Playing David

A little inspiration might be just the thing during these disheartening times. The economic downturn has marketers breaking out innovations to get through the recession. Some smaller players, in particular, provide inspiration on how to do more with less.

Advertising Age focuses on the little guy, the Davids of the marketing world who outsling the giants, those with hefty R&D budgets, TV campaigns and free shipping. Adage offers up a list of how to make marketing money work harder.

1. Denial is a good thing – Instead of cutting your media spend by 10%, what if you slashed it by 100% instead and forced yourself to look for alternative forms of media
2. Pick a Fight – Challengers get people to pay attention to them by strategically picking fights
3. It Pays to Hate – It can be useful to pick an enemy, if only for the attention it will get you
4. Take it Personally – Successful challengers are nearly always invested with a very personal sense of mission

AdAge suggests the economic uncertainty should inspire all marketers to adopt a 'challenger' mentality. That message extends beyond the marketing industry. “Only the paranoid survive.”