Define your day after: DHS urges small businesses

As hurricane season approaches, the US Department of Homeland Security's Ready Campaign and The Advertising Council are reaching out to small businesses and encouraging them to ‘define their day after’ by putting emergency preparedness at the top of their to-do list.

A series of national public service advertisements entitled ‘Procrastination’ were released nationwide this week for radio, print, internet and outdoor media. These PSAs focus on what can happen when a business owner chooses to place making an emergency plan at the bottom of their to-do list. The theme taps into the natural tendency for individuals to put off making plans for another day.

"Research conducted by the Ad Council found that more than 85 percent of small businesses understand that emergency preparedness is important, yet only four in ten businesses have a plan to protect their businesses," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "The ability of these businesses to survive and recover quickly from both natural and man-made disasters directly benefits employees, customers, the community and the local, and even national, economy."

The public service advertisements were created by Neiman Group and mark the third round of national PSAs created for Ready Business, a component of the Ready Campaign. Ready Business is designed to help owners and managers of small- to medium-size businesses prepare their employees, operations and assets in the event of an emergency by providing practical steps and easy-to-use templates.

To date, the Ready Business effort has received more than $91.1 million in donated media support; its website has received more than 29.7 million hits and more than 2.6 million unique visitors; and more than 2.3 million Ready Business materials have been requested or downloaded from the Web site.

"In speaking to a number of small business owners, we understand that making an emergency plan often takes a backseat to the numerous tasks that need to be accomplished on a daily basis," said Ad Council President and CEO Peggy Conlon. "Ready Business provides critical resources and encourages businesses to take the time to protect what they have worked so hard to build. We hope these new PSAs will encourage all business owners to put making an emergency plan at the top of their to-do list and serve as a reminder of the information readily available to help prepare businesses for an emergency at ready.gov."

•Date: 22nd May 2008• Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general
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