What Even is Marketing During the Coronavirus? 12 Examples + 9 Tips
Every week(ish) I send out new ideas, writings, and interesting links on marketing, business, and life. It’s free & curated by me. Get on the list.
We're all in this. How do we move forward, together?
Like nothing else in our modern age (the closest comparison being 9/11), COVID19 asks public relations, communications and marketing professionals to lead thoughtfully, with strategies that allow our firms to remain trusted and relevant during this global crisis.
Beyond tactics, this moment begs the fundamental question:
What should marketing look like during Coronavirus?
Clearly there's no pandemic to compare the dynamics of modern marketing to for a helpful framework. But, as always, we can learn a lot from history.
Ads during WWII promoted products from Bell Telephone Systems and GM that many Americans couldn't buy or use due to Government-enforced rationing, in order to keep their names in the public consciousness, and to improve the public image of business after the Great Depression.
"During the 1930s, business was viewed in a very bad light," says Lawrence Glickman, a history professor at Cornell University. "And during WWII, business took this opportunity to once again be seen as the patriotic engine of the American economy—rather than the greedy bastards who caused the Great Depression, which is how they were often viewed during the [preceding] period."
Some things never change
Nobody is blaming business for causing the global pandemic. But, like WWII, the Coronavirus is a global event that is forcing a re-evaluation of many things; the concentration of wealth in society, the role of the US government to support the public, the ethics of capitalism, and more.
It is a time for all of us to examine long-held beliefs.
As the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer shows, zero out of four societal institutions - government, business, NGOs and media—is trusted. The communications firm calls this "a wake-up call for our institutions to embrace a new way of effectively building trust: balancing competence with ethical behavior."
I define competence as doing what we say we're going to do, and making our ability and expertise clear. Ethical behavior is that which operates in alignment with moral principles and values; honesty, fairness, etc.
In a majority of markets, less than half of the mass population trust their institutions to do what is right.
Brands, and the resources they represent, can do a lot more than space out logos during this time. And that presents us with an opportunity.
Change begets change - an opportunity for marketers
Firstly, I hate to call anything of this severity an "opportunity" for marketing.
People are dying. This is serious. Scenes from the front lines of emergency rooms and affected communities is heart-wrenching. I am scared. We all are.
But, as Mark Ritson points out in his piece Marketing in the time of Covid-19, "the wheels of industry need to keep turning." It's OK to swallow the reality of the situation while we take meaningful steps. We must keep moving.
So, what's appropriate? What's at stake?
I believe COVID19, like WWII, presents our industry with a choice.
This is the opportunity:
Marketers have a chance to act with both competence and ethics. We can have a positive impact on not only the perception and trust in business as an institution, but the Coronavirus relief effort itself.
It's a chance to ask: “How can we be helpful during this time?”
(Or, we can choose to exploit the situation, further driving mistrust in an industry that only 4% of US consumers believe operates with integrity.)
People are emotionally fraught right now. That’s actually an opportunity to build trust. Consumers want companies to do the right thing – show them how you are right now.
12 Examples I'm Applauding:
You know me, I don't hold back from calling brands out. (Ahem, it's still Women's History Month, by the way.) But let's celebrate the good as a way of raising the bar for each other.
Here are some examples I am applauding with both competence and ethics:
1. Sometimes what you choose not to do right now speaks volumes. For example, Hershey pulled an ad featuring free chocolate bars and hugs for strangers (a now taboo behavior.)
Many others are using social media, media buys and PR to demonstrate action, not lip service.
Tip: Don't tell us you care. Show us.
2. Ford partnered with GE and 3M to build ventilators and protective equipment.
3. CVS Health is hiring furloughed employees of Marriott / Hilton.
4. Washington Prime Group (mall real-estate trust) offered to use its malls as distribution centers for medical supplies, testing, and food depositories.
5. JOANN Stores are handing out free fabric supplies (curbside) to sew face masks at home.
6. Highlights told me they "have tried to put ourselves in the minds of our customers and think about how. we can be of help. Our customers, like many of our employees, are likely stuck at home while thinking about home schooling, trying to deal with stress and trying to find ways to have quality time as a family." The company is giving away printable pages from workbooks and suggestions for activities that kids/families can do from home.
7. 3D printing technology developer / manufacturer Formlabs has aggregated 1,500+ volunteers with 3D printers to make swabs, adjustment straps for facial shields, and other equipment facing a dire shortage.
8. Bellesa and BBoutique are giving away thousands (yes, thousands) of vibrators to "keep everyone home, safe and ~happy~ during the Coronavirus outbreak." (We all have a role to play.)
9. Despite the clever, but superficial kerning logo move in Times Square, Coca-Cola is taking real action in the Philippines, halting all advertising in the region, saying "All our committed advertising space / budgets will be redirected towards supporting COVID-19 relief and response efforts for the most affected communities.” That's SG $4.2m going towards real relief support!
10. My dad’s favorite tool company, Harbor Freight, is donating their entire supply of personal protective equipment like N95 masks and face shield to front line hospitals with 24 hr emergency rooms. Go to a URL and request a donation.
11. Gifting-platform for marketers, Alyce, gave $50 to a number of customers to donate to charity, and launched the #HandwashChallenge to raise further funds. Watch my contribution here.
12. Atlassian is providing many of its collaboration tools to small teams for free – aligned to their mission of "unleashing the potential of every team."
Note: When a company has a clear mission, often these types of decisions about what should be done next become crystal clear.
Without a clear mission, you’re left scrambling, asking “how can we capitalize on this pandemic” – a dangerous question to ask.
9 PR Tips from an Expert
Yesterday I interviewed Katelyn Holbrook, SVP and Managing Director of V2 Communications as part of my live socialcast series, Exceptional Truths.
Watch our full interview here.
I asked her what PR in a pandemic should look like. Her advice:
Be careful to not operate in a vacuum. Brands must be mindful of what's happening at a global scale.
Journalists are still open to pitches, looking for ways to tie their beat into Coronavirus. Avoid irrelevant, tone-deaf pitches by doing research on the reporter (a #PR best practice.)
Don't try to connect the dots too hard between your product and COVID19.
If it doesn't FEEL right, that's probably a good sign it's not the right thing to be pitching right now.
Journalists, already stretched thin, are even more so now. Set expectations with their bandwidth in mind.
Many firms are sitting on interesting trend data from product usage or customer behavior that lends new understanding to the crisis. Get creative with data-driven PR.
Don't seek to capitalize, seek to help.
Pause existing plans / scheduled promotions or risk making light of / diminishing the crisis.
Don't pull your investment in PR, now is the time to protect, and steer, your brand. Keep a long-term POV.
On those emails...
My inbox was full of “a message from our president and CEO.”
It seems there was a rush to make sure we reminded consumers that we cared about them. Some emails were helpful, but many ended up feeling empty – most emails contained nothing more than well wishes.
Just because you have my email address doesn’t mean you should use it.
Be deliberate, intentional, and have empathy for the fact that we’re all inundated.
DO send:
Service disruptions, or changes to delivery
Helpful resources, X days free of a tool that I can use right now
Extension on bills or flexible payment terms, etc.
Old guidelines of email and social media apply: helpful, informative, entertaining, full of empathy.
I think we need to remember that in times of crisis, our brains cry out for information to help us survive. It’s called “surveillance gratification seeking” and it means consumers are addicted to their inbox, news and social feeds right now. A disaster for mental health, but unfortunately, an opportunity many marketers are exploiting.
Let's not add to the noise. Be there, but only if helpful.
And, quoting as I will forever the amazing Doug Kessler:
Be careful about assuming you’re more important to your audience than you really are.
Remember, there’s no such thing as “being top of mind” during a pandemic. Your brand, by default, takes a backseat to how we are navigating this new normal.
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More great thinking about marketing right now:
Velocity Partners / Doug Kessler
"There are two main kinds of risk. The risk of selling too hard or appearing to be exploiting the crisis for gain is very real. Trigger this response and it will stay with people, damaging your brand—perhaps rightly— for a long time. Then there’s the risk of ignoring the whole situation and pretending it’s business-as-usual. The other bookend in the Shelf of Risk. Also crass and tone deaf."
Marketing Week / Mark Ritson
"The first lesson of the coronavirus crisis that now engulfs us is to shut the fuck up and let the experts guide us... We are marketers, for fuck's sake, and most of us aren’t even any good at that. Let’s leave the epidemiology to the professionals."
Marketoonist / Tom Fishburne
"Brands are judged less by how they operate when things go right, than by how they handle situations when things go wrong."
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Every week(ish) I send out new ideas, writings, and interesting links on marketing, business, and life. It’s free & curated by me. Get on the list.