What can brands and people learn from the current scenario?
With the prevalence of Coronavirus, a lot many have toppled and capsized around the world. It is crucial for brands and humans to realise the sensitivity of this situation and make decisions accordingly. Social media is a link that connects consumers to the brands directly right now, hence it becomes very important for the brands to be as transparent and alert as possible. Brands have an opportunity of making an impactful move at this time and be memorable for a lifetime.
Consumers are spending more and more time online. They are more active on social media, trying out new digital services, learning about new apps and reading more news. Brands can adapt strategy based on shifting consumer behaviors. Revisit their channel mix and ad spend based on evolving consumer behaviors and performance results.
So what can brands do?
- Be sensitive
- Be transparent
- Listen to the audience
- Create virtual communities
- Create content according to the circumstances
- Try not pushing sales
- Adapt and alter strategies
- Be responsive
- Inspire confidence not fear
Many brands have paused their current advertising and many are making efforts to communicate and deliver the right information to the consumers. A few ingenious campaigns are:
1. Ford:
Ford is taking the charge for leadership, they can portray an inspiring brand image in society. Instead of asking people to go to dealerships and buy a car, Ford instead transformed their advertising spot to “Built to Lend a Hand” and “Build for Right now” from Wieden+Kennedy New York, which plays off the automaker’s regular tagline, “Built Ford Proud.” Ford is also pulling all national ads promoting its vehicles and will replace them with a new campaign describing how it is responding to the coronavirus, including giving Ford Credit customers some payment relief. Ford Credit has long helped customers impacted by local and federal disasters.
2. Twitter:
Twitter posted a blog outlining the potential dangers for brands trying to communicate online while the world faces a COVID-19 pandemic. Twitter did not tell brands to avoid discussing coronavirus, that would be near impossible, but they just have to be thoughtful about the message. Twitter said that someone tweets about coronavirus every 45 milliseconds. The Twitter execs shared examples of brands with appropriate tweets during the crisis. The examples included tweets from Google and Slack regarding working from home.
3. Pinterest:
Pinterest’s community guidelines is prohibit health advice that has immediate and detrimental effects on a pinner’s health or on public safety. This includes promotion of false cures for terminal or chronic illnesses and anti-vaccination advice. Pinterest’s approach to combating health misinformation means its users encounter less content about the coronavirus than on any other major social platform.
Forbes8
Forbes8 is hosting a free digital summit on March 20, 2020 under the theme of Business Resilience: Thriving in Crucial Times.
LinkedIn is opening up 16 of its learning courses for free. Courses that provide tips on how to stay productive, build relationships when you’re not face-to-face, use virtual meeting tools and balance family and work dynamics in a healthy way.
Amazon:
Amazon is hiring 100,000 more workers and giving raises to current staff to deal with coronavirus demands.
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