A back to basics approach to business development

Today's Boston Globe has a good article by Ellen Kelley that advises a "return to basics" approach to business development.

Ellen Keiley is President of the MBA Women International Boston Chapter Board of Directors (formerly the National Association of Women MBAs), is Co-Director of the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) New England Chapter Sponsor Relations Committee, and is a Boston World Partnerships Connector. She can be contacted at ellenmkeiley@gmail.com

I think common sense articles like this one are good to remind us to look at the ways we got business in the past rather than to just look for new ones.

Here's the article:

It is a challenging time for business. There is lots of competition for every opportunity, making it more difficult for businesses to drive financial success. Therefore, it is advantageous - and arguably necessary - for professionals and organizations to differentiate themselves from others. You have likely heard this before, but it is always good to be reminded that a strong focus on client service will set you apart. Clients will appreciate the attention to their needs, and if you do it right, you will build relationships, loyalty, and enjoy greater wallet and market share.

Clients expect a certain level of service from their service providers. If one can exceed those expectations, it is a win/win situation. There are numerous ways to do so.

Engage in “active” listening. Listening is an acquired skill. “Hearing” and “listening” are not synonymous. The expression “in one ear and out the other” is often a reality. Listening is an important skill that has to be continually developed. Active listening presents an opportunity to learn more about what is going on with a client’s business, and clients will appreciate the fact that you care about what they have to say and not just what you want to tell them. This will improve relationships with clients and present business development opportunities that otherwise may have been overlooked.

Seek client feedback. It does not take a formal survey to find out how a client feels about the service they are receiving. Call clients and ask them for feedback. This approach provides a personal touch, will bring any issues to the table, and will provide an opportunity to remedy issues before a client is lost. It is also an opportunity to learn what is being done well and what the client likes. At the very least, seeking feedback shows you care.

Don’t take relationships for granted. Make every effort to be responsive. That includes returning phone calls and responding to emails in addition to turning around work on a timely basis. Don’t assume it is okay to get back to the client at your convenience just because you have been working with them for years. That practice can result in a lost client. Lastly, if a client invites you to something, make every effort to attend.

Be client centric. It’s not about what your client can do for you – it’s about what you can do your client. Anyone that truly understands that will benefit. Focus on client-centric marketing and be proactive. The more value you can provide to clients, the happier they will be. Added value can be provided in numerous ways from seminars and newsletters to taking the time to learn about a client’s business and providing solutions to challenges. Clients appreciate receiving information that concerns their business, and it is a way to stay in touch and remain top of mind.

Get to know your clients as people. Learn what they enjoy inside and outside of work – even learn about their families and make a note of that information. Also, think how would you want to be treated if you were the client and what your expectations would be? One of the most valuable lessons I have learned is it is very beneficial to put yourself in the other person’s shoes, and that applies to any situation.

Take all organizational interaction into consideration. I know an attorney who has a requirement for the assistants he works with − they need to have the ability to “make the client feel cared for,” because he deeply cares about his clients’ satisfaction. He understands that a business is a total package. Anyone that has any interaction with a client has the ability to influence how the client feels. An organization’s leadership should pay attention to how members of the organization at every level interact with clients, because those interactions can have a very positive or a very negative effect. A little customer service training can go a long way.

Take the opportunity to really focus on providing excellent service and building relationships with one of the most important assets an organization has – existing clients. It doesn’t cost anything except time, and the rewards are well worth it.

Are humorous insurance ads effective?

Gary Strauss in the July 26, 2012 issue of USA Today discussed if the humorous approach to selling insurance is effective.

While insurance companies have created icons (eg. Geico's gecko, Progressive's Flo, Allstate's Mayhem, etc.), they have not necessarily seen an increase in business.

This is another example of how advertising agencies strive to be creative but are not effective in helping their clients increase business.

Companies should examine how long they want to want to run with a campaign before they look hard at its benefits to bottomline considerations.

Read the insightful article here.

Good pr lessons out of Aurora tragedy

It’s a Crisis, Now What? Lessons from the Aurora, Columbine and Oklahoma City Tragedies

POSTED ON JUL 24, 2012

By Peggy Bendel, Bendel Communications, Author, “It’s a Crisis, Now What?,” and Rob DeRocker

On Saturday, New York Times op-ed contributor and movie critic Roger Ebert headlined his commentary about the Aurora, Colo. shooting, “We’ve seen this movie before.”

Indeed we have – and sadly, we’ll probably see it again. The horrific spasm of violence that killed 12, mostly young people and injured 58 others at midnight last Friday bears many of the trademarks of similar incidents around the US – and the world:

• Victims unrelated to the perpetrator – and for the most part, themselves
• A deranged suspect acting alone while flying under the radar with a carefully thought-out plan
• Sufficient firepower  to kill large numbers of people faster than it takes to place a call to 911
• A “this-isn’t-supposed-to-happen-here” venue – incongruous locales that have included a shopping mall in Toronto, a camp in Norway, a shopping center in Tucson, a university campus in Virginia, a Federal office building  in Oklahoma City. And now, a suburban theater in Colorado, at the premiere screening of a picture inauspiciously entitled “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Of course, rather than “not supposed to happen here,” these disparate scenes are reminders that “this could happen anywhere.” But for the moment, at least, it’s a particular challenge for Aurora – and even more so for Colorado. 

As Friday’s tragedy began to dominate the airwaves there were the inevitable references to Columbine, located just 19 miles away. The high school massacre there took place 13 years ago. It may just as well have been the day before. No one uttering “Columbine” needed elaborate. The word is synonymous with tragedy. But newspapers in subsequent days were more explicit in suggesting a connection; a photo on the front page of the New York Times showed the hilltop with 15 crosses memorializing the 1999 tragedy. Above it was the headline: “Colorado Gun Laws Remain Lax, Despite Some Changes.” Typical, too, was the posting by a friend on one of our Facebook pages: “Is it something in the water? I used to think Colorado was (a) beautiful and peaceful place…  .”

As marketers who have spent most of our careers promoting places for economic development and tourism, we, too, have “seen this movie before.” On April 1, 1995 we went to work for the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce with the charge to “put the city on the map.” Nineteen days later the diabolical work of Timothy McVeigh did exactly that. For years, Oklahomans lamented that the word “bombing” had been become the third word in the city’s name. Only recently have the community’s recession-beating prosperity and wildly successful NBA team allowed it to escape an identity dominated by the then-worst terrorist incident on U.S. soil.

Whether Aurora’s image will be as lastingly tied to horror as that of Columbine or Oklahoma City remains to be seen. What we’ve seen so far, however, are players across the board that have provided exemplary lessons in crisis communications. Monitoring the flurry of news dispatches and iReports in the past few days, four of the seven principles of crisis communications outlined in our just-published book“It’s a Crisis! NOW What?” were in evidence:

1. Know which crisis is yours – and act accordingly.

The Aurora tragedy contained many sub-crises that called for a response from a wide variety of entities:

• The Aurora Police Department, which has been forthcoming and factual throughout;
• Warner Brothers, which swiftly issued their condolences, cancelled the film’s Paris premiere and delayed releasing weekend statistics on the film’s success, but who were described on mediadecoder.com as “struggling for a response “ (http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/warner-brothers-assesses-potential-responses-on-dark-knight/);
• The FBI and ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), which swiftly traced the source of the guns involved;
• The hospitals receiving the victims, one of which treated victims of the Columbine High School shooting, and all of which noted they were well-prepared for Aurora since they now conduct emergency response drills at least semi-annually (http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/health/colorado-shooting-emergency-response/index.html?iid=article_sidebar)
• The families of the victims, who have been actively communicating through traditional and social media, and of the shooter, who issued a brief statement of condolences and requested privacy, though media were encamped across the street (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-07-21/colorado-shooting-victim-identities/56389076/1 and );
• The University of Colorado-Denver’s graduate school, from which the alleged shooter was withdrawing, whose spokesperson confirmed his attendance, and outlined precautionary measures taken on campus;
• The military bases where four of the victims – two killed and two injured – were stationed, which swiftly announced that grief counseling was available to anyone who desired it;
• The Presidential candidates and other politicians, local and national, all of whom suspended “politics as usual” to urge a focus on the victims and their families (http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_21121264?source=pop);
• Advocates for, and opponents of, gun control, who issued a flurry of statements (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/21/us-usa-shooting-guns-campaign-idUSBRE86J18M20120721) and posted online petitions (http://www.bradynetwork.org/site/Survey?ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&SURVEY_ID=6240&autologin=true)
• And of course, the media: local, national and international, who themselves are being critiqued, such as the off-the-cuff remark on Friday’s GMA linking the shooter to the Colorado Tea Party (http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/a-misstep-on-gma-as-networks-rush-to-cover-shooting/)

2. Be proactive.

While the official list of those killed and injured was not released for almost 48 hours, families and friends stepped forward to identify themselves to the media, and provide details about their lives, hopes and dreams, adding a deeper human dimension to the coverage.

Various experts also made themselves available to the media, among them retired FBI profiler Jim Clemente and Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck.

Comments from prior tragedies were repeated, such as the trauma recovery guidelines for people, parents and communities involved in a mass tragedy, which were issued by the American Psychological Association after the Tucson shooting in January 2011, from local psychologist Joel Dvoskin: (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-07-21/theater-shooting-counseling-experts/56394318/1)

3. Make the power of the Internet and social media work for you.

News of the tragedy spread swiftly through tweets and mobile Facebook posts, and an active discussion still ensues, underlining the importance of the Internet and social media in breaking news. Three examples from Aurora, among countless:

• The Aurora Police Department used their Twitter account to update the progress of disarming the suspect’s booby-trapped apartment;
• The Red Cross urged anyone who lived in the area to update their Facebook pages and tweet to friends and family that they were all right, or via their “Safe and Well” page, which links to both social media outlets (https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php);
• The mother of victim Jessica Ghawi (known as Jessica Redfield in her nascent sports reporting career, and an avid Twitter user) urged re-tweets of #RIPJessica, so that her daughter’s name would trend, not that of perpetrator James Homes. Jessica’s brother used his blog and Twitter account to update news of his sister and to memorialize her;
• Movie critic Roger Ebert tweeted the op-ed quoted above to his followers (http://t.co/Df0M2lID).

One very important lesson learned: be sure to check out the news before tweeting. The NRA’s cheery tweet at 9:20 Friday morning (“Good morning, shooters! Happy Friday – any weekend plans?”) was ill-timed, to say the least.

4. Be consistent, and transparent.

Initial information and updates should come from one primary source: the Aurora Police Department has filled that role well. Providing continuing access to the media, delivering updates as they happen and avoiding speculation builds trust among the media, so they need not seek other sources, who may be ill-informed.

Common sense, of course, are all the principles noted above, and the others outlined in “It’s a Crisis!” In the heat of those first crisis moments, though, it’s often easy to lose focus. Prepare now: there may well be a crisis in your future.

### 

About the authors

Peggy Bendel (Peggy@BendelCommunications.com) is the author of the just-published “It’s a Crisis! NOW What? The first step-by-step crisis communications handbook for the global travel and hospitality industry.” The President of Bendel Communications International, she is an internationally-recognized travel marketing expert who has worked with more than 50 countries, states, convention & visitors bureaus, hotels, cruise lines and tour operators around the world. Recognized with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), Peggy is a frequent speaker on marketing, branding, public relations, crisis communications and social media, she sits on the boards of the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME.org), the Destination and Travel Foundation (destinationmarketing.org) and Ecology Project International (ecologyproject.org). She began her career as a travel writer for the State of New York, joining Development Counsellors International in 1985 to re-launch their travel division, handling the public relations for the Australian Tourist Commission’s “Shrimp on the Barbie” campaign.

Rob DeRocker (rob@robderocker.com), a contributor to “It’s a Crisis! NOW What?,” is an economic development marketing consultant based in Tarrytown, NY and St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands with nearly a quarter century’s worth of experience in the field. For 18 years Rob served on the staff at Development Counsellors International, a New York City- based firm specializing in economic development marketing.  Before joining DCI, Rob served as speech writer for New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Finance and Economic Development.  He also was founding Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity in New York and was responsible for recruiting former President Jimmy Carter as a Habitat volunteer. Among other career highlights at DCI, Rob counseled and assisted the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce in its public response to the then-worst terrorist incident in American history.  Rob organized national communications for the “Thank You, America” tour, a coast-to-coast event which paid tribute to rescue workers who had assisted in the bombing aftermath. Rob has personally served some three dozen clients ranging from Puerto Rico to New Zealand.  He has been often quoted on economic development issues in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CFO, Financial Times and many other business publications, and has appeared on CNN and Fox News, among other media.

Responding to the Aurora Colorado Tragedy

Two good blogs on crisis communications + a news article following the "Dark Knight" massacre.

Hollywood Struggles to Respond to “Dark Knight” Shooting: Crisis Communications Takeaways for the Rest of Us

POSTED ON JUL 22, 2012

By Susan Vernon-Devlin, Director of Public Relations Services, Massey Communications

After the shooting in an Aurora cinema during a “Dark Knight Rises” showing on early Friday morning, Warner Brothers canceled the Paris red carpet premiere of its $250 million dollar blockbuster “The Dark Knight Rises.” They also immediately issued a statement saying the studio was “deeply saddened’’ by the incident and expressed sympathies to the families of the victims. The stars and producers did not make appearances over the weekend, and director Christopher Nolan issued a statement declaring tragedy “appalling.”

And as reported by The Los Angeles Times, industry sources estimated on Sunday that the film still grossed close to $160 million on its debut. However, “official weekend estimates were not made available Sunday because Warner Bros. and other major Hollywood studios did not release box office revenue figures out of respect for those involved in the tragic movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo.”

These steps move in the right direction. But is this enough? In the wake of this tragedy, should the Hollywood movie-making machine devise a crisis communications strategy to manage incidents like these? My answer is yes.

This is a crisis that will have long term repercussions. It has long been stated by those in the psychology and psychiatric field that we have becoming an increasingly violent society. Video games now have more fire power than ever before. And every movie appealing to the male demographic 18-24, (the shooter in the Colorado incident is 24-years-old), is filled with car chases, gun battles and fist fights. Some may say this is an isolated incident, but humans are impressionable and if violence and crime are viewed as a thrill, and are inspired by the movies, this will happen again.

Studios large, small and independent need to have crisis communications plans at the ready. We advise all our clients to do so. Here are some additional crisis tips and general rules of thumb:

• Be Prepared. Yes, this is the entertainment business, but look at how quickly entertainment turned into sorrow and mourning less than 20 minutes into a film. “The Dark Knight Rises” is an action-packed thriller, but a movie about a jilted lover, or a misfit in a rom-com, could just as easily incite a violent, over-the-top reaction from someone. The studios should create a plan of action to respond. Send a representative to the site; don’t respond from afar. In this age of social media, establish a platform for people to express their opinions and their sympathies. Be prepared for positive and negative impacts. It will come from all sides. 
• Tell the truth about the incident. If the studio feels the level of violence in the film may have caused the incident, say so, but be sure to have a remedy or suggestions for future films that may carry this level of angst with them. Look at the situation from all sides. The studio may be afraid this may have a negative impact, or ticket sales may also go through the roof because viewers may want to see the exact moment in the movie when the violence was incited. What are the victims feeling? How is the town feeling? What are movie theaters thinking? Will they have to beef up security, perhaps install metal detectors? Have a response and make it sincere.
• Remain calm. If you respond to a crisis with calm and reassurances, the feeling is contagious. Consider former New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani after 9-11. The city could have deteriorated into a bastion of chaos, but his messages quelled the fears of many, and brought together a City and a nation.

The shooting in Aurora, Colorado at “The Dark Knight Rises” is a wake-up call for those who think a crisis will not happen to them and are unprepared to respond. More condolences, statements of comfort and after-action remedies need to be presented by Hollywood studios to show that they acknowledge the crisis, feel the depth of the tragedy and know that the dollars spent to see their films should be paying for more than high-priced actors, producers and big-budget films. Money should also be spent on plans to deal with crisis.

###

Director of Public Relations, Susan Vernon-Devlin, authored this article as a crisis communications expert. She recently served as crisis consultant to the City of Sanford surrounding the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case, and is certified by FEMA, NIMS and ICS in crisis communication plans.

Massey Communications is an Orlando-based full-service advertising, public relations, design and strategic marketing agency established in 1985. With over 100 collective years of experience, Massey Communications bubbles over with ideas that help local, regional and national businesses pop. The agency is a subsidiary of Massey Services. For more information about Massey Communications and its unique boutique approach to branding, please visitwww.masseycommunications.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Aurora: Five Crisis Learnings from the Tragic Theater Shootings

POSTED ON JUL 22, 2012

By Evan Bloom, Senior Consultant, Eric Mower + Associates

While America is still reeling from the shock of the tragic theater shootings in Aurora, Col., other event, exhibition and entertainment venues should be doing the responsible thing and reviewing their crisis communication and management response plans as elements of this terrible story continue to emerge, as in the latest finding that the gunman acted alone (The Los Angeles Times).

As the law enforcement authorities continue their investigations into this horrific event, there are some key factors that entertainment and event locations, as well as all other types of organizations, should realize:

1. Having a crisis plan is no longer enough.

Many will think that they have taken the necessary precautions just because they already have their crisis plan. While these crisis plans do hold value, they are more often “generalized” This means that they are standard plans that contain generalized processes to cover many types of incidents— and in principle there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this.

However, when a special event is held, there is most certainly a case to be argued for having a separate and specific crisis plan for that particular occasion. This is particularly important if your event is going to attract a lot of attention, include members of the public, involve senior members of your organization and employees, and include some form of publicity stunt. As part of your event specific plan you should also have a social media crisis plan that is integrated into the overall event crisis plan.

Human life is at stake, and saving human life takes precedence over everything; there can be no arguing about this. You cannot compromise on your crisis plan. It has to be thorough and must manage the risks that people attending your event may be exposed to.  If you do not do this, you may be held legally liable and accountable. You do not want to face the scrutiny of the court of public opinion and you do not want to deal with prolonged media and social media interest.

 2. Know your risks before you plan.

It is common for companies to use a template-based approach to create their crisis plan. While this may offer some form of protection, I am of the belief that all crisis plans should be based on and written for known and identified risks and their impacts on the organization, should they occur.

Entertainment and event locations should be doing a threat and risk analysis for each event that they are holding. They need to be able to identify the technological, natural and human threats to their event. By doing this, these organizations are able to identify both the risks that pose a threat to them and where they are vulnerable. This will assist them in knowing what to plan for and what resources and assets they will need access to and to have on site to manage all eventualities.

Once the plan has been completed, the identified risks need to be monitored prior to the event. For example, if the event is to be held outdoors and weather has been identified as a risk, then weather patterns must be followed. If the risks change then the crisis plan must be updated accordingly.

3. Exercise and test the plan.

All plans, including those for specific events, need to be tested and exercised; it’s the responsible thing to do. As soon as the plan has been completed, a tabletop exercise should be set up to test the workings of the plan, as well as the capability of employees to meet their responsibilities. Once the tabletop exercise is completed, it must be followed by a debrief in which all the errors are identified and the plan is fine-tuned.

Depending on the event being planned for, a full-scale exercise may be required. The scenario should be chosen, and the exercise should be held. It is crucial to include external agencies such as the police, fire department, paramedics, security company, etc. You may also want to consider involving them in your tabletop exercise. After the full-scale exercise has been held you should also hold a debrief and then amend your crisis plan accordingly.

 4. Advanced training with the experts.

Entertainment and event locations should not spare any expense in advanced training for their employees – this is an investment in the viability of the company. All employees must know what their role is in an emergency evacuation and how to assist members of the public into getting to the nearest and safest emergency exit. This is very important.  In many mass trauma events, including shootings, the media often report that people “were scared, did not know what to do, were panicking.” In a critical event, these emotions are totally understandable. However, people in these traumatic circumstances look for instructions and leadership.

Bringing experts in event and site evacuation, firefighting, and first aid to train employees is crucial and will assist employees in becoming confident when dealing with an emergency situation. Ultimately, you want employees to assist in the safe and risk free evacuation of an event until the law enforcement and emergency services are on scene to take command.

 5. Integrate the plans.

It takes more than just a crisis communications or management plan to get ready for a critical event. Other plans are needed such as emergency management and a business continuity plan. These plans cannot and should not exist in isolation. They need to be integrated so there is coordination, no confusion and a holistic approach to managing a worst-case scenario.

Taking the time and effort to create a crisis plan that is event specific and has been tested and exercised is not only a great insurance policy, but also a smart way for entertainment and event locations to protect their brands and reputations. 

###

About the author: Evan Bloom is a senior consultant at Eric Mower + Associates. He is a member of the firm’s Reputation Management Services group, and his area of specialty and interest is crisis planning, vulnerability auditing and crisis training.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Warner Bros. regroups on PR for 'Dark Knight'

Studio in crisis-management mode in wake of deadly shootings

By CYNTHIA LITTLETON; 

Posted: Fri., Jul. 20, 2012,

Forced by tragedy to re-evaluate its marketing and PR plans for "The Dark Knight Rises," Warner Bros. was poised to cancel the remainder of the pic's international press tour.

The studio also lost a significant amount of marketing exposure for the pic on Friday as TV spots for the pic were dropped by numerous networks out of viewer-sensitivity concerns. There were reports that Warner Bros. had taken steps to limit some of its TV marketing for the pic but that was strongly denied by sources close to the situation in Burbank.

The scramble on Friday came hours after a gunman killed 12 people and wounded more than 50 others at a midnight screening of "Dark Knight" in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colo.

With media coverage of the shooting blanketing the airwaves on Friday, Warner Bros. execs went into crisis-management mode as they reviewed promo and marketing plans for the pic in light of the massacre. The studio moved quickly to cancel Friday's scheduled premiere of the pic in Paris, and by day's end a source with knowledge of the situation said it was leaning toward tabling the rest of its international press tour.

The studio had not made an official announcement of its international plans as of late Friday afternoon. However, WB is expected to cancel next week's premieres and press junkets that have been scheduled for Mexico City and Tokyo. The events would have featured red-carpet premieres with stars such as Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway along with screenings of the film.

In the frenzy of news coverage of the shooting rampage on Friday morning, some nets proactively decided to pull the spots that had been set to run for the pic. There were conflicting reports as to whether Warner Bros. eventually asked for all blurbs to be pulled for the weekend or whether some nets took the initiative on their own.

Sources at two of the Big Four broadcast nets said the studio made a request to pull "Dark Knight" spots that had been set to run this weekend. However, this was disputed to sources close to the studio, who insisted that all marketing efforts that were already in place before the shootings would proceed as planned. In most cases, spots that were pulled by the nets will be reskedded to run at a later date.

The loss of millions of dollars worth of commercials during the pic's opening weekend is a vivid illustration of how significant an impact the mass shooting will have on the tentpole that had been the cornerstone of Warner Bros.' summer movie sked. One marketing expert estimated the value of the film's TV spots on its opening weekend at $3 million-$5 million.

Contact Cynthia Littleton at cynthia.littleton@variety.com

The uproar over US Olympic uniforms made in China

USA Today editorialized about the recent controversy regarding US Olympic uniforms being made in China rather than in the good ol' USA.

It is amazing how difficult it is to find products made in the USA but Olympic uniforms are symbolic and steps should have been taken to find US manufacturers.  It is estimated that the result would have been not only over $1 billion staying in this country but heightened awareness about ways to stimulate US manufacturing growth.

The US Olympic Committee and Ralph Lauren would be best served by seeking public relations counsel.

Editorial: Olympic uniform uproar goes from dumb to dumber

In the annals of public relations, Ralph Lauren's decision to have the United States Olympic Team's opening ceremony uniforms made in China will someday be a case study in what not to do.

For a company that hopes to promote its brand and sell a boatload of the snappy outfits, Ralph Lauren instead managed to anger significant parts of the American public. It takes a particular tone deafness to national pride to outfit the squad representing the United States in Chinese-made duds, not to mention French-looking berets. Ralph Lauren has admitted as much by saying the 2014 team's uniforms will be made in the USA.

But, as avoidable a fiasco as this has been for one fashion house and the U.S. Olympic Committee, it is some of the critics who come off now looking even sillier, starting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who went so far as to say that the uniforms should be burned.

Does Reid recall when members of Congress took sledgehammers to Toshiba products on the steps of the Capitol in 1987 in a fit of Japan-bashing that was replayed endlessly overseas? Torching the Olympic uniforms on the eve of the London Summer Games would create about as much international goodwill, and have even less impact on outsourcing jobs.

For decades Americans, congressional leaders included, have been voting with their pocketbooks in favor of cheap imported clothing over more expensive domestic wares. This has prompted the majority of textile mills in the USA to close, continuing a process that started when mills from New England and expensive labor markets moved to Southern states, and then overseas.

Countering this trend would be all but impossible. Punitive tariffs on textile imports would have disastrous consequences on the whole economy as other countries retaliated against American-made goods.

True, the United States Olympic Team has symbolic importance, as do the uniforms it wears. But in a globalized economy, the athletes still will need foreign-made products to compete. That's why no one is talking about banning imported track shoes, swimsuits or skis.

The good news is that U.S. manufacturing — principally in more sophisticated areas than textiles — is seeing something of a rebound, thanks to low natural gas prices at home and rising labor costs and increased hassles in places such as China.

If lawmakers wanted to to do something more useful than bellyaching about uniforms, they would focus on how to nurture and sustain this encouraging trend. That would truly be an Olympic achievement.