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Brand Comms in COVID

As we enter the second half of 2020 and a new financial year in Australia, we've taken a look back over how brands reacted, adapted and innovated in response to COVID-19.

 

 

Feb 2020: The canary in the coal mine


Aside from cruise liners making headlines in January, one brand reluctantly thrown into the limelight early on was beer brand Corona. They say ‘there's no such thing as bad publicity' but that might not feel so comforting when the public think your product is responsible for a killer virus overnight. In January Google searches for 'corona beer virus’ jumped 2,300% in just one week! 


Whilst we’re sure the Corona marketing team discussed their options, they avoided making any public comments or trying to leverage the spotlight for self-promotion - this was a smart move. However, in late February they did receive criticism for their advertising campaign ‘Corona Hard Seltzer, coming ashore soon' (link). A spokesperson for Corona stated this messaging "has worked in the past for the brand", which feels a slightly tone deaf message on the cusp of an inbound pandemic.

"Our advertising with Corona is consistent with the campaign we have been running for the last 30 years and is based off strong consumer sentiment"


Regardless of what's worked in the past, it is always imperative that you ensure your message is sensitive and appropriate right now. 


Sadly, Corona was simply the canary in the coal mine….life as we knew it was about to change.


Coronavirus became the hot topic in our industry, particularly for any brand due to host or sponsor live events or activations. With the cancellation of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the event dominos soon toppled across all forms of live experiences - sport, music, arts, exhibitions etc; Australia's first major event to be affected was the Melbourne F1 with just 1 day to go.



It wasn't until 24th March that the largest sporting event in the world, The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, announced the games would be postponed until 2021; a huge blow to Japan and the many athletes, spectators and sponsors.



In April, Forbes reported more than 83 million attendees had been forced to change their plans from events during Feb-April. With the last update to their article on 22nd April, we imagine they had to stop counting.

 

March 2020: Socially distanced logos

 

We saw McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Audi and Volkswagen tweak their logos to ‘send a message of solidarity and promote social distancing’.


To change their most identifiable brand asset is a significant move. Whether this resonated with you or not, using brand equity to promote a positive message can be both a noble move as well as a smart brand play. Note: there's only a small window for this sort of tactic to be effective and received in a positive light before it could be seen as ‘bandwagoning’.

What's most important is that you make sure your stance on social issues aligns with how you operate as a company. Unfortunately for McDonalds Brazil their post of the ‘social distancing logo’ received backlash in light of their less progressive sick pay policy. 


Volkswagen AG and Mercedes- AMG showed they meant more than a nice message of support and announced how they would be helping to produce ventilators and CPAP machines for sick patients. 


Social distancing logos were only going to work for those who could graphically portray the separation of interlocking elements, so Nike leveraged it’s emotional branding expertise with their ‘Play Inside, Play for the world campaign’. Within an hour of its release Nike's athletes Tiger Woods, Jordan, Christiano Ronaldo shared the message.



Nike have since committed more than $25 million to COVID-19 efforts around the world - Full details here

Time Out recognised the majority of its audience were no longer going out for entertainment; and since mid-March they've focused on ideas to keep entertained at home. 


We’re delighted that our client Peninsula Hampers (born during Covid) was recently featured in Melbourne's ‘best gift delivery services’. Check them out if you are in Melbourne and in need of some delicious local treats delivered direct to your door.



There is no doubt marketing teams struggled with what to say in relation to Covid and the fine line between "genuinely helping" and "shameful promotion" became very thin in the eyes of consumers. 


We shared our take on the topic with our article: ‘Crisis Behaviour Shows Your True Brand Colours”. To save you the full read, our recommendations were to tread carefully and stay true to who you already are (which is pretty much brand best practice whether you are in a crisis or not). The worst thing you could do is dive in head first into an emotionally charged political war zone without a clear idea of what you stand for and all the pieces in play.

"Knee-jerk marketing" doesn't tend to age very well.


If you would like to read the full article, you can find it here.

 

 

When brands speak, people listen

Edelman's Trust Barometer found ‘Businesses are trusted more than governments’ .



This isn't completely surprising as at times the messages from governments became confusing and inconsistent. You may recall the plethora of ever changing government messages: Social distancing, Stay Home, Flattening the curve, We're all in this together, Work from Home, Be COVID SAFE not to mention phrases that have now become common vernacular, ‘new normal’, 'WFH', ‘unprecedented’, ‘uncertain times’.



Australia's overarching message has been 'Help Stop The Spread & Stay Healthy'; the below timeline captures the various campaign messages shared across video, radio and since March.




Brands have an important role to play in a crisis as they have such powerful voices that connect and resonate with their audience. Brands that pushed a strong socially conscious message whilst staying true to their brand ethos navigated the "communications crisis tightrope" relatively well.

 

Netflix  #Staythefuckhome The Billboard Spoiler

If people can't be trusted to stay at home, Netflix will spoil their favourite shows

 



Guinness: A St Patricks Day Message From Guinness

Sharing a message of hope and solidarity



As lockdown continued through March - April, brands not only clarified government messages but also started acknowledging the reality of what their consumers were experiencing.


 


April 2020: When life gives you lemons...

By April, business and brands were gaining a little more confidence, starting to work with the hand they were dealt and get creative with how they moved forward.


UK crisp brand Emily Crisps had booked their media space in Dec 2019 for their first outdoor advertising campaign. Now faced with the sad reality that their April campaign was not going to be seen by as many people as planned, they developed new creative in less than a week to light heartedly acknowledge the situation and gain more attention across media and social.



Puzzle-related Google searches increased by 650% in Australia alone, so Heinz Ketchup sought to help out those looking for ways to pass the time with their very own ketchup puzzle available in 17 countries.



With "marketing" typically being one of the first budgets cut for many organisations, leading media companies came together to urge marketers not to switch off and take advantage of the less noisey airspace.



Where possible, brands were pushing on, whether that be in providing reassurance to their audiences or simply staying in touch to keep them updated on their COVID-19 reopening plans.


At StartsWithA, we were reaching the end of a large scale rebrand for recruitment technology disruptors, Refari, and in a testament to their tenacious spirit, they pushed forward with the brand launch in line with original timelines. While bold, this is a move that has paid off as we see them going from strength to strength, despite the changing sector they are operating within.


 

May - June 2020: A tentative step forward for experiential


We've shared just a snippet of some of the clever ways brands have responded through advertising which has largely been through Digital, TV, Print, Radio but what about events?

As lockdown restrictions were easing in varying degrees across the world; businesses were reopening under social distancing guidelines and we started to see some new ideas for how people could come back together safely. 


We saw the introduction of social distancing headwear, "eating out/but in" and pub seats with their own bumper rings to name just a few interesting proposed solutions to keeping distance while getting together.


New Zealand celebrated the return to Rugby Stadiums in mid-June with 43,000 people attending. For other countries, this will remain out of reach for a while longer, having to settle for cardboard cutouts in the meanwhile.

 

July 2020: Innovations start to mature into viable executions

The idea of a socially distanced festival would be the talk of lunacy 6 months ago and here we are now on the brink of a range of experiential activations that have potentially combined two seemingly conflicting scenarios: the drive to experience the human condition together and the current need to be physically apart.


The Lost Horizon Festival - VR Festival

The team behind Glastonbury's Shangri-La delivered a multi-layered virtual reality experience featuring four stages and gave attendees the opportunity to interact with one another through dance, music and exploration.


Software, hardware and internet connections are vital for any online event, but the team ensured the festival would be inclusive to all and available to view via PC, VR headset or mobile app.




The Heineken Zer0.0 Contact Bar was launched in Sydney for a four day 'contactless' sampling activation - Australia's first-ever robot bar.


By teaming up with the Sydney Universities robotics department, they produced an innovative and unique experience; with 'dry July' a popular trend the timing of this execution was perfect.



Back in the UK, the British summer is all about festivals (a huge platform for brands), beer gardens and BBQs (in the rain), and whilst many have been cancelled, we have seen some good old British 'get up and go' spirit.


Gisburne Park Pop Up 'The UK’s first purpose built social distancing festival' is currently running an 8 week program (11th Jul - 31st Aug) with DJ performances, live entertainment, open-air cinema and glamping.


Your group of 6 gets their own 'zone' with seating, a sanitiser station and food & drink service; they've accounted for extra toilets, hand wash stations and contactless payments.....this has the potential to be a more pleasant experience than the typical festival carnage!



Virgin Money are also on their way to create a dedicated music venue 'Unity Area' in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to host concerts through August & September.



In Paris event organisers added an open-air floating cinema to the Paris Plages annual event which transforms sections of the River Seine waterfront into a beachfront. Moviegoers were social distanced across 38 boats and deck chairs on the river bank.


Producing a live event or activation under social distancing guidelines will certainly require more planning and potentially budget; but these examples are an inspiration of what's possible.


Heineken had some fun reminded us of the reality of what 'going out' now looks like with their 'Back To Bars' advert.



August and beyond:  Are you the solution?

So here we are, August 2020.


While we are cautious to make any predictions for the future, we are confident in the ability of humanity to adapt. This is undoubtably a significant moment in human history when the direction changed and we headed into a new trajectory.


While we must acknowledge that this is a uniquely challenging time, new problems are a breeding ground for new solutions. If you can try to see that problems are just innovations that haven't been cracked yet, you can potentially find ways that you can be part of the solution.


You know what they say: "necessity is the mother of invention", and it seems that COVID-19 may become the mother of all mothers to trigger the innovations that will define our generation.

 

 

Notes:

It's inspiring to see how much awesome work has been created over the last few months around the world and we simply couldn't capturing everything in this article....we've captured some further references below:


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