JWT’s AnxietyIndex is designed as a place to discuss how brands and consumers are responding to the global recession. With daily content updates, AnxietyIndex.com includes contributions from around JWT’s network, offering a truly global perspective.
Consumers often feel they’re bearing the brunt of a crisis as they grapple with the prospect or reality of unemployment, inflation and tighter budgets. Brands have an opportunity to let consumers know they’re not alone.
The Singapore restaurant House is putting this into practice with a simple idea: Spend less on placemats and give the savings back to customers through 10 to 15 percent discounts. The placemats themselves tout the program. Beyond appreciating the savings, customers feel that House is thoughtful, empathetic and looking out for what really matters to them. It’s a smart way to build trust and loyalty at a time when these are shaky.
Crisis is a veritable communication taboo in Brazil. As such, few brands have explicitly adopted the economic crisis as a theme for ad campaigns.
In January, however, Wal-Mart in Brazil decided to break the silence and aired a TV spot that said, “More than ever, this is the time to pay less and buy smarter” (read: “In times of crisis, you are better off shopping here”). One can’t help asking: Does this kind of message come across as honest—or opportunistic? What do you make of it? —with the contribution of Felipe Senise
At a time when consumer confidence around the world is dropping to often historic lows, media reports are calling the Lebanese banking system “immune to the financial crisis,” and recent research by Bayt.com shows that consumer confidence leaped 25.5 index points in the second half of 2008. Why the upswing? According to the BBC, “There is a tradition of conservative regulation at the Central Bank in Lebanon, which kept the banks safe.” As a result, banks couldn’t take on too much, at least 30 percent of their assets had to be in cash, they weren’t allowed to speculate with packages of bundled debt, and weaker banks were forced to merge with bigger ones.
The Lebanese are famous for their resilience: They overcome turmoil and instability by holding onto whatever they can find. And today, it seems they have reason to trust in a better tomorrow.
Even with interest rates at a historic low, the global housing market remains in freefall, forcing property marketers to dream up ever more innovative methods of getting customers to look their way. In the U.K., marketers have tried all the usual tactics, from price cuts to part-buy-part-rent and shared-ownership schemes. One promoter, MIA Developments Ltd., is working a particularly interesting angle: giving away a property worth £8.25 million in prime Central London … for £50. You read that right. The news may be all gloomy in the world property market, but one lucky winner out of the anticipated 200,000 entries will be smiling in a week’s time. To enter, participants must buy a £50 ticket or either of two MP3 players from CyCoTechUSA, priced at around £100.
As if being a property millionaire isn’t enough motivation, participants are also contributing to a good cause—£3 from every entry is to be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. MIA Developments seem to have all the flanks well covered. And a quick calculation will tell you that it also stands to make a tidy profit on this one.
Kabnoury is a leading Egyptian aluminium manufacturer known mostly for its doors, windows and kitchen cabinets. The brand has established itself as a heavyweight through catchy advertising and smart marketing. Last year, it launched a massive “Money Back” campaign that created an interesting incentive for customers: Each item sold came with a 30 percent discount in the form of an investment certificate. The buyer could cash in the certificate after a certain amount of time had passed. The campaign was successful in encouraging hesitant consumers to spend now in exchange for savings down the road—and in showing that when you buy from Kabnoury, what you get is not only an acquisition but also an investment.
It seems like these sort of old-fashionedguarantees are resonating with people around the world.
Seems that MTV’s reality is finally getting hip to everyone else’s. The network got years of mileage out of the juicy excesses of 21st-century consumerism (My Super Sweet Sixteen, Cribs, et. al). But conspicuous consumption was already on the way out before the recession—now it feels dated, if not plain wrong. MTV’s response? To leverage the death of the lifestyles it helped glamorize. The network has been soliciting 17-to-28-year-olds for a potential episode of True Life with the working title I Can’t Afford My Lifestyle. In posts on Craigslist, a producer asks, in part: “Were you living large but hit hard by the current economic situation? Did you have a pimped out crib and now have to downsize? Do you feel that you can’t possibly give up the life you worked for, but are left with no other choice?”
The producer of Confessions of a Shopaholic is spinning the new chick flick as a modern-day morality tale. Can MTV do likewise with a reality series focused on once-conspicuous consumers getting their comeuppance?
In a recession, how do you keep selling goods that are already incredibly cheap? Charge more for them! With the economic downturn hitting tourism in Phuket, a group of women have taken the normally inexpensive sarong and are selling it at nearly 30 times their material costs by adding embroidered embellishments. While Thais prefer simplicity, these women cater to Russian, Indian and other tourists who flaunt more flashy styles.
Instead of cutting prices, enhancing an existing product’s value is a great strategy. A bit of extra effort for a lot of extra profit!
Texting is the Filipino’s cheapest form of entertainment, and recently it’s gotten even cheaper. In the Philippines, where most homes get by on sachet budgeting, the smallest possible SKUs have long driven volumes for fast-moving consumer goods, vice products (cigarettes) and utilities (water). Now the same smaller-is-better thing is happening with communications. Sun Cellular changed the game when it offered unlimited-text schemes, bringing the cost of a 160-character message to as low as 10 centavos. With such attractive mobile costs, no one wants to pay landline charges; as a result, landline services have dropped their fixed costs and now offer per-call pricing at a lower price ceiling.
Filipinos have jumped feet-first into the all-texting, all-mobile wave; with budget-friendly calling plans, they’ll continue to stay ahead on mobility.
With the economic outlook in Japan getting downright gloomy, how is it that sales of Cosme Decorte’s $160 Moisture Liposome and the almost $1,300 (no, that’s not a typo) Crème Synergique facial cream—from the highest-end line under Shiseido’s luxe Cle de Peau brand—were up 150 percent and 110 percent, respectively, over forecast figures for October-November ’08?
The hypothesis: With consumers feeling at the whim of overwhelming global forces, they may be willing to spend more on discretionary things that give them a sense of control over something closer to home—in this case, their beauty.
On my way to work on Friday, I noticed a number of people reading this sign. Smart move, Equinox—gym memberships are often among the first things to go when times are tough. But compared with a cable subscription or dining out, fitness is certainly more of a necessity than a luxury. Especially if staying in shape gives laid-off workers the confidence to go out and seek new opportunities.
At a time when consumer confidence around the world is dropping to often historic lows, media reports are calling the Lebanese banking system 
Even with interest rates at a historic low, the global housing market remains in 
Kabnoury
Seems that MTV’s reality is finally getting hip to everyone else’s. The network got years of mileage out of the juicy excesses of 21st-century consumerism (
Texting is the Filipino’s cheapest form of entertainment, and recently it’s gotten even cheaper. In the Philippines, where most homes get by on 
With the economic outlook in Japan getting downright gloomy, how is it that sales of Cosme Decorte’s $160 Moisture Liposome and the almost $1,300 (no, that’s not a typo) Crème Synergique facial cream—from the highest-end line under Shiseido’s luxe Cle de Peau brand—were up 150 percent and 110 percent, respectively, over forecast figures for October-November ’08?
On my way to work on Friday, I noticed a number of people reading this sign. Smart move, 
