It was a little bit too easy!

You know in the action movies when they storm the castle/fortress/terrorist lair and none of the leading characters gets injured, yet there is still 40 minutes to go in the film... Movie enthusiasts like me are sitting there waiting for the trap to be sprung!

I hate to be a harbinger of doom, but what if this is where we are at right now!

A client, just walked in - we had an appointment but it was supposed to be to discuss the way ahead for his marketing. Instead he calmly informed me that he was going into receivership. Frrriissnnntttgneeeearrrrgh! We have yet to reconcile the account so needless to say I am currently mildly cheesed-off! On the bright side we are good for the next three months so we will survive but what it has done is crystallise a thought that has been fermenting in my sub-conscious!

January was crap, February was crapper and the less said about March the better, but since then, we have seen some positives. Fearless souls have talked about the green shoots of progress - and this includes me, but what if we were all mistaken?

I am the first person to advocate a PMA when it comes to our approach to a recession, but recently I have been asking myself "was that it, did we just experience a recession?" Surely not! I do vaguely remember the seventies/early eighties and they were pretty bloomin' awful. Sure, these past few months have been uncomfortable and yes, friends have been made redundant, house prices have fallen and business has been harder to come by, but were our parents really that soft? Come on, it hasn't been that bad!

I have a horrible, looming feeling that perhaps, all we had was a tremour (PS I love analogies) and there could quite well be the actual quake just building-up to strike. I hate to be the first to say this, but to go back to my movie analogy, what if we have all walked into a horrible, massive trap!

The first three months of this year seriously weakened a lot of businesses, subsequently things have improved, partly because companies have streamlined, made staff redundant and stretched available capital to ensure that they stay in the black. It is a fragile position to be in and all it needs is for one pipeline project to fail, one client to go under and the entire paradigm changes.

I don't want to name names but certain major national airlines are in deep umbaala, to my certain knowledge two significant agencies from my field are on the ropes, the banks are still not lending and there is a kind of hushed hopeful silence.

So how does this affect your marketing?

Blimey! I'm not sure to be honest! Certainly you have to get out there to let people know that you are still there, still successful and still delivering what they need at a competitive price. But part of me wants to advise you that there is a slight possibility that the worst is yet to come, so don't be buying that champagne to celebrate the end of the recession too soon!

Disclaimer
• I am not an economist
• I do not walk in clever circles
• I don't even at this point have any blog readers
• No one of any standing has confirmed my perspective
• I do not have my finger on the zeitgeist
• I do not have proof that the banks are directly responsible for this situation - but I think they are!

The irony of this last point is that like cockroaches, the reality is that having eaten-up all the available government money, the banks might be the only business to survive - bollocks to that!

Writing a blog with no followers is a bit like dictating a message for yourself... Cathartic but nonetheless pointless.

Have a nice day!