Source: Third Sector, T3

Looking up?

Hal Varian, Google’s chief economist is claiming that the latest searches on their site point to a rosier future. Brand Republic reports that searches for “negative” information, such as unemployment benefits, started to fall in March.

Meanwhile, they say, the results show an increase in searches for homes and estate agents, pointing to a potential upswing in the housing market.

We were interested to see that these new metrics, alongside the more traditional economic indicators are all hinting at less cause for despair, if not better times ahead.

Optimism among professionals in the third quarter hit its highest level since the start of the financial crisis two years ago, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) said.

The confidence measure jumped to 4.8 at the end of June from -28.2 in March – the biggest improvement since the survey began in 2003. The institute predicts that the economy will grow by 0.5% this quarter, breaking five quarters of falling output.

ICAEW chief executive Michael Izza said the findings suggest that “the UK recession is at an end”.

He added: “While there is no doubt that the UK economy is on its way to recovery, we shouldn’t underestimate the challenges ahead for businesses.”

More likely to spend?

Retail Week reports that UK Families are, on average, £9 a week better off in July this year than they were at the same time last year.

The Asda monthly income tracker identified this promising sign, and commented that it was a “positive trend” and that “a small movement in discretionary spend” could “make a big difference to household budget[s]“.

They pointed out that, of course, consumer spending is driven largely by confidence but here at greenshootsblog.com, we think that this has got to be another good sign.

Sweet

At greenshootsblog.com, we were heartened to see the results of a new study from Pepsi, which show that people in the US are feeling more optimistic.

More specifically, the research shows that, compared to 2008, they’re feeling better across a range of indicators.

Specifically, they’re feeling more optimistic (vs. 2008) about:

• Relationships with family and friends (91% vs. 81%);
• Overall well-being (88% vs. 84%);
• Health (86% vs. 78%);
• Finances (77% vs. 64%);
• Chances of finding love (70% vs. 61%).

In fact, this new research shows us that 96% of Americans are optimistic about their futures and believe in each other.

Sweet stuff, indeed.

Toyota production line in Derbyshire

The pound has been rising again against the US dollar following better-than-expected economic news.

The Office for National Statistics said industrial production unexpectedly rose 0.5% in June from May, although it is still down 11.1% from last year.

See pound vs dollar

Also, a survey from the Chartered Institute for Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) showed the service sector growing at its fastest for 18 months.

The pound rose back above $1.70 to its highest level since October 2008.

The rise in industrial production was the biggest since October 2007 and was helped by a surge in car production.

The CIPS purchasing managers’ survey gave a reading for the services sector of 53.2 for July, up from 51.6 in June.

Any figure above 50 indicates an expansion in the sector.

It was the highest reading since February 2008.

“It is very much consistent with the green shoots recovery story,” said Mark Miller, an economist at HBOS.

“It continues the theme that the forward-looking business surveys are showing some more encouraging signs.”

Javelin high-speed train at St Pancras Station

Three years from today will be the first day of games for London 2012 and developments already look well on their way.

Yesterday, three years before the Opening Ceremony, the new high-speed rail link from St. Pancras to Stratford made it’s first trip, delivering athletes to the Olympic Games Stadium to mark the occasion. Among them was our very own, fresh faced World Champion diver, Tom Daley.

The new high-speed link, aptly called Javelin, successfully completed the journey in the target time of just seven minutes. The new link is just part of the overall project to improve transport links in preperation for the London 2012 Olympic Games. This service alone will be capable of transporting up to 25,000 people per hour to the Olympic Park.

Developments like this will drastically improve transport links in and around the capital and have a very positive effect on the local businesses surrounding up-and-coming hubs like St Pancras and Stratford – a worthwhile legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Struggling to find an ad space big enough for your blockbuster campaign? How about the surface of the moon?

US company Moon Publicity yesterday launched a bidding war for advertisers to imprint commercial messages onto the moon’s surface.

The company says it has patented “shadow shaping” technology, which would see robots crawling the surface of the moon, scraping messages on to the lunar surface.

The messages would be visible from earth by creating shadows during certain lunar phases.

Moon Publicity claims that it is accepting bids from investors and companies for 44 lunar regions until 20 October, with minimum bids starting at a very reasonable $46,000.

But the company does concede there are one or two hurdles to overcome before 7 billion pairs of eyes are viewing its first ad.

Its website says: “In order to make images that can be seen from Earth with the naked eye, images would need to be millions of square kilometers in size.”

It says that it would need a large fleet of robots to bring the idea to fruition – but admits that a working prototype has not even been built.

The company also concedes that some groups of people “may object to changing the appearance of the Moon for religious, environmental or sentimental reasons”.

Undaunted media buyers who are keen to get involved can find out more about the project at www.moonpublicity.com.

If they could figure out a way to cover it in red wax I think Babybel would certainly be able to increase their market penetration.

It’s great to see in these gloomy times, while some companies are in the gutter, others are looking at the stars.

The survey, conducted for The Institute by Ipsos MORI, reveals that the number of marketers who believe the UK economy will worsen in the next 12 months has halved to 34 per cent (down from 70 per cent in the Autumn 2008 survey). Likewise, those believing the UK economy will improve in the next 12 months has risen sharply to 26 per cent (up from 11 per cent in the Autumn 2008 survey).

When questioned about the prospects for their own organisation in the year ahead, more marketers believe business will improve (35 per cent) than believe it will get worse (24 per cent) – reversing the decline in confidence seen in the previous four surveys.

As belts tighten, marketing spend is increasingly being focused on the activities that marketers believe deliver the best return on investment – Customer Relationship Management, Public Relations and email marketing. In contrast, marketing spend on advertising (excluding online) is down 4.9 per cent, reflecting the fact that 23 per cent of those surveyed believed it delivers the worst return on investment.

Commenting on the findings, David Thorp, Director of Research and Professional Development at The Chartered Institute of Marketing said,

“Despite fears over the economy and job prospects for the rest of 2009, it is clear that we are turning a corner in marketers’ confidence about the future. For now, marketers are wisely concentrating their spend in the most effective activities, and as we move into 2010, I’m convinced this more professional approach will stand them in good stead when the economy recovers.”

Yet more positive news courtesy of Nationwide. Slowly but surely people seem to be poking their heads up from the parapet without fear of being shot down by bankruptcy or financial ruin. Well done us, that’s the spirit!

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE INCREASES

• Consumer Confidence rose by four points
to 58 in June.
• The Expectations Index increased by
eight points to 86.
• The Spending Index increased by one
point to 104.
• The Present Situation Index fell from 18
in May to 17 in June.

EXPECTATIONS FOR FUTURE ARE RISING…

• A third of people now believe that the
economic situation will be better than
today in six months time, with less than
a quarter (23%) thinking it will be worse.