Surviving the economic downturn will be high on the list of priorities for most businesses in 2009. However, in addition to the challenges, Beechwood believe that there will be some opportunities too.

Many independent studies have shown that in previous recessions, those businesses that continued to invest in marketing and advertising during a downturn went on to outperform those that didn’t. Now is not the time for across the board cuts in the marketing budget, but the time to take a considered approach to allocating the marketing spend.

Looking back at historical success stories, you are unlikely to find the answers for beating this recession. The marketing landscape has changed dramatically; during the last recession did blogging, social marketing, email campaigns and viral marketing even feature on the marketing plan?

With the rapid evolution of marketing over the past decade, traditional media has declined and digital marketing has grown in importance and effectiveness. Across Europe and the US, online behaviour patterns have changed considerably and we spend more time online and less time exposed to traditional marketing channels like the television. Therefore, we have to reassess our channels of communication and select the most appropriate marketing tools.

Technological innovation has broken down traditional national market boundaries and the global marketplace is well and truly open for business. There are opportunities for business, the challenge is making sure you can keep pace with economic change and quickly deploy marketing solutions to convert them.

McKinsey & Company recommend in their report “The downturn’s new rules for marketers”, that marketers regularly reprioritise geographies and target customers to ensure they pursue those with the greatest profit potential.

Finally, I would like to wish all of our clients a prosperous 2009, happy new year!

On September 29th, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index plunged and all of its constituents’ stocks fell, all bar one: the Campbell Soup Company. Investors flocked to the iconic brand, which makes some of America’s favourite soups and its shares went up by 0.3 percent. That’s a very good clue to the type of brands that will prosper in 2009 - those that represent good quality and excellent value for money.

According to Interbrand, as value for money rises up the consumers’ agenda, two early beneficiaries of consumers’ changing mood have been German hard-discount supermarket chains Aldi and Lidl (read Mark’s blog on brand names, coming soon), which have been gaining market share across Europe from established giants. It used to be shameful for the middle-class to shop at discounter stores but now their brands suggest intelligent buying.

For consumer, read business. I believe now is the time for agencies to respond as partners to their clients in these challenging times with solutions that deliver good quality and excellent value for money. The flight to value is for all of us to embrace. As a marketing agency, Beechwood have always liked to think we offer our clients value. And with the current weakness of sterling against the dollar we now offer our US clients more value than ever.

Working with brands across EMEA, as a copywriter and creative director, I’ve seen my fair share of language translation glitches.  So when I was sent this little nugget of knowledge I just had to share it.  Some English phrases were translated by computer, one way and back again, using 5 different languages.  How did the software cope with 10 consecutive translations of the same piece of copy?  Judge for yourself.

1) I’m a little teapot, short and stout.
became
They are a small potentiometer, short circuits and a beer of malzes of the tea.

2) A cookie is just a cookie, but fig newtons are fruit and cake.
became
Biskuit has expert of biskuit, but Newton von Fig is fruit and hardens.

3) When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.
became
If the moon fixes its eye like a great vector of Fleischpie of the vector of Pizzapie, is the lover.

Laugh? I almost cracked my ribeye steaks. One final point, at Beechwood, we always use mother tongue translators for all our client’s EMEA  localisation work.  We find it’s a better way or which after 10 translations becomes  - ‘We discovered it, an avenue of butter’.