Overview by Ketchum CEO Ray Kotcher

Economists Diane Swonk and Bart van Ark discuss signs of economic recovery and whether or not media can affect the pace of recovery, and Northwestern University PR professor Clarke Caywood writes about the critical part public relations should play in communicating the recovery

Viewpoints

Consumer experts and corporate communications professionals share their perspectives on what companies need to be mindful of when communicating the recovery and their role in it to consumers, investors, and the media

Roundtable

Senior Ketchum counselors from around the globe answer this question: “What are challenges that companies in your region face as the global economy begins to recover, and how can communications and marketing help address them?

Street Smarts

Stats on what consumers and business leaders are thinking about the economy

Street Smarts

Are we on the road to recovery? And how has the recent economic journey impacted the future? Here, we offer a few stats that shed light on what both consumers and business leaders are thinking about the economy.

What consumers think:

Globally, optimism is growing cautiously. Global consumer confidence reached 93 index points in the second quarter of 2010, led by booming Asian markets. By comparison, global confidence was at 86 points in the third quarter of 2009. Regionally, confidence in the most recent second quarter was strongest in Latin America and weakest in Europe.

Global Consumer Confidence Survey, May 2010, The Nielsen Company (includes 27,000 Internet consumers in 48 countries)

Americans are still feeling recession pain. Despite economists declaring June 2009 as the official end of the recession, 80.9 percent of Americans say they do not think it is over and 71.1 percent think the American people are most qualified to determine when the economy has rebounded, compared to 15.9 percent who think economists are.

American Pulse, October 2010, BIGresearch

Gen X (born between 1965 and 1981) and Gen Y (born between 1982 and 2000) will fuel the economic recovery. While Baby boomers outnumber both generations, upscale Gen Xers are in a big spending life stage, and Gen Yers have their biggest spending years ahead of them. Baby Boomers also are more likely to shop less often (36 percent) and buy only the things they truly need (47 percent), compared to Gen Xers with comparable income (38 percent and 29 percent, respectively).

The New Consumer Behavior Paradigm, 2010, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Kantar Retail

What business leaders think:

At least 60 percent of CEOs think that the new economic environment is largely more volatile (69 percent), more uncertain (65 percent) and more complex (60 percent); more than half (53 percent) think it is now structurally different.

Capitalizing on Complexity: Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study, 2010, IBM

At least half of CEOs in technology, entertainment, retail, consumer goods and transportation are at least “somewhat concerned” that the economic crisis will result in “permanent shifts” in consumer behavior.

13th Annual 2010 Global CEO Survey, 2010, PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Due to the suffering economy, 80 percent of chief marketing officers believe that marketing efforts are under greater scrutiny than ever before, and CMOs cited “preparing for an economic upturn” as the No. 2 priority for 2010, behind evolving their brands along with their business.

2010 CMO Priorities Tracking Study, Verse Group (with research by Bellwether Interactive)

Street Smarts

Perspectives Staff