OK, so here we are, teetering on the edge of the Festive Season, a New Year and a Global Recession (but not necessarily in that order) and what has 2008 brought us? Apart from 1 euro = 1 pound, the demise of Woollies, the collapse of the banking system and automotive industry as we know it, impending zero interest rates (can someone explain to me how that benefits people dependent on their savings to live?) and Doom and Gloom as Never Before.

Well it has brought us  down to earth with a bump, of course, but in spite of that there are loads of opportunities for design agencies like ours to do well in a recession. It works like this: in boom times, companies reinvent themselves and employ very expensive agencies to do it for them. It’s called rebranding. In tough times,  shrewd marketeers don’t stop spending or reinventing themselves, they just do it smarter - they use provincial agencies like Cradducks who can provide exactly the same, top quality design work but at a fraction of the cost of the big boys. They think sideways, along with us designers, to come up with leaner, meaner ideas and ways of getting more out of less.

For instance, one of our major clients has given up litho printing their 400 copies per month internal magazine and are doing it online instead, with a very limited digital print run to satisfy those who can’t cope with, or can’t access, the online version. That means a downturn in print, granted, but we continue to produce the magazine for them and have made it more interactive into the bargain.

So, is it the survival of the fittest? Yes, I guess it is and I certainly hope I won’t be sitting here in six months’ time eating my words - plenty of old, established names have already gone to the wall in this area in this industry and plenty more will go before we see Boom Time again. That means that we have to offer something they can’t, or couldn’t, and do it better. Which is where a few grey hairs come in handy: not only have we seen recession before (this is the third big one in my experience) but we have survived it and become stronger for it. We must carry on where others have left off, and we must provide what our clients want - to the brief, creatively produced, on time, on budget and with the minimum of amends.

So, to all our loyal customers, hang on in there as we intend to, and remember that in a recession it pays to market yourself even more than before. And to anyone wondering if we really can come up with the goods, pick up the phone and call me.

Happy New Year to you all.

David