When I was a wee whippersnapper, I noticed that the Olympics and presidential elections happened in leap years, and I figured it was set up on purpose because we needed the extra day to handle all that increased activity. As if the calendar was a by-product of quadrennial sporting activities and U.S. election cycles.
Obviously, I was wrong, but we are moving into a leap year in 2016, so that must mean Olympics (Rio!) and a presidential election. Good golly, that second one fills me with dread.
In this issue, we reprise our annual State of the Industry report, but this year we have pushed it in a new direction to offer you deeper analysis about specific issues and economic matters that will arise in 2016. (Steel prices, labor shortages, and mergers and acquisition activity hit our list of topics of note.) We hope you enjoy it and find our approach more accessible. But what none of our participants and none of the 2016 previews I have seen about the construction industry have addressed is the weird, warped impact of presidential elections on the economy and everyday business life.
How does it impact us? Well, in weird, warped ways. I remember way back in 1996 when the primary activity in Iowa was so fierce that candidates had cornered the TV advertising market for political messages, and traditional businesses couldn’t get their ads placed. If you’re a metal roofing contractor and dependent on leads generated by your TV advertising activity, that kind of hiccup can adversely affect your bottom line.
In a larger context, the language and anger that seems to accompany our modern political messaging can be unsettling to both consumers and businesses. Often it affects confidence, and in the construction industry consumer and business owner confidence are essential to our success.
We are already experiencing language and attitudes in this election cycle that are fiercely negative and overridingly angry. Layer on top of this communication, fear created by recent terrorism events in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., and you have an environment that may be adverse to business interests.
All of that said, I don’t necessarily think our economic activity-and especially our construction activity-will falter, decline or fall in 2016. Actually, I think we will continue our slow, gradual increase. But it is important to remember there are unusual forces at work, and we will experience odd and unusual challenges in our businesses as a result of the uncertainty created by a presidential election. Some of those impacts may be localized in the same way we saw in Iowa in 1996.
How do you handle it? Focus a little more on marketing, give your message a bit more oomph and push just a little harder to get your name above the others. In times of uncertainty, brand awareness and trust rate high. Trust in your brand reduces your sales times and increases your profitability.
Yes, you spend a bit to improve your brand, but the reality is companies with the best brands-Apple, Coca-Cola, Disney-can command the best pricing and greatest loyalty.
We’re facing a bit of uncertainty in the upcoming presidential election year, but for the best brands, that means opportunity, not difficulty.
