• by October 18, 2008

Richard Costello, president of MagicEcho, is moderating a panel this afternoon composed of Gary Elliott, VP, HP; John Harrobin, SVP, marketing/digital media, Verizon Communication; Becky Saeger, EVP/CMO, Charles Schwab Company; and Steve Sullivan, SVP, Liberty Mutual

Let's listen in.

Oh, that's right, you can't. Let me summarize here then ...

Becky is talking about the pressure on her company due to economic strain. They are battening down the hatches but not touching anything that involves customers or Charles Schwab's ability to help them. We're going to be making decisions on a weekly basis how we spend, where we spend.

Liberty Mutual's Steve Sullivan is bemoaning the auto, home buying slowdown. But, echoing Becky, he says they too are redoubling customer services to retain and improve. No. 2, despite downturn, there are opps. Parts of the world is still growing, he says, using the C word: China. 20,000 new cars being bought every day and they need car insurance.

Vietnam, Brazil are growth opps, says Steve. Important thing is to not hunker down but to embrace it.

Becky: our customers are more engaged than ever. Need our help. Investing in two-way media heavily, way we use web. As we speak, we're working on our web site, on things that deliver on the relationship.

Steve: As marketers, we have unique opp. Part of it is psychological. Wish we'd take a media holiday, he says, TO APPLAUSE from the crowd, and stop looking at the Dow.