When times are tough and revenues are falling there may be a temptation for business to cut some budgets - money allocated to activities such as design, perhaps.

But design is a powerful tool in a downturn – not least by improving your image, and presenting the benefits of your products and services to your customers.

During hard times investment in design can give a business a competitive edge over rivals who are reining in their design budgets in order to save money.

When times are tough it is change, dynamism and vitality – not battening down the hatches – which are the keys to success. And this is exactly where design can help.

Companies big and small are rising to the challenge of hard times through a conscious investment in design. Their decision to innovate – to rethink and regenerate their products, operations and image – can be taken by a company of any size and in any area. Design and brand strategy can help elevate a firm or its products from the ordinary, the tired or the predictable, demonstrating that the business is alive, dynamic and responsive.

And in a declining market that just might make the difference between growth and collapse.

The Scare and Haunted attractions industry in the UK is a fast growing market sector with an estimated 50 plus dedicated year-round attractions and major Halloween events.  Partners Leisure Managing Director David Leon has experience of working with some of the biggest operators in the sector and has been involved in the development of a new trade body, the British Association of Scare and Haunted Attractions - www.BASHA.org.uk.

Says David Leon: “There is a lot of interest amongst the public for visiting scare attractions and particularly Halloween events.  This is an exciting growth area in tourism and leisure and one we are likely to see expand as more and more attractions realise that scaring people is becoming big business.”

Last month we spent a sunny day at Hibaldstow airfield as one of our clients took to the skies to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

Foundation Housing supports homeless and socially excluded people across the north of England.  Over the last two and a half decades, the charity has helped more than 20,000 people become independent.

65 Foundation staff and customers took part in the UK’s highest tandem skydive – a staggering 15,000 foot drop (that’s about three miles!).  The skydivers found themselves freefalling 12,000 ft at speeds of 120mph before parachutes opened at 3,000 ft to raise money for Foundation’s work across the north of England.

Partners director Karen Nixon said there was such a buzz on the day that she and our photographer Peter Byrne were almost tempted to join in. 

Somehow they managed to resist, but their work has generated thousands of pounds worth of media coverage for the charity over the last few weeks. 

Yorkshire fundraisers got a fitting send-off in June when a piper from the York-based Gurkha regiment led them on their 15 mile trek from stately home Castle Howard.  But even before that, the second annual Harrison Trek for Children in Nepal had attracted headlines, and the support of Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu and Gurkhas’ heroine Joanna Lumley.

This year’s Harrison trek for children in Nepal, promoted by The Partners Group, drew over 350 walkers, almost double last year’s total.  The event has raised more than £10,000 to help children in one of the world’s poorest countries.

Filming commitments prevented Joanna Lumley from joining the trekkers, but she sent her warmest support.  In a personal message to trek organiser Colin Culley, of UK charity New Futures Nepal, she said: “I wholeheartedly support the wonderful work the charity does with the orphans of Nepal, a country and people so close to my own heart due to my family’s life-long connection with the Gurkhas.

"I shall cheer every step taken by every generous walker; the practical and the morale-boosting help that those energetic souls will be giving is immeasurable.  Send them my love and regrets that I can’t be with them.”

It is the second year that S Harrison Developments Ltd has sponsored the successful event. 

In the first in our series of guest articles on best practice in marketing and business management, Dr Eileen McMorrow explains by Intellectual Property (IP) is something we all need to consider.

People often hear the words “Intellectual Property Rights” and think “they are not relevant to my business because I am not working in a high technology environment”.