Marketers always need to make good decisions, but marketers especially need to make good decisions during bad times.

Of course, making good decisions in bad times isn’t easy.

It’s our belief that making good decisions requires studying good data over long periods and investing in the strategies that have worked for many customers in many markets.

And that’s what we’ve done – we’ve partnered with a different expert to make a series of recommendations on marketing and business broadly and advertising and branding specifically.

Below we explore the following topics in a data informed narrative:

• All-Weather Marketing.  Jon Lombardo and Peter Weinberg explain why brand building is even more important in uncertain economic times.
• Creative: Advertising In Crisis.  Orlando Wood looks at which creative themes work in all times, including recession.
• Media: ‘The Long, The Short, And The Dark Of It.’  Peter Field analyzes how investment in advertising during recession increases market share and corporate profits.
• Thought Leadership: Trust in a time of Uncertainty: Ty Heath shows why corporate thought leadership is vital to make good decisions in bad times.
• Business: McKinsey Gives Financial Advice To Marketers McKinsey Partner, Michael Betz, a former CMO, gives practical business advice to other CMOs.
• Business: Greycroft VC What Marketers Can Learn from Startups Responding to Crisis. Business leader and VC, Alison Lange Engel, gives pragmatic advice to CMOs and SMEs.

We hope each essay helps answer a timely question for marketers looking to navigate bad times and emerge stronger.