How brands may steer in a post-pandemic world
PremiumBrands will have to display why what they do matters to their customers, and overall business
Last week, social media platform Facebook’s new Eid campaign, which skillfully addresses vaccine hesitancy, provided much-needed comfort and warmth at a time when Indian consumers are probably at their lowest. It was part of Facebook’s series More Together that highlights people coming together to help one another but remained subtle and uplifting in its messaging.
While the country may be going through its darkest hour with covid-19 cases and deaths mounting, once the situation improves and businesses restart, more brands will return to advertising. But will they need to alter their communication and tread more gently? Should they tone down their hard-sell as it may be a while before the consumer is receptive?
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4 min read . 19 May 2021Experts in the field see brands navigating with caution in a post-covid world. It’s not that the world has not seen other catastrophic and mass-scale tragic events throughout history, be it natural disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes or human conflict like wars and terror attacks.
But probably no one witnessed a disaster of this magnitude, particularly in terms of its global ubiquity and prolonged duration, as the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, pointed out Samit Sinha, managing partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting. The Spanish Flu, the last such event, happened more than a hundred years ago, when the world was far less interconnected.
So, we don’t really know of post-covid psychological, social, and economic impact, especially, in the short term. It’s not clear if everyone and everything will quickly bounce back or return to normalcy, or whether our way of life will be permanently altered, even if in small ways, said Sinha, adding that there isn’t really a playbook for brands to address this situation.
“It is, perhaps, best for them to stay tuned, play it by ear, and use common-sense," he said. A brand is a tool for a product, service or a company to forge a strong and durable relationship with its consumers, which happens when it does not engage merely transactionally but goes beyond to establish a deeper emotional connection. “This implies that brands need to be always sensitive to the mood of their consumers, which, at the moment, at least in India, is mostly full of dread, sorrow, anxiety, and, perhaps, some anger as well," said Sinha.
This may change with time but till then brands should act in consonance with the prevailing collective sentiment. “I am not sure how many brands will respond that way as not every advertiser is mature or mindful enough to adapt accordingly. But, till things turn around, I expect many brands to rejig their communication strategies to make them more empathetic and/or inspirational, to convey encouragement, comfort, and hope," he said.
At the moment, it will be totally inappropriate, in fact detrimental, for brands to appear crassly commercial and advertise as if it’s business as usual, Sinha added.
Ashish Mishra, managing director, Interbrand India, meanwhile suggests a few pivots that brands could make at this point. He said they will have to go beyond updating their “messaging".
First, he said, brands will have to be real and relevant. Creating products, services, tools, and processes that actually solve problems and refining and updating the offerings, not just the “messaging".
Second, they will have to provide clarity and a sense of purpose to the question “Why am I here?" While purpose has been a hallmark of progressive brands in the past too, now it takes on a central and tangible role, he said.
Third, Mishra said, displaying a much higher degree of sensitivity and emotive strength, brands will have to create more meaningful experiences for customers and constituents, through small acts show vulnerability, gratitude, and empathy. Besides, they need to engage wherever their customer and constituents are, with a physicality-agnostic existence, elevating experience to a status bigger than the product itself. Brands will have to show why what they do matters to their customers, constituents, and the business.
Lastly, they will have to make bold moves. Only those brands that are secure and self-aware can confidently do so. “They will have to have the courage, intercept the future, not just flow with it, and take decisive action that makes a real impact," he said.
Shuchi Bansal is Mint’s media, marketing and advertising editor. Ordinary Post will look at pressing issues related to all three. Or just fun stuff.
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