HOW TO PREPARE POST COVID19

HOW TO PREPARE POST COVID19

Right now, marketing activity will be being paused, budgets raided and business leaders may be de-prioritizing its importance in the coming months. Of course, attention must turn to critical business operations; however, our role as brand experts is to remind marketing leaders of the lessons from history. Brands that keep going - and keep going in specific ways - emerge from economic shocks ahead of their competitors. Here are some of those lessons.

PROTECT BUDGETS

Brands that reduce their spends during times of recession often come out the other end weaker. Every business will have its own unique features but history tells us on average marketing budgets should be protected, not raided for recovery. Reductions in marketing spend create short-term returns but significant long-term loss

PROTECT THE BRAND

Strong brands recovered 9x faster than weaker brands following the financial crash of 2008. Don’t forget about your brand! Protect it. Fuel it. It’s going to help you come back.

The dual impacts of short-termism in marketing and lower investment behind creativity have halved the success of creativity over a period of just four years. By reducing investment in the long-term now brands face the very real risk of reducing their commercial power down the line. Hold the line as much as is possible.PARTS

  Brands that focus on increasing relative share of voice, perceived share of voice and product quality perceptions are more successful. It happened in the 90s. In the 2000s. And 2008. It should happen again.

CELEBRATE EMOTIONAL MILESTONES

MILESTONES

In post COVID-19 world there will be lots of small moments that gain a new emotional resonance: the first pint back at the pub, the first cup of tea with your gran in two months, getting back to your yoga/pottery class/5-aside league or Eastenders back to 4 nights a week. Brands can make them feel even more special and elevate these moments.

As we are seeing a massive expansion of the state and the role of large brands in delivering key services, big will be back and trusted more. Who will you want to bank with after this is all done? A startup or an established critical player?

PREPARE FOR A NEW NORMAL?

Things are unlikely to return to just the way they were before the pandemic - so make sure you’re listening to your customers so you are prepared for the new normal. What could the pandemic mean for customers long-term? A re-evaluation of work/life priorities? A stronger commitment to family? Increased anxieties? Tightening budgets? Don’t presume that things will revert back to the status quo once this appears to be coming to a close. Prepare to check in with the market.

Is going to the store still the optimum for people? Will people go back to the purchase behaviours of pre-Covid or will it have massively accelerated the direct-to-consumer trend. As highstreet players may unfortunately fall as a result of this, strengthening your DTC proposition will help adapt to new behaviours and the new reality.

LEAVE ROOM FOR CHANGE 

Resist developing an exact plan. Give yourself and your team a chance to adapt as weeks go by. Section quarters up, map things out. Move to iterative delivery cycles.

Be agile in your management.

What are the seeds that you can plant now and will have impact in the future? Think of it as a hibernation phase: now is the time to focus on the side of your business that helps people grow, learn, improve, without the pressure of reaching instant gratification. The next big thing could be conceived WFH.

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