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December 9 , 1992...The Portland Observer ...Page 5
Fabric D e p o t
Targeted Advertising To
A frican-A m ericans Played
Role In Dem ocratic Victory
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President-Elect Bill Clinton shares a few moments with Valerie Graves. Sr.
Vice President Creative Director, Uni World Group, Inc., who created
successful TV and radio advertisements for his campaign and the
Democratic Party.
Targeted commercials were a vital
part o f the advertising e ffo rt fielded by
the successful Democratic candidates
in 1992. “ In a campaign where the
strategy was not to reach out to so-
called ‘special interest’ groups, targeted
communications helped reaffirm the
trad ition al connection between the
Democratic Party and the A frica n-
Am erican com m unity,” says Byron
Lewis, Chairman and CEO, U niW orld
Group, Inc.
Radio commercials carrying bas
ketball superstar Magic Johnson’ s en
dorsements o f B ill C lin to n and the
D e m o c ra tic P a rty , c re a te d by
U n iW o rld ’ s Sr. Vice President Cre
ative D irector Valerie Graves, were
aired w idely during the final weeks o f
the campaign, and a television spot shot
on the streets o f New Y o rk ’ s Harlem
was a fixture on cable’ s Black Enter
tainment Television.
“ I consider the targeted effort my
most rewarding contribution to the pro
cess,” said Graves, who also shot gen
eral market commercials w ith H o lly
wood director M ichael Apted, producer
o f the m e g a -h it, B ra m S to k e r’ s
“ Dracula.” “ Creating advertising that
has particular relevance to African-
Americans pays special dividends for
those who are wise enough to take
advantage o f it. This tim e, the Demo
cratic candidates were. Contrary to the
fears o f many, African-A m erican vot
ers did not stay home on election day,
and I have to believe the advertising
played some role in that,” said Ms.
Graves.
Up-and-com ing young A frica n-
american director Steven Conner d i
rected the hard-hitting T V spot, w hile
producer Bernard Drayton o f 4/4 Pro
ductions and, composer Rex Rideout
created the o riginal score.
VIEW FROM
HHS
by
Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.
’ 25% discount does not apply to "Special Purchase ' or previously discounted or marked down items.
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A Plan To Help Our Inner Cities
Continued from front page
The Wage Discrepancy
The wage environment o f our in-
nerc ities can’l match hourly wage struc
tures o f many competitor countries,
which arc about S I.50 in Costa Rica,
S.45 in Guatemala, S. 15 in H aitio, S.85
in Dominican Republic, S2.40 in Korea
and .520 in Malaysia.
Employee productivity eventually
w ill help to offset competitors’ wage
advantage. In itia lly , however, inner
cities trying io attract globally competi
tive firm s w ill need to explore other
avenues to boost a firm 's profitability.
Besides federal tax breaks, C ity and
state governments w ill ncedtoexaminc
such steps as: building factory shells
tied to low-cost, long-term leases; pro
viding day card, worker training, and
some health coverage; leasing equip
ment; or giving up property or business
taxes fo r awhile. It is important no
initiatives violate our nation's existing
any tax concessions that help localities
help their inner cities.Yet federal tax
incentives, though they alone won t
create cost com petitive production en
vironments, are a vital part o f any pack
age to attract U.S. firm s operating o ff
shore or foreign firm s looking fo r fa
cilities in the U.S.
Energizing Inner C ity Economic
Development
How can we energize competitive
economic development in our inner
cities? First, we must recognize that
individual firm s d riving the develop
ment process w ill bring the best results.
Second, we need top view our inner
cities as developing countries, possess
ing human capital and surrounded by
one o f the most modem infrastructures
and s till the most desirable markets in
the world. T h ird , we need to develop
highly professional profiles, assets and
liabilities, o f inner cities. From these
profiles w ill flo w unique strategics and
competitive positioning, which allows
recruitment to these “ Developing coun
tries” o f globally com petitive compa
trade agreements.
The ultimate objective is that com
petitive firm s locating in an inner city
import over time more competitive capi
tal than the surrounding city expended
to attract the firm in the first place.
Action That W ill W ork
1. The federal government can play
a positive role by targeting forcom pcti-
tivc development ten or so inner cities,
by providing a share o f funding and by
making up w ith officials from the com
munities a board to oversee a time-
defined e ffo rt top attract globally com
nies.
Finally, highly professional, m ul
tilingual communications and fo llo w
up comprise the end stages o f bringing
competitive development to our long-
atrophying inner cities. M arket chal
lenges facing firm s w ill determine in
the end the form o f sustainable, truly
competitive development flo w in g to
our nation’ s inner cities.
petitive firm s and jobs. Cities not con
tributing an agreed amount o f funding
would be excluded from the board and
the initiative. One o ffic ia l from each
funding city would represent his/her in
ner city on the board. A business person
from each city, representing businesses
financially supporting the development
initia tive, would also serve on the board.
Business representatives w ould
form an executive committee and select
a board chair person. Motions moving
forward would need support o f two-
thirds o f the board.
2. The board should select a small
firm to create the strategies, competi
tive ly position the inner cities and carry
out the recruitment, negotiations and
placement o f new firms. Incentive pay
(for jobs created, for firm s attracted, for
payroll dollars, for crime reductions,
etc.) would form the bulk o f compensa
tion. (No new bureaucracy here!)
3. The retained firm w ould be
charged to undertake a highly focused,
aggressive recruitment drive aimed at
the w orld ’s top firms (mostcompetitive,
not necessarily the largest), which
matched the need and assets o f each
inn crcity w ith the unique circumstances
•
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accomplished.
A government and private coali
tion, driven by incentive and the mar
ketplace, can bring to our nation’ s in
ner cities not headline development,
but real competitive advancement tied
to the changing needs o f the global
marketplace. It can bring unprecedented
“ sp ill-o ve r” economic development
benefitting entire regions.
***
o f target firms.
4. The federal government would
create n Washington a small task force at
an action-m otivating level, possibly in
alliance w ith an existing non-profit o r
ganization, to act as a resource arm for
Venerable Booker is a founder.
Chairman and CEO o f 23-year old
Am erican State Bank in Portland,
Oregon’ s only Black-own fu ll serv ice
fin a n c ia l
in s titu tio n .
G o rd on
Sludcbakcr is president o f One Am eri
cas in Washington, D.C., a firm focus
ing on economic and business develop
the development program.
ment.
•>; M tf M M É * ’ ’ *.*'*•* * * * '
» •
5. E fforts undertaken for the ten
targeted cities would be developed and
packaged for standardized applications
by other cities trying to bring competi
tive progress to their inner cities.
Tim e To End The Failures
For the most part, our nation’s
economic advances have failed to ad
vance inner cities and their predomi
nantly m inority residents. A no-non
sense strategy forcompetitiveeconomic
development and top-notch implemen
tation would bring to inner cities last
ing results fa irly quickly. Playing to the
strengths o f governments and the busi
ness community would optim ize the
roles o f b o th , something rarely, i f ever,
Can violence be treated as a pub
lic health problem? Are there pub
lic health techniques which can he
used to help us prevent violence be
fore it happens?
Over the past decade, community
leaders and public health agencies
have increasingly been asking these
questions. And their answer today
is—yes, we should try applying pub
lic health approaches to help pre
vent violence . . . but, we must take
care that all such efforts involve
community partnership. Indeed,
community initiative and leadership
are the keys to success for any vio
lence prevention effort.
What do I mean by public health
techniques to help prevent violence?
I mean a step-by-step approach, the
classic method that is used to con
front other widespread health prob
lems:
1) Study the problem scientifically
and in detail to understand it better.
Who is most affected by violence?
When, where, and why does it oc
cur? In truth, we know little today
about the many factors which might
explain our high level of violence in
America.
2) Identify the factors which put
individuals at risk. As we understand
more about the causes of violence,
we should be able to pinpoint spe
cific factors which put an individual
at risk of being either a victim or a
perpetrator of violence.
One very important research need
is to understand why so many indi
viduals survive difficult conditions
and avoid violence, while some oth
ers succumb to violent behaviors.
3) Identify "intervention" points.
“Intervention” is the public health
goal—the action that can be taken
to prevent injury or disease. But “in
terventions” to prevent violence can
not be the same kind used for many
other health conditions.
For example, vaccination is the
intervention that prevents many dis
eases. But there is no vaccine against
violence, nor can there ever be. We
cannot look to drugs or medical
treatments to solve the problem of
violence.
Instead, we must use broader ap
proaches, which fit the problem and
the need. Some examples include:
• Mentoring—providing one-on-
one contact between model adults
and young people at risk of violence;
• Family counseling—providing
help to the entire family when po
tential problems are seen in one fam
ily member;
• Skills training—teaching indi
viduals, especially young people, the
social skills of resolving disputes
without recourse to violence.
Of course, the problem of vio
lence is not going to be solved by
public health or social service pro
grams alone. Violence arises from
frustration and hopelessness, and a
whole range of social factors are in
volved: economics (including pov
erty, unemployment!, discrimina
tion, lack of opportunity, education
and cultural examples, including
media portrayals.
But public health approaches can
help—if they are handled correctly.
That means:
First, we must examine violence
comprehensively. Violence is not
confined to homicide. It includes
child abuse, sexual assault, spousal
battering, elder abuse and indeed
suicide. We are learning that the
perpetrators of violence are often
those who were themselves previ
ously the victims of violence. We
need to understand violence in its
entirety.
Second, we must not let the study
or prevention of violence be con
taminated by racial stereotypes. Vio
lence is a problem of humankind,
not of one race or another.
Third, and most important, we
must put communities in the driver’s
seat of violence prevention. No ef
fort to confront and reduce violence
can have any chance of success un
less it is understood by the commu
nity, supported by the community,
and indeed led by the community.
The best programs today for pre
venting violence started not at the
federal or state levels, but in cities,
towns and neighborhoods.
The federal government can sup
port research and help share ideas.
But if violence is to stop, our com
munities must continue to lead the
way.
(Dr. Sullivan is U.S. secretary of
health and human services.)