Racist Royals? Bigoted Brands?

So once again, a Royal is up on the front pages of daily rags nationwide for making a seemingly inappropriate remark to a chum of ethnic origin. No, for once it’s not Prince Philip, but his third-in-line-to-the-throne grandson, King of the lads’ mags and loveable rapscallion, Prince Harry.

Whilst I don’t wish to plough precious time and energy into discussing whether the alleged ‘term of affection’ is appropriate or not (although this all smacks of ‘breeze in a thimble’ as opposed to storm in a teacup), bigger issues are once again brought firmly into the centre of public debate, including those in the recruitment sector.

A recent undercover investigation carried out by BBC One’s ‘Inside Out West’ programme discovered that out of 30 recruitment agencies contacted, 25 readily agreed to only send white applicants along for a fictional job as a receptionist. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7826077.stm)

This is quite frankly, a startling revelation and a wake-up call to all those in the recruitment industry. How far is the average recruiter prepared to go to fill a brief? Does the buck stop with the bigoted brands issuing these sorts of requests, or are recruiters continuing this prejudiced chain when complying to these sorts of unethical (not to mention illegal) requests?

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Brands vs Products

As the recession swallows up more and more of our High Street’s iconic retailers, marketers across the land must be wondering what will be left to market if the credit crunch continues its greedy gorge on the UK’s various retailers.

With a worrying casualty list that now includes such famous names as Woolworths, Zavvi, Wedgwood and Adams, competition on the British retail scene is looking increasingly dilapidated and frightfully, bleaker than the British rail network – ouch. As more and more iconic brand names fall victim to the effects of the Credit Crunch (an overused phrase that’s a much more worthy candidate for redundancy than so many of Britain’s unfortunate workers) what will marketers end up actually marketing?

The past fifty years has seen the marketing industry increasingly advertising brands as ‘lifestyle choices’ and ‘consumer identities’, reflecting a real shift from the old days of actually advertising a product – I know, what a strange concept! Brand exercises such as sponsorship, product placement, endorsement and branded events all focused on the brand ‘as brand’ as opposed to a vehicle for selling products belonging to that brand – just look back to the nineties’ marketing strategies of behemoth global corporations such as Nike and Hilfiger.

So what does 2009 have in store for brand marketing? As more brand names sink reluctantly into dreaded administration, market diversity is decreasing and the Tesco’s of this world must be rubbing their hands in glee as they pocket a few more monopoly cards.

OK, so maybe the situation isn’t quite as dire as I’m making out, however it really is food for thought – will we see a return to marketers marketing products once again? Will companies utilise marketing resource to put money in their pockets, rather than associate themselves with a particular lifestyle choice? What do you think?

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Who needs marketing in a recession? All of us, actually.

There’s no hiding from the fact that the marketing industry, like the majority of sectors, faces tough times ahead as it heads into 2009’s inevitably stormy waters. The downturn in demand for non-essential goods and subsequent abandonment of lavish consumer spending has led many to question marketing’s fundamental purpose and role in society. Do we really need to be bombarded with marketing messages for non-essential goods when the majority of us are now struggling with increased fuel and heating costs, high food prices and spiralling interest rates?

Despite the predictions of the anti-marketing brigade and claims that we no longer need to be told to buy items we can easily live without, the answer to this question is unequivocally ‘yes’. The money that UK consumers are spending takes on a significantly increased value as customers become more and more discerning. The old days of ‘buy now, pay later’ spending on the latest gadgets, clothes, CDs and games consoles has been replaced by careful and considered deliberation, meaning that the role of marketing becomes more important than ever – in a diluted market, marketers need to make sure that their messages are more concentrated than ever before.

The choice and ready availability of consumer goods hasn’t suddenly seen a sudden dramatic decline – rather, the wallets that have previously been so eager to open and snap these goods up has become more and more difficult for retailers to open. With huge choice still available to consumers, marketers need to make sure that every product, brand and service they represent is targeted to stand out and make consumers take notice. Consumers are proving harder to convince, meaning that the marketers of 2009 will need to work twice as hard to persuade consumers to part with their ready cash.

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