Laid Off

Stumbled across this inspiring project called Cards of Change. It's a collection of business cards, from people who have recently been laid off. The cards all have a personal message written on them, showing the positive side of not having a job. As well as giving hope to people in similar situations, the aim of the project is to connect people with new opportunities from potential employers and business partners.

What Do Piracy and Brand Value Have In Common?

It seems two things happen in a recession. Pirates come out of retirement and brand value increases. At least according to Millward Brown's annual ‘Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands’, released earlier this week. Interestingly “In a year of global economic turmoil, when every key financial indicator plummeted, the value of the top 100 brands increased by 2 percent to $2 trillion.”

Scaredy-Cats

The latest research from Mintel suggests that fear of the recession is causing people to change their spending habits, rather than an actual change in circumstances.
Mintel reported that:

“While less than half of adults (43%) claim to have been personally affected by the recession, as many as three quarters (71%) of consumers have cut down on their spending as a result of the current economic situation.”

So how exactly are people reigning in their spending?
Research released by Booz & Co. this week found the following:

63% of British shoppers have decreased their outlay.
57% now eat out less
55% buy fewer new clothes
47% are purchasing less personal care and beauty products
45% of shoppers intend to visit hard discount chains like Aldi and Lidl more frequently
61% of participants said they would "trade down" on household products

The full report can be found HERE.

Does That Say 'Recession' or 'Recess Is On'?

Morgans Hotel Group (who own the Sanderson amongst others), have taken a head on approach to the recession.
From their website:


As part of their RecessIsOn campaign, they have released a series of 8 music videos shot in their hotels, to show that they are positively embracing the recession as a time for creativity to flourish.

When everyone else is talking about value, it’s a bold position to take. I think it’s a great strategy to have, that gets to the core of their business as a place to escape the outside world and as a facilatator to take time to enjoy yourself.

(For those interested, I took the above photo on Great Eastern St.)

Only in Britain

It's official, the Brits really are a miserable bunch. A recent bit of research carried out by ICM showed that economic confidence is lower in Britain than in any other leading country. Indeed only 4% of Brits think the economic situation is likely to improve in the next three months, while 67% think it will worsen. Compare this to the US where only 46% think the national economic situation will worsen (via The Guardian).

Why is there such a big difference between the Brits and the Americans? During an interview on Johnathan Ross, Steven Fry pointed out a fundamental difference between our two cultures.

“There is one phrase I probably heard more than any other on my travels: Only in America!
If you were to hear a Briton say ‘Tch! only in Britain, eh?’ it would probably refer to something that was either predictable, miserable, oppressive, dull, bureaucratic, queuey, damp, spoil-sporty or incompetent - or a mixture of all of those. ‘Only in America!’ on the other hand, always refers to something shocking, amazing, eccentric, wild, weird or unpredictable. Americans are constantly being surprised by their own country. Britons are constantly having their worst fears confirmed about theirs. This seems to be one of the major differences between us...”

I think the Brits do have a tendency to worry more rather than just get on with it. Indeed in January and February this year Anxiety UK, the country’s largest anxiety disorders charity, has reported a doubling of calls to its telephone helpline.
Source: Mental Health Foundation, In The Face of Fear, January 2009

Keep Calm and Carry On anyone?

Heroes and Villains

Research by Wunderman shows that when people lose a large amount of money and their dreams and hopes along with it, they go through a process similar to grieving for a lost relative.
It's going to be interesting over the next few months to see people going through the anger stage. How and at who will they vent this anger? Who are going to be the heroes and who are going to be the villains of the recession?
One might think that the bankers are going to be an easy target as we saw at the G20 riots, in the line up of Time magazine's "25 People To Blame For The Financial Crisis" and my personal favourite, a blog dedicated to those pictures of brokers with hands on their faces. There is also a general feeling of disgust towards greed as we've seen with the recent spate of bossnappings and the viral online game about CEO pay.

So who will be the heroes of our age? Hollywood is set to glorify the vigilantes who steal from the rich, with the release of Public Enemies this summer and Robin Hood next year. Perhaps it will be people like The Yes Men - two con men who target big corporations. One of their biggest projects wiped $1 billion off Dow's stock price.

But when we move out of the anger stage of grieving will our feelings change as we come to accept what has happened? Will there start to be a feeling of sympathy for the high-flyers who lost everything? This is certainly what the makers of The Company Men will be hoping for by the time the film is released next year. The film stars Ben Affleck as a corporate high-flyer forced to downsize after losing his job, Porsche and six-figure salary and the strain this puts on his family's life.