Spell What??

 Give me an ‘L’! Give me a ‘U’! Give me a ‘V’! Give me a ‘W’! Give me a…

Actually, enough of the alphabet-obsession when it comes to describing the shape of this recession. Is it just me or is a lot of the media punditry of late beginning to collectively sound like some sort of deranged, dyslexic cheer squad? Only without the mini-skirts and pom-poms. All I know is: (i) we’re still in it up to our proverbials; (ii) a few isolated green shoots of recovery do not a sustained upswing make; and (iii) none of Westminster’s rather expensive recovery programmes seem to be doing UK SME’s much in the way of good.

‘Tis indeed a cruel business summer. But maybe – just maybe! – bad times aren’t around the corner and the outlook isn’t necessarily vile. Branding consultancy Clear reported in a recent survey that 42 per cent of Britons are still spending money and feeling positive about their financial situation, so there’s still market share to be gained. In a zero-budget environment, however, the burning question is, of course: How?

All things marketing have earned especially close attention from yours truly since January. Not in any pejorative sense, but as a means by which we can cut better deals with advertisers, gain the most insight from our current client data and generally try to determine which combination of channels delivers the best return. In my opinion, getting ahead during tough times is all about understanding trends. For if you can quantify what and when your sector’s buying, you’ll be able to cut your marketing cloth accordingly. N'est-ce pas?

Unlike some CEO’s I’ve observed (and who shall remain nameless), one’s first impulse during tough times shouldn’t be to slash marketing and PR spends. I’m not advocating blithely carrying on as usual, please note – a recession is attention-worthy, after all – but it is possible to market in ways which increase response rates and ROI even during a downturn (DM and digital is an excellent channel combination, for example). Ditching ye olde volume-based, ‘bigger is better’ approach to marketing in favour of a marcoms stance which is more targeted and that emphasises value is also a canny move. But before you direct your marketing people to press ‘Send’ on your next e-mail campaign in the mistaken belief that online will provide a cheap, accessible channel by which to spam your way to recession-busting sales glory, I suggest you think again. My observation is that online is all but maxed-out at present. Open- and click-through rates are in freefall as punters are being inundated with unsolicited offers. It’s as if we’ve come full circle and are repeating the mistakes of old Eighties-styled direct mail – only digitally and not via letterboxes.

The companies and brands that will not only survive but even prosper during the rest of 2009 and beyond will be those whose marketing messages reassure consumers and whose products/services are perceived to add value. Now is definitely not the time for clever tricks or expensive marketing gimmicks, I believe. So let’s accentuate the positives, better manage the negatives and continue to give clients the right encouragement to part with their hard earned, shall we?

On His Majesty’s Not-So-Secret Service

 
The Prince of Wales has calculated that we have just 96 months left to save the world. Yep, he who has multi-million pound estates, dozens of staff and whose worldwide jaunts cost the UK public hundreds of thousands of pounds each year delivered a searing indictment on unfettered materialism at the annual Richard Dimbleby Lecture last week.

Kind of ironic, huh?

All (considerable) cynicism aside, however, it was good to see HRH mixing with leading industrialists and environmentalists at the Dimbleby talkfest. Charles seems increasingly eager to embrace topical issues in high-profile public fora, so if this gives him a sense of purpose and helps avert looming environmental crisis, then good on him. As the future monarch the Prince deserves to be remembered for more than just wanting to be Camilla’s ‘tampon’ (Charles’ words, not mine!).

Hence am thinking of adding ‘royalty’ to my lexicon of important, recession-busting ‘r’ words, which includes ‘recyclability’, ‘relevance’ ‘responsiveness’ and ‘retention’. Maybe we should ask Charles to endorse PAS 2020, the DMA’s Environmental Standard. PAS 2020 has inextricably linked key environmental performance indicators with marketing fundamentals like better targeting, data hygiene and recyclability in ways which can only but enhance the reputation of the DM industry as well as help us to reach the industry’s next recycling target.

Charles is right: without ‘coherent financial incentives and disincentives’ we could indeed only have 96 months to avert ‘irretrievable climate and ecosystem collapse, and all that goes with it.’

The clock’s ticking, folks. Give PAS 2020 a shot today – if only for the sake of tomorrow.

 

Game, Set and Match

Congrats to Roger Federer on winning the Wimbledon men’s singles crown on Sunday. That this is his 15^th Grand Slam title is a remarkable achievement. I swear the man is a tennis machine. And he’s only 27! Quite astounding.

Of course conspicuously absent from Federer’s epic final against the über cool Andy Roddick was that other Andy – as in Murray. Just prior to Andy M’s semi-final loss on Friday, the amusingly banal Andy Murray-o-Meter (tracking the burning issue ‘Is Andy Murray a Brit or a Scot?’), had peaked at a ‘yes’ vote of 86%. I checked this morning and see it’s down to 77%. My bet’s on a further slide south over coming days. We Brits are an unforgiving lot, no?

Yet again, after all the acres of press coverage and gargantuan hype, Mr Murray failed to deliver a Grand Slam victory for Team GB. Not his fault – the guy did his best but was beaten on the day by a better player (Roddick). So is Andy Murray the nation’s next planet-conquering sporting brand in the making? I think not. As the always insightful Mark Ritson observed in Marketing recently, ‘the harsh reality is that Murray is a fine tennis player, but a hopeless prospect as the next Beckham, no matter how advanced the brand strategy applied to his future career.’

So best of British – and Scottish! – to you, Andy Murray. But to paraphrase Monty Python in The Life of Brian, I suggest we all remember that you’re not a sports brand messiah, you’re just a very moody and petulant boy who does a fine job swinging a tennis racquet.

Oh, and the day after Michael Jackson’s three-ring circus send off (sorry, Memorial Service), in Los Angeles, this exclusive report just in: He’s still dead, folks. I just love our ‘sleb-obsessed culture, don’t you?

Deliver us from SPAM evil