As we approach the new year, many organizations find themselves in a familiar place. Budgets are being reviewed, expenses scrutinized and hard decisions made about where to invest and where to pull back. When uncertainty creeps in, promotion and creative work often become easy targets for cost-cutting. That’s why this moment feels like the right time to revisit a story that reminds us what can happen when leaders resist the instinct to go quiet and choose instead to invest with intention.
When the Great Depression hit in the early 1930s, fear spread quickly through American businesses. Sales dropped, uncertainty rose and leaders everywhere reached for the same lever: cut costs. One of the first things to go was advertising. For many companies, it felt responsible. If money was tight, promotion could wait.
Procter & Gamble made a different decision. Rather than pulling back, P&G increased its investment in marketing. Not recklessly, but intentionally. While competitors went quiet, P&G leaned into visibility, storytelling and brand presence. They sponsored radio programming, most notably daytime serial dramas that would later be known as “soap operas.” Instead of disappearing during uncertainty, they stayed present in people’s homes and minds.
The result was not subtle. While many competitors struggled to recover, P&G gained market share and emerged from the Depression stronger than before. They didn’t just survive the downturn. They reshaped their category.
The lesson wasn’t that advertising magically fixes everything. It was that silence is far more expensive than presence, especially at moments when attention is still available and opportunity is still within reach.
We see a modern version of this mistake all the time.
Organizations recognize that promotion matters, especially when money gets tight. But instead of investing wisely, they often settle for what is simply available. Internal teams or “good enough” creative resources are asked to carry work they were never designed to handle. The thinking is understandable: We can save money and still sort of get the job done.
But “sort of” rarely delivers real results. When the stakes are high — a fundraising campaign, a major initiative or a defining moment for your organization — underpowered communication doesn’t just underperform; it leaves opportunity on the table. The cost isn’t just aesthetic, it’s strategic. And once the moment passes, it doesn’t come back.
P&G understood something many leaders miss: the time to invest in promotion is often when it feels hardest to justify. When others pull back, clarity and excellence stand out even more.
At Bark, we work with organizations to ensure their message is built with the same level of care as the mission it represents. This is especially true when there is real opportunity ahead. Cutting investment right before a moment of potential impact doesn’t protect resources. It quietly undermines them. P&G didn’t win the Depression by spending less. They won it by refusing to go quiet, even during the most uncertain time in the company's history.
