Designs on inspired brands from Sekforde.

At first glance the most depressing thing emanating from the Chopping Boys at number 10 is the lack of an established goal: some metrics if you like.

Oh for sure, we have a zillion pound deficit hanging over us that we are told will take decades to pay off, but that seems kind of etherial in the current climate.

What is the short term goal of chopping 25% off the public sector, apart from the obvious savings in wage bills? What are the anticipated costs in the subsequent drop in consumer spending and investment? What is the anticipated longer-term payoff despite the economic confidence and a cut-back culture that appears to be filtering into the business sector. In short, how will "success" be measured?

Of course nobody is against eliminating waste and duplication in the NHS and police for instance. In addition, it may well be a good thing to bring more decision making into the front line at the expense of faceless managers in top-heavy ivory towers.

The Government has even launched a website to crowd source ideas for money saving ideas. A couple of blinders stand out - the mandatory cutting of all power to prisons between 8pm and dawn (though not the electronic locks, presumably) along with unemployed households of course. Sterilising Jeremy Kyle Show guests was another….Or was that in the Daily Mail?

It is a matter of admittedly warped degrees, but what all these suggest is an adjustment in ways of working. A different approach. A variation of that ghastly phrase “work smarter.”

It’s an oft repeated mantra that maintaining, or even upping marketing spend in bad times will result in a healthier company when good times return along with increased market share. Still, that’s hard to justify to a board looking at their current market and wondering if pestilence, plague or a blizzard of frogs will be the next development.

But of course you know that markets just don’t stop. There is business to be had out there and smarter firms are not just blindly chopping at all marketing, no, they are fighting harder to maintain and win new business, and if they are our clients, we are doing our utmost to listen, suggest, advise and implement new ways of better aligning their products and services to their markets, as a quick glance at our production board bears out.

Right now, amongst other projects, we are:

• Expanding the access to one of the world’s best known digital music libraries from European only to over 50 countries as the next phase of a global roll-out.
• Updating an online payment system for an American vacation company to integrate with two payment providers making them fully compliant with the very latest secure payment technologies.
• Implementing website changes to reflect an above the line marketing campaign starting later this summer.
• Building an online version of DVD previously distributed manually by the client at ever spiralling costs.
• Launching a bespoke e-flyer application from its UK trial into Europe allowing the client to compile and sell their product to a rapidly growing market on the fly with a consistent and corporately managed system.
• Devising and marketing a new estate agency model for a long-time client.
• Renegotiating media rates for the UK's largest independent specialist property agent to increase coverage for less budget, achieving a 30% improvement in one region already.

Oh, and there are a few other things we’re keeping up our corporate sleeve for the minute. But thank you to our clients for trusting us to help them improve and refine their business offerings rather than doing impersonations of rabbits in headlights, or axe-men of course.