Covid brings a number of challenges in communication. Understanding how to talk to your audience is crucial. I do wonder whether brands & creative agencies are working on relevance & meaning because so many TV adverts seem to be following a set formula, possibly making the same errors as banks did in the financial crisis.

Aston Martin may be the oldest sports car company in the world but recent performance has been poor.

So what has Brand got to do with Balance Sheets? Well, if a brand is a belief system, representing the sustainability of a company in the mind of its stakeholders it follows that a well-managed brand leads to a well managed customer relationship and consequently a well managed business. And al these things drive corporate value.

This is a summary of a presentation I gave at Media and Marketing’s Advertising in the Recession conference last December. Essentially, nine months later little has changed in how Banks advertise and it makes me wonder whether they really have got the message.

We all exhibit animal tendencies from time to time, and occasionally they are reflected in how we operate under different conditions. Stress, uncertainty and panic evoke certain reactions, as do joy and euphoria. When things get difficult some people, just like an ostrich, put their head in the sand and hope for the best. Some continue to be bold, and while being a lion may lead to over-confidence, being a bit foxy can help make the most of opportunities in difficult times.

Building a brand is about focusing on key objectives and then delivering consistently against those objectives. A brand is so much more than a name – it’s about meaning. A failure to communicate meaning is the difference between brand and bland.