Marketing return during slow times

As the economy continues to struggle business investment will decline, furthering the economic woes of 2008. Marketing spend will be a casualty. This need not be bad news for marketers, except for those locked into an old model where success is dependent upon size of budget. Successful marketers will be fine-tuning programs to demonstrate and expand programs with positive ROI. Not measuring return on marketing investment? What's your excuse?

Negative Advertsing in Politics versus Consumer Brand Marketing

One further comment on politcal brand marketing. See the excellent comments at http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5937.html which discusses the role and value of negative advertising in political elections versus consumer product marketing. From my perspective, the zero-sum winner-take-all nature of elections differs markedly from the consumer marketers trying to grow categories and take share from competitors in an environment where products rarely change formulas and no formal deadlines exist.