Let’s just dispense with the obvious right away: Donald Trump won the presidential election last night, and this fact apparently surprised quite a few people including his own staff, who were looking at the same internal numbers as the opposing party.
International markets did not take the news well, and we imagine quite a few agency employees aren’t talking about much else in the office today. One agency leader, however, saw the upset win and subsequent confusion as an opportunity … a huge opportunity.
According to our sources, this shop’s president sent out the following all-staff email at some point between 2:30 AM, when the race was called by the Associated Press, and noon today:
“Given the election results last night, we want to make sure we are all well-prepared to consult with our clients proactively on what this might mean for their business. We also want you to be equipped as questions may come in from our clients.
First, on the proactive front, we have an incredible opportunity to reach out to clients today. As many of you know, we have postponed the [event] today and, instead, are directing clients to a replay of the [other event]. This is a tremendous opportunity to connect with clients as this is exactly what many of them will be looking to understand – what is the right approach for companies given the election result.”
It’s not clear why this agency’s clients would need to reconsider their “approach” to marketing following the news or what real value the shop would deliver in explaining the surprise election result with a generic presentation. But it’s worth noting that the theme of the second event listed above was “Fear of Change,” so it would stand to reason that the agency wants to take this opportunity to let its clients know that some change is OK and that it won’t necessarily threaten their businesses — even if it happens to be named Trump.
In one take on the office’s response to this CTA, a source called the note “fucking gross.”
[Image via A. Katz/Shutterstock]