By Thabo Majola, Executive Director, Incepta
A recent article on MarkLives by Charles Lee Mathews, “#FutureSense. Robert Rose on how to deliberately stand out in a world obsessed with speed”, makes a point every business leader should consider. When any brand can produce content quickly and cheaply, producing more simply helps it blend into the background. What earns attention is clear thinking, distinctiveness and genuine usefulness.
That prompted a related question, one many Botswana boardrooms are now facing. If producing more does not automatically create value, does cutting back automatically protect it? What happens when a business responds to economic pressure by quietly reducing its presence in the market?
The pressure is real. According to the World Bank’s October 2026 Macro Poverty Oulook, Botswana’s economy contracted by 2.8% in 2024 and by a further 0.7% in 2025. In the first quarter of 2026, household consumption feel 3.2% and gross fixed capital formation (investment in buildings, equipment and infrastructure) fell 10.4%, both compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
There is better news. The World Bank projects growth of 3.4% this year, supported by recovering diamond production, but describes the rebound as fragile.
For businesses, that suggests customers who think twice before spending, companies postponing investment, longer sales cycles and tighter cash flow. Those are precisely the conditions in which marketing, communications and sponsorship budgets look easiest to cut.
For businesses, that suggests customers who think twice before spending, companies postponing investment, longer sales cycles and tighter cash flow. Those are precisely the conditions in which marketing, communications and sponsorship budgets look easiest to cut.
That is why the comparison with modern warfare is useful, if kept in proportion. Businesses compete for attention, trust, relevance and customer preference. When a business stops engaging customers, competitors that remain visible gain the chance to build those relationships and become the preferred choice. Market share is simply the portion of customers’ spending a business wins. In a downturn the total may shrink, but each competitor’s portion can shift. Customers who change habits or providers do not automatically return when the economy improves. Rebuilding their preference can take time and further investment. That outcome is not inevitable, but it is a serious strategic risk. It seldom appears beside the savings in a budget review.
History offers a well-known illustration. In “Hanging Tough” published by The New Yorker, James Surowiecki described how America’s leading cereal makers responded to the Great Depression. Post reined in spending and reduced its advertising. Kellogg doubled its advertising budget, moved into radio and promoted its new Rice Krispies. By 1933, Surowiecki wrote, Kellogg’s profits had risen by almost 30%. Advertising & communications are not the only factors, and Post did not disappear. One historical success guarantees nothing. But the lesson applies here as a downturn can reshape competitive positions when one business withdraws and another stays relevant.
What brand owners should do is to demand more value, not simply cut spending.
My advice is not to protect every budget line or renew every sponsorship. It is to ask a harder question which is whether our investment is working hard enough, and do we have the right partners to make it work?
Begin with the objective. Every activity should support a defined outcome, whether qualified enquiries, profitable sales, customer retention, trust or access to priority relationships. If nobody can name the outcome, the activity deserves scrutiny. Then assess your partners honestly. Do your agencies and advisers understand your business? Do they challenge weak ideas, deliver reliably and explain results transparently, including when something has not worked?
Measure what matters. Attention is not action, and revenue is not profit. A campaign may achieve impressive reach yet produce few enquiries. Another may generate sales at margins that destroy value. Use measures suited to each activity, while recognising that reputation and trust build over time and rarely show in one quarter’s figures. Sponsorship deserves particular care. Paying for rights is only the beginning. Value comes from what follows which is engaging customers, creating relevant experiences, developing relationships and following up with discipline.
Consider a hypothetical Botswana insurer sponsoring a regional sports tournament. Instead of simply renewing its logo placement, it could use existing hospitality allocations to host key brokers. It could offer spectators quick policy reviews at the venue and make sure every enquiry is followed up within a week. The budget remains the same the return could look very different.
Some businesses face genuine survival constraints, and cost reductions may be unavoidable. Even then, leaders should weigh the commercial consequences of each cut and protect the most productive activity wherever possible.
Finally, reallocate and improve. Stop what is not working, test better approaches and protect what is. Balance immediate sales priorities with continued investment in the demand you will need when recovery comes. Handled this way, a difficult year becomes an exercise in discipline rather than retreat. Spending becomes sharper, customer relationships are defended, trust is reinforced and the business is better prepared for recovery.
Some businesses face genuine survival constraints, and cost reductions may be unavoidable. Even then, leaders should weigh the commercial consequences of each cut and protect the most productive activity wherever possible.
Rose’s warning that the worst fate for a brand is to go unnoticed applies with particular force in a downturn. When customers are cautious, they choose the names they recognise, trust and find useful. Tough times are when strong brands work hardest to become more useful, more trusted and more relevant to the customers still deciding where to spend. They do not do it by spending recklessly. They do it by spending deliberately, with partners who hold them to account.
Cutting budgets and waiting for better conditions may feel prudent. But when recovery arrives, a business that went quiet will mots likely find itself trying to recover the ground its competitors have already taken.
