There are so many negative stories in the news right now. Sub prime lending crisis. Home values crashing. Foreclosures up. Jobs falling. Oil soaring. Dollar down. Food costs rising. February retail sales drop. Recession.
 
What's a brand to do during uncertain economic times like these? Predictably, cutting the marketing budget is a first line of defense. But clever marketers realize, and history demonstrates, that this is a mistake. After all, with your not-so-clever competitors cutting budgets this can be a better time for your brand to stand out from the crowd and grab more attention.

Since repetition is key to making your brand more memorable, altering your brand's promise to reflect the changing economy doesn't seem like a good idea. However, adjusting messaging to show customers and prospects that you understand their situation, essentially dialing up the brand’s empathy attribute, can help forge a better emotional connection with audiences.
 
On 3.13.08 at 11am ET, there were 506,000 Google results for "brands during recession."  So why not add this one  to the list? You may want to check out the brand debate at brandchannel.com. I also like David Murphy's blog on "Building brand value during a recession."