Act now or bad things will happen and it will be YOUR fault

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke are calling on Congress to hurry up and approve the $700 billion bailout plan. Congress is not know for the speed of its decision making but Paulson and Bernanke are likely to prevail since they have unleashed the most powerful of all weapons: The Fear Sell. When used in the right circumstances it can move even the slowest of institutions.

Ben Bernanke: "Global financial markets remain under extraordinary stress. Action by the Congress is required to stabilize the situation and avert what otherwise could be very serious consequences for our financial markets and our economy."

Note the ingredients required for this weapon to work: 1) It's a big problem 2) It needs action immediately 3) No action spells disaster and 4) If there is a disaster, those who fail to act will be the ones that get the blame.

Bernanke and Paulson are trying to save the world from financial ruin but the same technique can also be applied in relatively less monumental situations. Back in my Nestlé days, the Coffee-mate brand team had developed what we thought was a real winner: Coffee-mate flavors (in delicious Amaretto, French Vanilla and Irish Creme (although, truthfully, the Irish Creme wasn't that good)). But there was a lot of foot-dragging going on. Could we run some more market research? When would the project breakeven? Did we really need TV or would coupons be OK?

Then, one day, we got a call from the field saying that Cremora, our hated competitor, was about to launch its own range of flavors. Panic in the cubes of Nestlé. The green light to launch came within hours, the product was launched and consumers everywhere got to savor those delicious flavors. Funny now I think about it--Cremora never did launch any flavors after all. I wonder how that rumor got started.