Unintended consequences
07 Sep 2010
Today the streets of London are thronging with people who have walked or cycled to work in the bright crisp autumn morning. Today’s tube strike has practically closed the tube for many commuters and it seems and we’re finding alternative routes into and around the capital.
The aim of the strikes? Better conditions for train staff. The unintended consequences, however, are harder to foresee. Will commuters sympathise with the hard working underground engine of London’s transport system, or will they, having been given just a little push into the fresh air, use the freshly dusted off bike or shiny new cycle hire scheme more regularly?. Much as as the rail industry’s reaction to increasing road freight arguably hastened rather than halted the switch onto the roads from the 1920s onwards, protecting the way things are at the moment might actually hasten their downfall.
In our charity world, we continue to hear that large scale direct mail and direct response TV are suffering from diminishing returns, so should we focus more attention (and more budget) there – making the results even less impressive, or should we read the writing on the wall and invest that additional effort in a growth area: digital media where returns can be many times higher but where we have to blaze a trail.
From the looks on the faces of today’s commuters, sometimes a breath of fresh air can work wonders, and isn’t half as scary as it first appears.
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