Marketing ICS: Six Trends for the Future of the Fire Rescue Service

Over the last six years I have been fortunate having had the opportunity to observe and comment on the applications of marketing management to the fire and emergency services. When Jeff Barrington and Harvey Eisner gave me the green light to begin writing for Firehouse Magazine in 2000 I was excited, but privately worried about running out of material after a year or so.

Little did I know that soon after I began my column I would ever be able to become a part of a great international company - the Walt Disney Company - with one of the finest fire departments in the world. Many people in the fire service do not know the indisputable standards of Reedy Creek Fire and Rescue or that NFPA actually adopted "the Epcot Code" as one of its models for fire and life safety. Nor did I ever imagine that Disney, in partnership with Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, would allow me to be a part of a public fire education experience - "Where's the Fire?" - attracting millions of people.

The fact is that I have so much material and interest now from so many parts of our profession - including the international arena - that I could keep writing about marketing applications to fire and rescue for the next 10 years. I would like to take a moment to catch my breath and offer some observations on the present state of marketing for the fire and emergency services as well as some emerging trends. Now, Firehouse.Com has given me an opportunity to reach an even wider audience.

When I first began writing about marketing management for the fire service I observed that public service marketing was the sleeping giant of marketing, and that fire service marketing management would become the sleeping giant of public service marketing. The truth of this observation is evolving in front of our eyes. According to the American Advertising Association in 2004 the average American consumer received over 4,000 commercial messages in some form daily!

I do not know the number of public service messages, but can bet that they are increasing in number if not sophistication and projection. We are not there yet - locally nor nationally - but we are moving slowly in the right direction. The problem is that we do not live in a slow-moving society. The question is: will we create our own future with our own voice, and by doing so ensure the safety of our citizens, or will we continue to be on the sideline and let someone else do it?