I’m not sure how you feel the recession, if it happens, will change my perspective. I was envisioning a recession when I wrote it and recent events serve to strengthen my belief that growth for most organisations will increasingly come from the development of existing relationships.

Short term, the exception will, of course, be in the financial services sector, where sceptical customers are already searching for a reliable financial partner. There may also be opportunities for organisations in other sectors to mop up the customers of competitors who have disappeared as a result of the financial crisis, but this will probably be by a process of corporate acquisition and its all, anyway, short-term in the bigger view of things. For instance, Sir Philip Green was in Iceland at the weekend looking to buy it!

All of this though only underlines the need for organisations to sort out their brands and brand promise.