This lengthy video posted on FORA.TV is from the The Argyle Executive Forum. It features four marketing folks from different backgrounds discussing the recession and its impact on marketing. It’s interesting that there is so much talk of software and social media. This trend seems to have coincided with the worst economic environment in decades. Does social media and online marketing shield us from an ugly reality that people are buying less? It seems that marketing could use at least some kind of historical lesson on how companies succeeded in past economic hard times without Twitter and Facebook? Some of the world’s most enduring brands, after all, survived and thrived during the Great Depression.

Social media is a powerful tool and it’s changing marketing — but so did radio, television, highways, and jet travel. Aren’t there lessons to be learned from past companies that have succeeded in tougher times without Twittering?

Summary
Austin Bankhead leads a panel of experts discussing how marketing has changed since the financial crisis. They focus on two main areas: how to retain old customers while still attracting new ones and how to leverage social media to stay competitive.

Austin Bankhead – Austin Bankhead is CMO Programs Director at Omniture.
Grant Johnson – Grant Johnson is Vice President of Marketing at Guidance Software.
Bryan Srabian – Bryan Srabian is Vice President of Marketing for the Sacramento River Cats and Raley Field.
Ellen Taverner – Ellen Taverner is Chief Marketing Officer for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.