Looking Back to Move Forward heard from Meabh Quoirin of UK based Future Foundation and Dublin based marketing consultant John Fanning.

Process of Doubt

Meabh Quoirin presented the recession as an opportunity for consumers to scrutinise and reconsider everything. A Cartesian like process of doubt in which all past beliefs and behaviours will be reconsidered. Only the relevant and necessary will survive.

Lipstick Effect

UK research conducted by The Future Foundation indicates that a third of people say they are cutting back completely, a third are doing nothing different and a third are cutting back in some areas. It suggests that people are less loyal to companies and brands they related to before the crunch and are looking for brands that reflect current values of thrift and savvy shopping. Amidst all of this rational economic behaviour however, people are still seeking what Quoirin calls the lipsitck effect - those little indulgences that keep us sane in a world gone mad.

In a word of warning to the cut back evangelists Quoirin emphasised that consumers are looking for cheaper products but draw the line at cheap and shoddy service.

Lost

John Fanning moved from the world of marketing to the world of poetry in his search for strategies to deal with hard times. Taking the poem Lost by David Wagoner as his inspiration Fanning urged marketers to stand still and take stock of the new landscape before blundering about in the woods for the way forward.

Soft Power

Fanning believes that Ireland benefited from what he referred to as soft power in the years leading to the boom based on the fact that people liked us, our country and our culture. Recent years saw us move from being liked to being perceived as fast, aggressive and shiny. To find our way back, we need to re-learn how to observe, listen and absorb.

Look to Poets

Citing the great David Ogilvy, John Fanning advised delegates to learn from the past and to take a long run at things rather than act in haste. Business should look to poets rather than technicians for guidance. We must seek to communicate values of faith and hope with clarity in order to regain soft power and undo the recent damage suffered by Irish brands and Ireland Inc. at home and abroad.