Next month, April 2060, will be the 10th anniversary of my appointment as interplanetary co-ordinator at Google.

The recession has been a long overdue wake-up call for marketing and business in general, forcing companies to take a more pragmatic and bottom-line-driven approach.

As a lifelong passionate marketer I am proud of the role marketing has played in the world economy.

'The best things in these sermons are as old as the hills,' wrote Seymour Eaton 103 years ago.

So desirable is brand leadership that a whole literature of 'challengership' has grown up. Indeed, so seductive and inspiring have Adam Morgan's ideas been for eating the big fish that for some, being small is almost more fun.

A few of us were discussing the newly liberalised product placement regulations, and began musing on the ethics of negative product placement – whereby you would pay broadcasters to feature your competitors' products being used by deeply unattract

There are always detractors when a high-profile brand takes a risk and does something a bit different – or heaven help it, a lot different – as Pepsi discovered in 2008.

Not A company in the world exists where top executives don't worry about future demand, or don't waste substantial money on ideas that were intended to boost or sustain profitable demand, but didn't.

This is not an easy book to read, particularly if you are enjoying a successful career in advertising, marketing or the media. Indeed, it is provocative and polarising in equal measure – which is clearly the author's intention.

Judie Lannon: There are a lot of good agencies around of increasingly good quality, and there's the recession. How are you different?