Talk about herd mentality.
Last year we were all quietly glossing over the impending global meltdown. "Chin up - it's not that bad".
But when I got back from my (inexcusably long) Christmas holiday, panic had set in and the West was doomed.
"Unprecedented". "Carnage". "Depression". "Slump". The pound collapsing. 2 for 1 in every restaurant. Even Obama's twinkle has turned to grey-faced gravity.
My newfound South American "life's pretty great" karma was gone in a jiffy. Sigh.

So how are we feeling it at Firefly?

Well, we're reasonably upbeat - but certainly not immune.
Independent cafes and delis are our core customers - and lots of them are suffering and even going out of business. All that imagination, effort, local lifeblood, snuffed out.
That pushes our wholesalers out of business (we've lost two already).
And fewer places selling Firefly means lower Firefly sales.
Meanwhile, the collapsing pound pushes up our ingredient costs - though we can make up a bit with our exports.

What next?

Firstly, yes, we're leaping on the money-saving wagon. Lower growth means we have to cut budgets. And join in the self-fulfilling merry-go-down. Depressing but unavoidable.

Secondly, we're asking - what do people want in a downturn?
A few thoughts:
1) I'll still spend on small luxuries - but I want more evidence that it's worth it.
So I'll still buy Gu chocolate puds (I can taste the difference). But not £3 mineral water in restaurants (I can't).
Our response: make Firefly's benefits clearer.
So we're strengthening our herbal extracts so you can feel the natural energy hit more immediately.
And we're making the "natural energy" message clearer on the bottle. Whilst making sure "all natural" and "no added sugar" don't get lost in the cheeky chat.

2) I want to reflect on what's really important.
First we turned against consumerism. We all read "No Logo" after the dot-com crash, cursing the big, greedy, polluting corporations.
But that was when the rise of the corporation seemed inevitable. Our privacy, our choices, our public spaces, would gradually be eroded, and we'd all turn into consuming clones.
Now, corporations, governments, capitalism, money itself - they all look shaky.
So now we're asking "what's life all about?". We're reading books about energy, humanity, buddhist philosophy. "The Secret" (ahem). Eckhart Tolle. Auras not egos. More time with our parents. Simplifying our lives - cultivating our gardens. We're searching for a new movement, a new vision. It could be 1968 all over again. A little hippie honeymoon.

Firefly's response?
There's something vaguely hippie about a natural herbal drink. Getting an energy boost from nature rather than chemicals. With Polaroids of the great outdoors.
But it doesn't feel enough. Perhaps we should be trying to answer these questions - giving a little moment of reflection. Living "in the moment". Spreading the love. Buddhism in a bottle.
But it's a bit contradictory, isn't it? Even "enlightened" consumer goods are ultimately consumer goods.

So perhaps we'd better go and sit on a beach and stare at stars.
Until the Chinese usher in the next world order, of course...

*sorry - blogger seems to have a nervous breakdown at the sight of an acute accent.