Atlanta, GA (July 16, 2009) - Orangehalo, the #1 source for eco-friendly promotional products and branded apparel, today was awarded a contract by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority to provide uniform services for employees of the Georgia Dome.

The pique polo shirts selected by the GWCCA are made with GOTS certified organic cotton. Each shirt will conserve about 120 gallons of water versus a shirt made with conventional cotton. Additionally, by choosing organic cotton, the GWCCA has eliminated the use of more than 300 lbs. of pesticides. The Georgia Dome is the first major events facility in the country to utilize eco-friendly textiles in their uniform program.

"Orangehalo is always looking for ways to help our customers reduce their environmental impact," said David Solomon, president and chief executive officer of Orangehalo, LLC. "As the first and only exclusively eco-friendly promotional products and branded apparel company in the United States, our primary mission is to educate our customers on the importance of choosing eco-friendly products. Collectively, the decisions of relatively few people can and will have an enormous impact on the way in which promotional products, branded apparel and uniforms are brought to market. Our efforts in shaping consumer demand will help to drive fundamental change as manufacturers are reprogrammed to meet the needs of an environmentally educated consumer."

To learn more about how Orangehalo can help your organization, visit www.orangehalo.com, or contact Paul Watson, Executive Director of Business Development, at paul@orangehalo.com.

About Orangehalo
Orangehalo is the first and only exclusively eco-friendly promotional products company in the United States. With offices in Decatur, GA and Tustin, CA, Orangehalo is one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the country. To learn more, please visit www.orangehalo.com, www.orangehaloproducts.com, or call us toll-free at 800-322-0125.

SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) -- Spend on marketing, capital investment and innovation or risk losing your business within the next five years. That tough talk came from Del Monte Foods Co. Senior VP-CMO Bill Pearce at the Argyle Executive Forum's CMO Leadership Forum, where his keynote offered bold advice for navigating the titanic shifts that have resulted from the worst economic crisis since the Depression. In an environment where the name of the game is to manage risks, he challenged marketers to take them and offered eight tips for marketing in the downturn.

1. Don't scale back spending. The old way of dealing with a recession was to slash and burn head count, marketing and capital investment. But companies that do that are likely to be out of business in five years, Mr. Pearce said. "Now is not the time for across-the-board cuts," he said. "The worst thing you can do is make 10%-across-the-board cuts."

Instead, winnow out what doesn't work. Mr. Pearce said marketers need to evaluate every investment and raise spending on the vehicles that are paying off or look promising while cutting the ones that look dubious or break-even. "Get rid of it. If you think it's break-even, I guarantee you're losing money," he said.

2. Reassess your market. The recession has changed everything, and marketers need to keep a pulse on consumer behavior, which is "changing in ways we can't even begin to forecast," Mr. Pearce said.

The recession has triggered a global retirement crisis that will see many baby boomers work beyond their planned retirement years to recoup what the financial turmoil has chipped away from their nest eggs. "Do you think that's going to change how they think about goods and services? Do you think that's going to change how they spend money?" asked Mr. Pearce.

And it doesn't stop with baby boomers. Young people watching Mom, Dad and their grandparents toil into what should be their golden years are going to think very differently about spending too. They don't want to be caught in the kind of financial turmoil that hit their parents, so expect major behavior shifts from the younger set. "Demographic groups are undergoing life-transforming reversals of fortune," he said. "It's a life-altering, generational, scary change, and it's going to change how they make purchases."

3. Identify your best markets. Marketers have to find their most attractive markets, because they're not the same as they were a year ago. "There's no one market dynamic," Mr. Pearce said. "It goes block by block. There are people who can tell you which block is being hit the most [by the economic crisis] and where pockets of stability and growth are."

4. Do some homework. The three questions CMOs and marketers need to be singularly versed in are: Who are your most profitable customers? What are the emerging consumer trends? What are my most effective marketing and sales vehicles?

"You need to understand where your revenue is, because, I guarantee you, your revenue stream now is not where your revenue stream was 12 months ago," Mr. Pearce said. Knowing the answers to those three questions will help marketers figure out where to make investments. Those questions are also the ones that the company CEO or board is going to ask in times like these.

5. Value messaging isn't always about the lowest price. Tough times call for value messaging, but value messaging is not always about the lowest price.

Instead, know what motivates consumers today. Are they looking for brands to save them time? Money? Peace of mind? In this climate, people are often motivated by fear, such as fear of waste, he said. "What if I pay $20 for this service, and it doesn't work?"

6. Keep management in the loop. The goal is to proactively manage your CEO, whose instinct is to cut budgets. A CMO needs to have an ongoing relationship with the CEO. Marketers need to constantly measure everything they do to give CEOs a reason to raise budgets.

Making friends with the person who controls the purse strings is also recommended. Marketers need to constantly demonstrate to their chief financial officers the results and metrics of their investments. When the time comes to make the case to the CEO, you'll have the check writer on your team.

7. Invest in the future. Now's not time to shy away from new ideas, especially if they work. If your message is nine months old, it's stale, Mr. Pearce said.

The companies that invest in innovations and roll out new products and services when the economy makes a turn will reap disproportionate benefits, Mr. Pearce said, citing media, which is more cost-efficient now than it was 12 months ago.

Mr. Pearce's advice is to do what good stock-market investors do: When everybody's greedy, that's the time to take money off the table. When everyone's panicked, that's the time to double up.

8. Turn the crisis into opportunity. Del Monte sees the recession as a time to renew its message and strategy to fit with the new ways consumers are shopping, such as buying value sizes and shopping more at value chains, Mr. Pearce said. As other brands may be trimming their budgets, it's also a good time to make a play for those niches.

Del Monte, for instance, is moving from its traditional battleground in canned foods to expand the market space it plays in by more aggressively attempting to move consumers away from fresh and frozen foods.

A federal bill was introduced yesterday that, if passed into law, would remove restrictions on the cultivation of non-psychoactive industrial hemp. The chief sponsors of HR 1866, “The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009,” Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX), were joined by nine other U.S. House members split between Republicans and Democrats.

“It is unfortunate that the federal government has stood in the way of American farmers, including many who are struggling to make ends meet, from competing in the global industrial hemp market,” said Representative Ron Paul during his introduction of the bill yesterday before the U.S. House. “Indeed, the founders of our nation, some of whom grew hemp, would surely find that federal restrictions on farmers growing a safe and profitable crop on their own land are inconsistent with the constitutional guarantee of a limited, restrained federal government. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to stand up for American farmers and co-sponsor the Industrial Hemp Farming Act,” concluded Paul.

“With so much discussion lately in the media about drug policy, it is surprising that the tragedy of American hemp farming hasn’t come up as a ‘no-brainer’ for reform,” says Vote Hemp President, Eric Steenstra. “Hemp is a versatile, environmentally-friendly crop that has not been grown here for over fifty years because of a politicized interpretation of the nation’s drug laws by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). President Obama should direct the DEA to stop confusing industrial hemp with its genetically distinct cousin, marijuana. While the new bill in Congress is a welcome step, the hemp industry is hopeful that President Obama’s administration will prioritize hemp’s benefits to farmers. Jobs would be created overnight, as there are numerous U.S. companies that now have no choice but to import hemp raw materials worth many millions of dollars per year,” adds Steenstra.

U.S. companies that manufacture or sell products made with hemp include Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, a California company who manufactures the number-one-selling natural soap, and FlexForm Technologies, an Indiana company whose natural fiber materials are used in over two million cars on the road today. Hemp food manufacturers, such as French Meadow Bakery, Hempzels, Living Harvest, Nature’s Path and Nutiva, now make their products from Canadian hemp. Although hemp now grows wild across the U.S., a vestige of centuries of hemp farming here, the hemp for these products must be imported. Hemp clothing is made around the world by well-known brands such as Patagonia, Bono’s Edun and Giorgio Armani.

There is strong support among key national organizations for a change in the federal government’s position on hemp. The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) “supports revisions to the federal rules and regulations authorizing commercial production of industrial hemp.” The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has also passed a pro-hemp resolution.

Numerous individual states have expressed interest in and support for industrial hemp as well. Sixteen states have passed pro-hemp legislation, and eight states (Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia) have removed barriers to its production or research. North Dakota has been issuing state licenses to farmers for two years now. The new bill will remove federal barriers and allow laws in these states regulating the growing and processing of hemp to take effect.

“Under the current national drug control policy, industrial hemp can be imported, but it can’t be grown by American farmers,” says Steenstra. “The DEA has taken the Controlled Substances Act’s antiquated definition of marijuana out of context and used it as an excuse to ban industrial hemp farming. The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009 will return us to more rational times when the government regulated marijuana, but allowed farmers to continue raising industrial hemp just as they always had.”

More information about hemp legislation and the crop’s many uses can be found at www.VoteHemp.com.

The city that blazed a consumer protection trail by banning phosphates would become the first in the nation to ban baby bottles and cups containing the potentially harmful chemical bisphenol A, under a proposal advanced by a Chicago City Council committee today.

Tests of laboratory animals have linked the chemical, widely-known as BPA, to breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes and neurological disorders.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has come under fire for concluding there is no harm from the low doses of BPA that come from eating foods from containers made with the chemical.

Last year, Aldermen Edward M. Burke (14th) and Manny Flores (1st) introduced a measure that would have banned nearly all products made with BPA used by children under 7. That proposal never went anywhere.

Today, they unveiled a softer version and rammed it through a joint City Council committee after just a few minutes of testimony.

The new version would narrow the scope of the ban to "any empty bottle or cup specifically designed to be filled with food or liquid to be used primarily by a child under the age of 3."

Stores would be required to post signs alerting consumers that items are BPA-free.

Enforcement would be shared by three city departments: Health, Environment and Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. But, Burke acknowledged that the ordinance would be largely "self-policing."

"Each of these retailers has a license they're concerned about. They're not gonna do anything to jeopardize their ability to have a license to do business in Chicago," he said.

Canada and the state of Minnesota have already banned BPA containers. Retailing giants such as Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us and CVS have pledged to stop selling products packaged in those containers. Chicago would be the first city to join the crusade.

"As Chicago goes, so goes the nation," Burke said, pointing to the phosphate ban spearheaded by former Mayor Michael Bilandic.

"You'll see that, when this is adopted, there'll be other jurisdictions all around the country trying to climb on the bandwagon."

Flores added, "We cannot afford to wait any longer for the FDA to take no action."

Margy Belschak, 31, was pregnant with her now 16-month-old son Frankie when she learned that the bottles she planned to use to feed him contained a potentially-harmful chemical and that, "even small doses can be very toxic."

"I actually chose to use a baby bottle that was BPA-free, but I had to look very hard to find one ... to make sure that was the case," Belschak said.

As Frankie cried in her arms, almost on cue, Belschak said, "As parents, we have a lot of things to worry about. We really don't need to be worrying about safe baby bottles."

The only testimony against the ordinance came from Dr. Stephen Hentges, executive director of the American Chemistry's Council's BPA study group.

Hentges acknowledged that BPA is "one of the best-studied substances." But, he also said, "When that evidence, in its entirety, has been reviewed, the weight of evidence leads to the conclusion from these many regulatory bodies that bisphenol A is not a risk to human health."

Scot Case was not happy. Vice president of the environmental marketing firm TerraChoice, Case last year sent his researchers into a big-box retail store to evaluate the green advertising claims of some of the products on its shelves. The results were startling: of the 1,018 products TerraChoice surveyed, all but one failed to live up fully to their green boasts. Words like nontoxic were used in meaninglessly vague ways. Terms like Energy Star certified were in fact not backed up by certification.

"I went ballistic," Case says. "I assumed the researchers had butchered the study." He had his team redo the survey, but the results came back the same. "It just shows we're awash in greenwash."

Many consumers may not have heard the term greenwashing, but they've surely experienced it--misleading marketing about the environmental benefits of a product. Greenwashing isn't new--ever since the environment emerged as an issue in the early 1970s, there have been advertising firms trying to convince consumers that buying Brand X is the only way to save the earth. But as going green has become big business--sales of organic products alone went from $10 billion in 2003 to more than $20 billion in 2007--companies appear eager to associate themselves with the environment, deservedly or not.

If you're not yet sick of seeing whirling wind turbines and sun-dappled solar panels on TV, you will be: the new fall season is likely to feature a flood of green advertising. It's gotten so bad that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been holding hearings over the past year to define the difference between genuine environmental claims and empty greenwash. It's not easy--and environmental advocates worry that truly green companies could get lost in all the clamor.

"We have such a challenge ahead of us on climate change," says Kevin Tuerff, a co-founder of the marketing consultancy EnviroMedia. "Greenwashing harms the effort we need to be making."

The first step to cleaning up greenwashing is to identify it, and Tuerff and his partners have hit on an innovative way to spotlight particularly egregious examples. They've launched the Greenwashing Index www.greenwashingindex.com a website that allows consumers to post ads that might be examples of greenwashing and rate them on a scale of 1 to 5--1 is a little green lie; 5 is an outright falsehood.

It's a simple device, but it shows the power of the Internet to truth-squad misleading ads; with a simple Web search, any consumer can find out if a car manufacturer hyping its fuel-efficient hybrids actually earns the majority of its revenue selling gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. "We try to make it a little more transparent with the index," says Kim Sheehan, a communications professor at the University of Oregon and a co-founder of the site. "It teaches people to be a little more cautious about the claims they hear."

Googling isn't the only way to take out the greenwashing, however. The TerraChoice website www.terrachoice.com offers a list of what it calls the "six sins of greenwashing"--six simple signs that should tip off consumers to a company that is more interested in selling the earth than saving it. One is the sin of irrelevance, in which, for example, a product trumpets the fact that it is "chlorofluorocarbon free"--even though those ozone-destroying chemicals have been banned for years, meaning the company is asking for applause for just following the law. Another is the sin of the hidden trade-off--the paper towels that come from a sustainably harvested forest but are then shipped to global markets aboard CO2-spewing trucks and planes.

Ultimately, says Case, "if you don't understand where a green claim comes from, check it out. There are a lot of companies trying to relieve people of the green in their wallet."

It's not just consumers in the U.S. who are getting fed up with greenwashing. The Advertising Standards Authority in Britain received 561 complaints about potentially false green ads last year, up from 117 the year before. Norway has banned all car ads from using the terms green, environmentally friendly and clean on the grounds that all cars contribute to global warming.

The laissez-faire U.S. isn't likely to go that far, but the FTC is in the process of updating its Green Guide for consumers, which hasn't changed since 1998. The hope is that eventually we'll be able to define green in advertising the way we've defined low calorie and low fat. That needs to happen soon, before green loses all meaning. "We have better green products but a lot of exaggerated claims," says Case. "That could be enough to capsize the whole green movement"--and that's not a little green lie.

The debate over bisphenol A (BPA) in the advertising specialty industry has centered on water bottles, but recent legislation shows local and state governments are targeting another product that uses the controversial plastic chemical: baby bottles. Suffolk County, a suburb of New York City, last week enacted the first governmental ban in the U.S. of baby bottles and sippy cups containing BPA. Many other counties and states are moving quickly to consider similar bans, and Canada already approved a country-wide ban last October. "Infants, they don't have a choice, maybe that's why everybody is going after that particular area first," says Rick Schwartz, president of Southeast Plastics (asi/88310).

But even before more bans come into law, both baby bottle companies and ad specialty suppliers have been moving away from polycarbonate bottles (which contain BPA). Southeast Plastics plans to phase out its BPA baby bottle in the next 60 days, even though the item still sells. "FDA and several other groups, including the plastic industry are still saying the plastic is safe," Schwartz says, "but just like people going green, you have to go with what everybody wants. That's what we're going to do."

California Line's (asi/30111) baby bottles have always been BPA-free and produced in its own factory in the U.S.; those bottles and its water bottles are made out of low-density polyethylene (LDPE for short). President Steve Finch says the company had been importing one line of BPA water bottles from China, but stopped a year ago. "When we heard all this controversy," he says, "we got 100% out of the business of anything with BPA in it."

These suppliers are not alone. Six major baby bottle-makers – Playtex, Gerber, Evenflo, Avent America, Dr. Brown and Disney First Years – have all agreed to stop selling polycarbonate baby bottles after a joint request from state attorneys general. Illini (asi/62910) carries Evenflo baby bottles and had no issues when the baby company made the switch to BPA-free in the middle of 2008. "Evenflo saw this stuff coming down the road," says Illini President Neil Fine, "so I imagine that's why they did all this, before any government regulations were in place."

The FDA still maintains that BPA is safe in trace amounts, but studies and critics contend that for newborns and infants, the chemical can affect brain and behavioral development. Safety may come at a price in quality, because BPA was added to plastic bottles in the first place to make them more durable. Southeast Plastics is switching to polypropylene, and as a result its baby bottles won't be as clear. "I guarantee you we're going to have people say to us ‘What's wrong with this bottle? It's kinda foggy looking,'" Schwartz says. "That's because polypropylene doesn't come in crystal clear. That's part of our hesitation too."

Marketing is often the first thing to go when tough economic times put the squeeze on cash flow, but experts say those who maintain spending often emerge the strongest when things pick up. The latest SmartCompany Poll found many business owners are finding the temptation difficult to resist, with 44% saying they plan to cut their marketing budget in response to tighter business conditions.

While some businesses clearly see little choice but to slash marketing spending, it is a step that puts the risks a decline in current market share and the loss of future growth opportunities.

But that doesn’t mean marketing strategies don’t need to be changed to suit the tougher market conditions. Here are ten tips for avoiding the pitfalls and getting the biggest bang for your marketing buck in an economic downturn.

1. Don’t panic

When the customers stop coming and all the signs point to doom and gloom, the first instinct of many business owners is to batten down the hatches, cut budgets to the bone and wait until the economic sun comes out.

But according to Graeme Chipp, managing director of marketing firm Growth Solutions Group, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it is during tight times that marketing can be used to get a jump on the competition.

“Marketing should be seen as an investment, not a cost. Time and again I’ve seen companies cut marketing and they get into a spiral of cutting costs and that leads to a lower presence in the market, revenue and profit margins decline, that puts more pressure on costs and the spiral continues,” Chipp says.

Chipp says there are many examples of businesses achieving big gains in market share once in good times after investing in marketing during down times.

“Hershey in the US concentrated their marketing spending on core flagship brands during a period of weakness and saw a real uplift when things improved. In 2001 during Heinz foods increased their marketing spend by 16% and saw market share go from 56% to 59%, so keeping faith in marketing spending can yield results,” Chipp says.

2. Make the most of the customers you’ve got

A change in marketing strategy to focus on drawing greater value from existing customers rather than finding new ones can be a cost effective strategy.

Luke Baylis, the founder of health-focused fast food chain SumoSalad, says that is something he is already considering in light of predictions that Australia is heading for an economic slowdown.

“We’re not cutting back our marketing spending, in fact we’re increasing it, but there is definitely a bit of change towards incentivising repeat business and a bigger spend from our existing customers,” Baylis says.

Baylis says his business takes concrete steps to increasing the value obtained from existing customers such as:

• Build and emphasize loyalty programs that reward customers for repeat business or spending more.
• Give customers a reason to return at non-peak times when, in slower conditions, staff might be underutilised.
• Emphasize the value customers are getting from your brand as opposed to competitors – in SumoSalad’s case, health benefits.

Other tips include:

• Make sure sales staff are trained in upselling techniques – 'would you like fries with that?' - and structure product offerings accordingly.
• Send letters or emails to customers reinforcing their value to your business and backing that message with a purchase linked reward.

3. Look for advertising bargains

The most expensive component of many marketing budgets is advertising and the first to go when cuts are needed, especially given that return on investment for advertising can be hard to measure.

But tight times can mean cheaper advertising, if you know where to look. Distressed advertising - ad space that is unused or abandoned by an advertiser at the last minute – can be used to deliver a message at cut-price rates.

Ad it Last is a business based on finding and selling distressed advertising to small and medium businesses that operates in Australia and the US. Chief executive Christina Tutone says distressed ads sell for an average discount of 40% on normal rates, but that could increase as if the economy stalls.

“It requires thinking outside the square a little bit, but distressed advertising is often available up to a week in advance and there are substantial savings to be made,” Tutone says.

4. Tell the customer why they need what you sell

When times are tight, people get scared – terrified in fact – so businesses need to make an extra effort to show how their product or service will help them.

Colin Benjamin, the founder of strategy firm Marshall Place Associates, says in a downturn marketing strategies should be fined tuned to focus on the priorities of hard-hit customers.

“In tough times you need to make it clear that you understand the priorities of your target customers and that your product or service will help them do it. If you don’t give people a lead to your product they don’t have time to worry about you.”

Using a special offer tied to a tight timeline, perhaps a 24 hour period, can be effective in giving people who already feel like they’ve got plenty on their plate a reason to respond to your message, Benjamin says.

5. Tighten up your return on investment measures

Good businesses will always ensure they are getting a decent return on investment from each dollar spent on marketing, but the principle applies double when the bottom line is under pressure.

SumoSalad’s Luke Baylis says he prioritises achieving a solid return on investment over more general branding activities during tough times.

“Brand focused marketing isn’t very measurable, so in tougher times our marketing becomes very ROI focused,” Baylis says. “That means measuring numbers of people coming into stores, redemption rates on vouchers or loyalty programs, and doing that at a store level.”

When looking at measuring return on marketing investment, it is important to make the criteria against which performance is evaluated as basic and low level as possible – focus on things like lead conversion rates or average per customer spend rates on a store or section level rather than company wide sales.

6. Help your channel and marketing partners succeed

In tough times your marketing and sales channel partners are likely to be under just as much pressure as you are.

That can put commercial relationships under pressure, but it also means a little extra time spent helping them help you can go a long way.

Daniel Rechnitzer, the founder and chief executive of Shoestring Marketing, says locking in referral, sales and marketing partners when economic storm clouds loom makes sense.

“Referral partners – for example, if you’re a beautician you might have a hairdressing salon sending you references and vice versa – can work powerfully to drive customers to your business and you get great bang for your buck, in fact usually it doesn’t require spending any money at all,” Rechnitzer says.

He also advises offering extra training in your products and services to your sales channel partners – their training budgets and staffing levels could be under pressure as well.

7. Focus on recession-proof customers and recession-proof products

When things are tight, consumers will tend to maintain spending on the basics at the expense of those closer to the luxury end.

For some businesses, a good strategy can be to focus marketing efforts on those products or services that suit limited budgets, according to The Growth Solutions Group’s Graeme Chipp.

“It won’t work for everyone, but say if you’re a clothing brand you might focus more on socks and underwear instead of leisure wear, or if you are travel agent customers could be more responsive to domestic travel than overseas,” he says.

Alternatively, a branding strategy that focuses on more financially secure customers can also provide a business with some insurance against tough times.

Wild Cards and Gifts co-founder Lawrence Boyle says a focus on the top end of the market has protected his business from the current slowing in market conditions.

“We avoid going down market and perceiving customers want to spend less – not everyone has a mortgage or is as concerned as the papers say, we focus on premium customers and they will support you no matter what the environment,” Boyle says.

8. Let your customers sell your product

When budgets are tight, customers want to know that a product or service they buy will meet their expectations – and they may not be prepared to take your word for it.

Marketing experts emphasize that when consumers are watching their money, they will tend to place greater weight on the views of other customers than they will on an advertising message.

According to Marshall Place Associate’s Benjamin, customer testimonials are worth their weight in gold during tough times.

“Testimonials or anything that says ‘these people bought this and it worked for them’ should have a prominent place in your marketing message in downturns,” Benjamin says

Shoestring Marketing’s Daniel Rechnitzer says programs that gives customers a reward for referring a friend to your business are a good low cost marketing strategy. Online forums can also provide valuable word of mouth marketing, he says.

9. Don’t destroy your brand to lift sales 

One point marketing experts are almost unanimous on is that businesses should be very cautious in adopting aggressive discounting strategies to boost revenue in tough times.

Years of painstaking brand building can be destroyed very quickly by inappropriate discounting, according to Sean Adams, managing director of strategy firm The Seed.

“It can take long time to build perceptions of a confident, quality brand. If all of sudden you think consumers aren’t spending so you start panicking and drop prices, when the economy comes back you will find people are less inclined to associate the brand with quality, with all the consequences for sales and margins that brings,” Adams says.

That doesn’t mean keeping your product or service offering fixed in stone, Adams says, just that businesses need to think creatively about how to adapt their offering to tighter times.

To make products or services more appealing to cash-strapped consumers without resorting to discounting, Adams suggests:

• Providing a cheaper entry level product.
• Increasing performance or durability.
• Providing alternative payment options.

10. You can’t fatten the pig on market day

A solid brand pitched at the quality end of the market can help shield a business from feeling the affect of a downturn, but it’s not something that can be achieved overnight.

The Seeds’ Sean Adams, argues businesses need to do smart marketing in good times creates the opportunity for gains to be made in down times.

“Business in the value part of market will do relatively better in a downturn because they’ve educated customer that their brand stands for value and I think there is a strong case that those brands perform relatively better in good times and bad,” Adams says.

Adams points to Apple as the classic recession proof brand. “Apple does so well because while they still develop inexpensive products and address the market in that way, they have a brand that has stood for strong design and innovation basically from day one and they’ve been consistent with that.” 

TORONTO (Reuters Life!) - Global warming may not only affect climate and the environment, it will also have an impact on clothes and fashion, according to design and retail experts.

Savvy, environmentally conscious consumers are approaching clothes with a different mind-set and designers and retailers are responding.

"With Seventh Avenue proclaiming that 'green is the new black,' we can expect a surge in fashion innovations in response to climate change," said Jo Paoletti, a professor at the University of Maryland and an expert in design and fashion.

It will mean not only debates about the benefits of cotton versus polyester or other fabrics, but likely future innovations such as smart clothes that monitor and adjust to body temperature to reduce the need for air conditioning and heating, she added.

Bob Kirke, executive director of the Canadian Apparel Federation, which represents retailers and design, manufacture and supply companies, agrees that climate change awareness has created a demand for more environmentally conscious fabrics.

"All of this is coming very quickly. Three years ago no one cared about this in apparel and textiles -- they had people who would wear hemp clothing but they'd buy it at hemp shops. Now it's much more mainstream and the marketplace is catching up," he explained in an interview.

Bamboo is one eco-fabric that has surged in popularity and availability recently, as has recycled material. Consumers are also thinking about how much they buy.

"The same people who are now eschewing plastic bags are starting to look into their wardrobes and saying, 'Am I doing everything I can to reduce my consumption in terms of clothing?'" Paoletti said.

"Most Americans have many, many more clothes in their closet than they can wear. And I think they're aware of that," Paoletti added.

The average person in the U.S. throws away nearly 70 pounds of clothing and textiles a year, according to the Council for Textile Recycling in the United States.

Daniel Butler, vice-president of merchandising and retail operations for the National Retail Federation, said companies are also interested in sustainable or green retail efforts.

"Some retailers look at merchandise, some people look at their marketing method, some people have green supply chain initiatives, some people are building green stores. Everybody is trying different things that make sense for their company, their product and their customer base," he said.

(Reporting by Naomi Kim; editing by Patricia Reaney)