Great advertising (and how to survive the credit crunch...)

We thought it would be nice to showcase some great examples of advertising in the forthcoming weeks. We might make it a regular feature if we get a good response.

In the current 'credit crunch' (as it's been neatly labelled), many companies are looking at ways of cutting costs. We've spoken to many companies, and heard about many more, about the level of cost-cutting exercises that are being implemented. These include everything from investments, software and hardware upgrades, scrapping the christmas party, redundancies, holds on recruitment, and the cutting of advertising and marketing budgets.

All to be expected I guess. But what about the last one – advertising? With the market shrinking, it's getting even more competitive with companies vying for every scrap of market share that they can get. Now is the time to spend money on advertising, not cut back. It's even more important to be noticed, to get your message across, to reassure your customers and market that you are still strong, growing and committed.

Here's a great example of a great award winning advertising campaign from 2007 for Marmite by DDB in London. It follows on from the success of earlier 'love it or hate it' ads and uses an illustrative style (made from the product for that extra special touch!). It's eye-catching, quirky, thoughtful and memorable – everything a good ad should be.

It will be the companies and brands that shy away from the limelight and the press that we won't see for much longer.