user: Problem: The Guardian guide to consumer confidence

As the economic crisis deepens it would seem no surprise that consumers would spend less and that company revenues and profits would go down as a result.

The natural reaction of many businesses in this situation is to tighten their belts, reducing costs across the board until recovery starts.

Initial cost–cutting can quite often focus on marketing and recruitment budgets. But is that really the right strategy to adopt during an economic slowdown?

Increasingly there are arguments which suggest that this approach is a false economy and continuing to invest in your employer brand during a recession can have significant long-term benefits. Focusing on employer branding can help organisations to motivate and engage staff, hang on to key talent and make sure they can attract and develop the skills they will need after the recession.

Guardian News and Media's latest piece of research looks at consumer insights in response to the recession, are people still spending? How high is the risk of redundancy? Are there people that are more resilient in a recession?

The Guardian Guide to Consumer Confidence is a proprietary piece of research using the YouGov and Brand Aid Panel to review current consumer response to the economic situation and within this how GNM consumers are being affected.

An email survey was conducted covering off views on the current economic climate and actions consumers have taken or will take as a result.

The survey was sent to the GNM Brand Aid Panel and then as a benchmark the same survey was conducted with the YouGov Panel.

The You Gov panel allowed us to gauge the views of a UK average adult and within this an average quality news consumer (consumer of a quality news website or quality newspaper). The Brand Aid Panel enabled us to gauge views of our own GNM consumers.

Brand Aid2,164 respondentsRepresentative of GNM audience

Redundancy is a big issue:

• 15% of people feel they are at risk of being made redundant in the next six months.• 11% simply don't know what their job holds for them.• That's one quarter of all UK consumers uncertain or facing uncertainty over the next six months.

Reduced spending set to continue:

• 1 in 2 are spending less than usual, set to rise to 60% over the next six months.• As well as cutting back on everyday items, 53% are putting off major purchases (e.g. cars and major household appliances).

Pessimism for an economic recovery:

• 78% of people feel that the 'state of the British economy will worsen' over the next 12 months.• 1 in 2 people feel their level of disposable income will worsen over the next 12 moths.• 80% feel we are 1 year+ away from recovery. 24% fear it is at least 2 years away.

(Source: YouGov sample 1,036. Fieldwork dates: 19 - 24 February, 2009)

The research found that GNM consumers are more resilient to the affects of a recession due to the following reasons:

• They are more secure in their own personal circumstances• They are more optimistic about the economic outlook• They are more financially confident• They are more likely to use newspapers as a source of information on the economy and are therefore more knowledgeable in this area

• Over 1 in 5 GNM users are looking for a more secure job1• GNM consumers rate national newspapers and job sites as key places to find a new job2

Looking to develop new skills

• 1 in 3 GNM consumers are looking to develop new skills1• GNM consumers are 14% more likely to take up a course than the average UK adult

1are already or will start doing over the next 6 months2 media sources would if have been/were to be made redundant

For further information on this research contact:

Ian GibbsAd Planning Manager020 3353 2329ian.gibbs@guardian.co.uk

Write a one or two sentence summary.

Summary: As the economic crisis deepens it would seem no surprise that consumers would spend less and that company revenues and profits would go down as a result


Input: Isaac brushes past an obsolete convention
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus did as advertised, hammering the convention to order with six strikes of his oversized gavel. With the first strike, the “Debt From Convention Start” number jumped right to $450; by the time Priebus left the stage, it was already up to $8.5 billion.

Priebus told the few delegates in attendance that the clock was intended to illustrate President Obama’s fiscal recklessness. He evidently didn’t consider that leaving the debt clock running and walking out might also highlight Republicans’ complicity.

But that is the least of Republicans’ troubles this week. They are at the mercy of Mother Nature, and it turns out she has a wicked sense of humor.

Over the weekend, when the forecasting models showed Isaac making a beeline for Tampa Bay, Republicans delayed most of their proceedings until Tuesday. As soon as Republicans postponed their event, Isaac changed course away from Tampa and toward New Orleans, where it is forecast to hit with hurricane-force winds at about the time Republicans begin their prime-time proceedings on Tuesday night.

At best, this weak rerun of Katrina will cause a split-screen effect in coverage of the convention; a groggy Anderson Cooper was spotted leaving his Tampa hotel Monday morning for storm-coverage duty in New Orleans. At worst, the juxtaposition of storm damage and balloon drops will make the Republicans appear insensitive.

Completing the cosmic joke, the weather would have been fine for a convention in Tampa on Monday: gusty, with intermittent showers and sun. But minutes before the 2 p.m. start of the abbreviated session at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, the wind and rain picked up and the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Tampa’s Hillsborough County. By the time the brief session ended, the sun had returned.

If there is any good to come out of this soggy spectacle, it will be that it hastens the demise of the political convention, which has become a meaningless anachronism. The Democrats’ convention next week has already been shortened to three days, and Republicans are joining Democrats in concluding that the drawn-out affairs of years past have become pointless.

“I’m not sure that having a four-day convention, for the future, makes a lot of sense,” House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Post’s Karen Tumulty and other reporters at a Monday lunch organized by the Christian Science Monitor. He said it may not be “worth the tremendous resources that are put into it.”

Tampa makes that case powerfully. Many city blocks have been converted to an armed encampment, and major roads have been shut down. Vans with mirrored walls and ceilings whisk participants to and fro within the security “perimeter.” Media organizations have erected elaborate sets and hospitality areas. In the hall, robotic cameras swing from the ceiling, where netted balloons are set for the inevitable, clichéd drop. Yet for all the elaborate preparation and expense, the televisions playing all around the convention showed little but Isaac’s red, yellow and green precipitation bands.

The RNC’s Priebus contributed to the irrelevance with his seven-minute show on Monday. He took the stage to tepid applause from a sparse crowd. “Wow!” he said.

“It is my privilege to proclaim the 2012 Republican National Convention in session and called to order,” Priebus informed them, smiling self-consciously and reading from one of those teleprompters Republicans often mock Obama for using. He continued: “The chair announces, pursuant to Clause 12, Paren B, Paren 1 of Rule 1 of the rules of the House of Representatives, the 2012 Republican National Convention stands in recess subject to a call of the chair.”

Priebus hammered his gavel again, grinned and flashed a mocking two thumbs up toward the crowd, equally divided between delegates and media representatives. “All right,” Priebus said. “So we’re in recess.” He then explained the debt clock, brought out a preacher and played a video of Mitt Romney making a patriotic speech, which thinned the crowd.

Priebus and the minister, Russell Levenson, offered thoughts for storm victims. The chairman thanked emergency workers helping “those in the path of Hurricane Isaac,” and the minister offered a prayer for “those already affected by the hurricane and those in its path.”

Amen. But if Isaac puts an end to political conventions, nobody should mourn.
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assistant: If Isaac puts an end to future political conventions, nobody should mourn.