Crunch time for brands?

It is now over two weeks since Meltdown Monday.  A few days ago, an e-mail arrived at Ri5 from Nick Holker, founder of Peer Group Communications (pictured) and a regular contributor, with a detailed article describing how some of the world's best-known employer brands have been hit (some fatally) by the credit crisis.  Now, just a few days later (and before we had even fully absorbed what Nick had to say and his conclusions), the piece is rendered out-of-date by the speed at which the situation is changing, both in terms of the organisations that have been hit and the interventions that governments across the globe have made or are planning.  The central thrust of his theme is unaffected, however: there are going to be big gaps in all those lists of the most desirable employers, where banks and other financial institutions habitually occupied the top slots.  Not only that, but the reputation of a sector that has annually snapped up the cream of the graduate crop is looking somewhat tattered.  Here is an extract from Nick's article:

"Banking in general, and investment banking in particular, have been very popular graduate career destinations, with investment banking alone accounting for 12% of AGR member vacancies in the UK in 2008.

Generations of graduates have grown up with a cluster of prestigious organisations paying them court and offering what many felt to be the ultimate start to a highly rewarding career. Tens of thousands of the world's brightest graduates have been recruited by the major investment banks and global banking groups in recent years.  The promise of rich rewards at a comparatively early stage obviously made up for the prospect of hard work and long hours.  Banking was not perceived to be particularly risky.

The major organisations in the sector have also been among the most advanced in the management, promotion and delivery of their employer brands, offering excellent training, career development, remuneration, working environments, and a strong commitment to diversity and corporate responsibility.

No one quite knows when or where the present seemingly interminable rollercoaster ride of the world's financial markets is going to end.  It seems certain, however, that the view prospective employees take of the banking sector will have changed for ever.  The real concern and challenge for Peer Group Communications is in how the remaining major players invest in their brands in the light of recent events."

As ever, Nick has interesting things to say on a complex subject and raises some fundamental questions.  Anyone thinking, however, that the future of employer branding itself may be in doubt should think again.  For a start, virtually all the front-line speakers at the CIPD's conference in Harrogate were agreed that the employer brand was the essence of an organisation and the heart of its HR policy.  Then again, the spaces vacated by the investment banks on all the ‘employer of choice' surveys are just waiting to be occupied by canny employers who have the wit and will to move quickly.  Or will the banks themselves recover quickly, re-group and re-package the sector and its members as the staid, respectable and secure community some of us remember?

Remember the adage, "There are no problems, there are only opportunities."  There are surely wonderful opportunities to be grasped right now if you're in employment marketing?