Lessons from Recessions It’s amazing what can create a nickname.


Mine came about through a client saying: “Barry, you must have seen a lot of recessions!” So my colleagues quickly coined “A lot of recessions, Barry”


I enjoyed the nickname, it was true and any age implication didn’t bother me. I was a lot wiser, having lived through a lot, than experiencing my first one.


What have I learnt that I can pass on?


Firstly, the Unilever research from the 1970s which showed that brands that keep their support up, come out stronger the other side - it’s true!


Recessions are the time for innovation.


Last year, we highlighted some of the outstanding companies which launched in a recession.


The first one was General Electric, launched by Thomas Edison in 1876 - a 6 year recession! This is the same Edison who created one of the best-known inventions of all times – the light-bulb.


In the Great Depression of the 1930s, Leo Burnett launched his agency in the ‘Windy City’. Today Leo Burnett is a top ten global communications group with 97 offices in 84 countries worldwide.


Bird’s Eye and Ritz Crackers were born then, too.


In recession-plagued 1980, CNN, the first 24 hours news channel, was launched.


In the recession post 9/11, Wikipedia was established.


These are just some of the now-great names who decided they had something special to offer when few knew them.


In my experience, looking overseas has always been good for business.


The UK represents 1% of the world’s population and 4% of the world’s GDP. You’re fishing in a small pond if you’re only doing business here. At Speakers Corner, 25% of our e-mailing list is international. We keep in regular contact with them. We make sure that our training is customer-focused and provides what our clients need to stand out and beat their competition. We’ve just completed 8 workshops in Cairo and Dubai, with bookings already for 2011 overseas. No wonder Martin Sorell says “The markets of the future are China, India, Brazil, Russia, the Far East…”


Forget the recession. There’s business for all of us - if we get our product right, communicate it, sell it and deliver the goods.


A former Board Director on the international side at McCann Erickson in London, Barry Graham founded Speaker’s Corner in 1997. Since then it has trained over 10,000 delegates to become better communicators, better persuaders and better storytellers.


Barry can be contacted at barry@speakersco.co.uk or www.speakersco.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12