Forward to the Past

Nostalgia is making a comeback (again). Maybe it's the recession - maybe it's ageing marketers!

Every country has it's story of the past: and every generation adds to that story. Our own research shows that consumers are 'imprinted' by their experiences in their 20s: such that the decade in which they joined the adult race remains in their memory as the best decade of their lives.

But be careful about nostalgia: the past is another country and they do things differently there. Unless you are Hovis of course.

The Most Powerful Force in Marketing

It isn't price or service or value or quality ... it's inertia. The Ad Contrarian nails it again.

If you are an incumbent then that can only be a good thing (though don't take your customers' loyalty for granted - all our research shows that the 'trigger level' for customer defection is getting lower). If you are a challenger then you've got your work cut out - sure price will work (look at the success of Bord Gais' BigSwitch campaign), but there will always be a minority prepared to switch for price anyway. Your challenge is to find the right marketing message to connect with the majority ...

These things are, of course, eternal verities of the marketing world - but in a recession they are more acute (and critical) than ever.

A Break from Ad Breaks

Here's a scary thought for Irish television broadcasters: what if you run out of advertisers and have to show programmes without any ad breaks? That's what's happening in Spain - according to the excellent JWT Anxiety Index blog:

So with TV ad time not as profitable as it once was, the government has made the decision to wipe out advertising on the two public TV channels starting in September, to emphasize a clearer “public service” orientation. There will be no more ads on the Televisión Española (TVE) network, and new taxes on private channels and telecom companies will support public TV budgets.

No mention of increasing the TV licence - phew!

Marketing for Recovery

Marketing will lead the recovery. Don't take our word for it: a new, global survey of SMEs by the Economist Intelligence Unit for Verio rates marketing as the business area most important to helping companies prepare for an improving economy.

The fact that it is small businesses rather than large corporates that are saying this bodes well indeed for marketing's future role. The task in the meantime is to hold on to your marketing team and your marketing budget! One that will get a lot easier as we reach the bottom of the economic cycle and start the long but rewarding trek up the recovery curve.

Cheaper to Rent or Buy?

Ronan Lyons has an interesting analysis of the costs of renting versus buying a home. The good news for home sellers (and house builders) is that buying has just gotten a lot more attractive. Not so good news for landlords of course.

Nor is Ireland alone in this: in the UK, the financial regulator estimates that interest payments as a percentage of incomes is back to its long run (twenty five year) average of 15%.

The recession's biggest (only?) silver lining - record low interest rates - is good news for those consumers who borrowed during the boom: and an indirect stimulus to consumer spending even as incomes are constrained.

Forget Paris

We do a lot of work in the tourism and hospitality sector, so it is always nice to see a really clever use of viral marketing to get your message out to potential visitors, enjoy!

We Won!

Amárach Research won the All Ireland Marketing Award for Market Research last night for our ID research programme - a joint initiative with TBWA/Cawley Nea and OMD.

Well done to Adrian, Lesley and the rest of the ID crew for winning this fantastic prize and doing us proud!

Are We Nearly There?

The latest forecasts from Davy should be of some comfort to marketers. The recession may not be over, but it looks like we're moving from the end of the beginning to at least the beginning of the end.

But we're not there yet: 2009 will see a nasty contraction in consumer spending of -9%, according to Davy. However, most of that will be in the first half of the year (now nearly over), with the rest of the year adding to the misery but not by anywhere near as much. Next year's outlook isn't great (another fall in spending), just not as bad.

There's a silver lining in there somewhere ...