Advertising in the time of lockdown – Why should brands think about long – term amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic?
The ongoing lockdowns due to the threat of this pandemic has quietly managed to impact everyone’s life in some way or the other. Whether away from home or at home our priorities have clearly changed.
Well; all I can say is that during this lockdown people have embraced social media to such an extent where it puts a question to whether brands should stop advertising at all.
Now thanks to COVID-19, what we have left in our hands is a bearish market as never seen before in the last seventy years. There’s an old saying that goes by: “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” – Rahm Emanuel
During the lockdown evreyone has embraced social media to the point whereby its registered an unprecedented rise in screen time, a 25% increase in engagement on Instagram and TikTok in the past month and a staggering 72% increase on ad content by the influencers.
There were instances where you can see brands playing their part by making a good use of their weight and presence in social media for the good and not exploiting the situation.
For Example:
- Crocs gives away free Clogs to health workers
- Gymshark campaigns to raise funds for freelance PTs
- JBL adapts logo to encourage people to #StayHome
- Pornhub offers free premium subscription worldwide
There are ample of opportunities still waiting for you to do good and get creative. So go get your sleeves rolling !
Always Put Your Audience first
You can call this a golden rule but right now you got to which platform your customers are spending most of the time online and specially what do they want to see from you. This will vary from one brand to another hence there is no fixed strategy to be carried out by all.The use of video calling apps like Instagram Live,Hangouts, Zoom and TikTok have risen dramatically. Private messaging apps like Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger have also seen up to 70% hike in use during lockdown.
You Got Be Creative With Your Content
The internet and the digital world has a plethora of exciting ways to connect and communicate with the audience. The outbreak of COVID -19 has led to a shift in a way the brands are advertising, since your customers are unable to leave their houses. You got to think of a creative way such as augmented reality, live stories, snaps etc. These are the ways where you can engage highly with your audience and connect with them sitting at home.
- Snapchat and Instagram are both using augmented reality to fight fake news during this time of crisis.
- ASICS couldn’t take people to the Innovation Summit in Tokyo, so the team brought the Innovation Summit to the people using live streaming and virtual reality.
Go Live!
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok are all platforms that have seen a substantial increase in the use of Live function in the past few weeks.
You can well have a hearty laugh at the fact that this pandemic lead to the growth of these functions to take off to the next level. Although for now it’s become one of the most valued features for home grown content for brands today.
If you can mix these functions with all the above tips on being interactive with live Q&As, workouts, games and more, then we think it will give you great results. The one thing which everyone values right now is human connection and this is definitely for it.
Conclusion
Our audience right now is more concerned about those doing good and so we encourage brands to be creative and confident in creating the right kind of content so they don’t get lost in the sea of sameness. To cater for this shift in behaviour brands shouldnt be pushing sales messages, as that is sure to bring a putoff to your audience who is at home and social distancing.