Please note that KAB Marketing is no longer operating as a consulting and presentations company. The Blog "What's Branding Got to Do with it?" will continue to be published on a regular basis.

BRANDING DURING A PANDEMIC!

Apr 15, 2020

KEN BANKS’ BLOG APRIL 2020

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BRANDING DURING A PANDEMIC!

I hope this finds you and your family well and safe during this unprecedented time in our lives.  I know that we all are finding it hard to believe all that has happened over the past several weeks now that “pandemic” ,“Social Distancing”, “Stay-at-home” and Coronavirus have become part of our everyday vocabulary. I know that we have found the new normal has afforded us time to catch up on many tasks that we have been procrastinating about for a while.  We’ve also become more dependent on the internet and social media to maintain our communications with family and friends as well as to keep experiencing normally personal interactions like school, church, holiday celebrations, and even some cocktail parties where everyone toasts to a screen instead of clinking glasses. 

Probably, most have you haven’t given a thought to branding during this time, unless you are still working in the marketing industry. 

I was talking today with a good friend Tom Shay (retail consultant, author, speaker and founder of Profits Plus Solutions.  We were talking about retail marketing as we do quite regularly and about the importance of marketing even in times like we are facing today.  Tom said that he thinks there are basically three types of retail marketing during this period:

  1. Stores that have batten-down their marketing.  Basically stopping all marketing efforts given the restrictions and concerns of the public. This is an understandable tactic to cut the expenses when the revenues dramatically are reduced. Unfortunately, not all their competitors have done the same so the share of mind so it likely will be hard to bounce right back after the crisis subsides
  2. Stores that keep it the same and promote as they always have.  There are many whose message are still item/price and trying to drive sales as they always have.  Unfortunately, in an environment of required stay at home behavior, a discount has little or no bearing on motivating someone to risk contamination or illness.
  3. Stores that have reacted quickly to the situation and have taken a revolutionary approach by offering take-out and delivery that previously didn’t exist or was a convenience rather than the standard.  Of course, Amazon is doing a gangbuster business as a result of this, but other companies have stepped up their operations to make it easier to continue to do business with them.  We just tried our first online order and store pick-up at WalMart.  We’ve known that they had provided this service for quite a while, but WalMart has upgraded the whole process to make ordering easier, to provide notice when the order is being filled and if there are any out of stock items or substitutions available, text confirmation when the order is ready for pick up, special signing to direct the customer to newly created parking areas with a sign and phone number to call upon arrival, and a friendly staff person who is there within seconds to load the order (no tips allowed) in your car.  Other stores have done similar operational changes and have marketed them to their customers to reassure them that they are in business and are sensitive to the restrictions of the pandemic.

Other industries are reacting as well.  Newspapers are reducing their print distribution and expanding their online presence to maintain communications  while their advertising has dramatically been reduced.  Financial institutions are increasing their marketing of their online banking service including mobile deposits via your cell phone camera as well as promoting their drive-through and ATM services.  Auto dealers are marketing financing deals to suspend any payments until the pandemic is resolved.  And there are many more.  The key is that now is a time to continue to build the brand relationships with your customers and community.

This brings me to the outstanding effort done by my former agency and employer, Doner Advertising in Detroit.  The agency has a long history of offering their creative expertise to messages that are targeted toward building the pride and spirit of the Motor City’s citizens. They have done this in the past for the local zoo, key health care providers, and community organizations with not only media support but award-winning commercials that reach the heart and the minds of the community.  The reaction to the coronavirus pandemic is no exception. As you are probably aware, Detroit has been hit exceptionally hard by the virus and as a result so has the economy.  Doner decided to keep the spirit of the city up by creating and producing a commercial titled “When the Motor Stops”.  Click on this link to view it for yourself:

The copy is heartfelt and motivating, the production (which was shot in one day) is dramatic and captures the mood hitting all of us, and the message is one that we can all use at this critical time.  Is it branding?  Absolutely.  For a city that needs positives more than ever.  And for an agency, that continues to value its Detroit roots and creativity that has helped maintain the creative advertising and marketing reputation of the Motor City. 

I hope you all are staying well and safe. I can’t wait to get back to normal!