More hard times

Andrew Seth

This article discusses how markets are likely to respond to the new recession. It looks at a variety of sectors, including housing, cars and food, and argues the key for marketers will be to: keep brands strong; adopt a flexible approach on pricing; maintain competitive advantage; retain product advantage; keep awareness high; and use all the distribution channels available, including deep discounters.

More hard times

Andrew Seth

I make no apologies for returning to the theme of markets in recession. Anxieties grow. The outlook is worse than it seemed in the summer (1). Huge worldwide responses are being made – at time of writing, the US Treasury's assumption of the debts of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae being the latest and largest. How are consumers themselves responding – and what do brands and businesses need to be doing ? There are specific answers, perhaps, but also some clear principles governing consumer attitudes and behaviour. Let's look at three different markets and see...

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