards for those separated by the disaster. In a disaster banks often roll back interest rates in affected areas; lighten underwriting criteria for...