The New Normal

7 things that brands can and should do these days

COVID-19 has us all in a whirlwind but honestly, our country regularly has its fair share of emergencies and crises on all fronts: security, economics, politics, medical, and sometimes they all gang up and cause catastrophic distrust.

Adversity summons big challenges and opportunities for businesses. During these trying times, organizations may ask themselves – what roll do brands play now, other than just survive?

As change becomes routine, buzzwords are abundant now more than ever which indicates how speedy and deep the transformation is. The many processes that have been going strong, require organizations to be fully flexible and quick.

Business are changing and with them, their value proposal – and while some reinvent themselves, distribution is becoming multichannel and the crowd is much more local and digital.

So what is the position of brands nowadays? That’s a great question and it really depends on whom you’re asking.

The body’s survival mechanism has three main reactions when encountering threats: fight, flight, or freeze. Businesses are the same: some decided to close up shop during the pandemic, others disappeared. We believe in those who decided to stick it out, take responsibility and fight.

The other part of the equation has to do, as you’ve might have figured, with customer needs. What are they these days?

A customer survey done in the USA found that 88% would like brands to keep in touch in uncertain times such as this one, while merely 2% out of the customers preferred it if marketers hold back. 70% thinks that brands must communicate relevant messages and carry significant part in the conversation about the pandemic. They say that you should be around during the good times, and absolutely must stick around for the bad ones. You have to be present.

First the foremost: find your voice

If the passing year has taught us anything, it’s the importance of empathy and authenticity, of talking in your own voice and words. Brands that maintain a strong, stable identity have a much easier job starting difficult conversations, and do so mindfully and meaningfully. The next generation of brands will mostly consist of what we call Conscious Brands. These brands understand their important position and goal in our everchanging world. They’re proactive and will do the responsible, sensible thing.

Take a moment to reconsider your brand strategy. These are just the days to reexamine your value proposal and your story, especially if you keep in mind that we are facing new circumstances that emphasize the connection to what we hold near and dear.

Take another look at the relevancy of your core values and your brand’s unique value. Ask yourselves: can this brand help us make better choices?

It is tempting to get fast and loose with ideating now, as we all want to solve dire global needs, most of them being lack of masks and toilet papers – but is that relevant to your brand and your story?

It’s time to dive in and do some research. Learn about the ways other companies in your field have been tackling current challenges, and then imagine how you can position yourself in a new level by doing something extraordinary.

Be authentic and check with yourself what is the one thing you can do, that no one else can? We all have different plates that we bring to the table. What is in your special plate? What is your superpower and how can you use it for the greater good?

Rediscover your audience

The new state of things has shuffled the deck, creating new opportunities, audiences, which have become more local, and means of distribution. People do much more at home and from it, including work, and digital platforms have become multigenerational, as all family members often use the same platforms.

It is no surprise that audiences today consume greater digital content more than ever before. A recent Nielsen survey indicates a 60% rise in digital content consumed, a 79.17% rise in the number of internet users and a whooping 105.26% jump in televised content consumption.

The best way to find your audience these days is to look for them at home.

Think about the story you want to tell

It must be relevant to your business goals and products, and equally so, relevant to the community to whom you cater. Here are a few questions you should ask yourself regarding your story:

What would you like your customers to tell one another about your business?

Does your unique value benefits individual lives, community life, or a specific group?

How is the new story you’re telling connects with the brand’s history?

How do you want to tell your story?

Here are a few key aspects that tell the worth of a story:

Is it relevant? Always operate on a level that’s suitable and related to your business and clients.

Is it effective? Choose to leave an impact, to solve a pressing matter. We’re all looking for quick and easy solutions, especially now.

Is it feasible? Work with what’s at hand and what can be done. What can you make in a short period of time? What resources can you realistically put into this project?

After answering all of these important questions and doing some research, we came up with the most current positions brands fill these days:

01. Practice empathy and solidarity

Now more than ever, consumers are counting on brands to stay positive and help them get through current hardships. They want brands to help them feel like everything is normal, not by avoiding the situation, but through empathetic, solidary, warm dialogue, that will make them feel like they have a place they can belong to. Focus on real human moments, slices of life, to create authentic solidarity. Who knows, you might even inspire others.

Communicate empathetically and compassionately, but don’t hold back on the real facts. Brands that are committed and positive can quickly create calmness without sacrificing informativeness. Good experiences are created through listening and attention. Listen to your audience, pay attention to their concerns, interests, needs, and anticipate the ones to come. 

02. Inform and educate

They say that the first step of grief is denial: a lack of willingness to accept what happened. It isn’t just a Trump thing – it’s a human thing. Obviously, COVID requires further education regarding future implications and what can be done. And clearly, it is the government’s job to educate citizens. We can’t help but wonder if a brand that’s talking about the pandemic might confuse audiences.

The answer is no. Brands shouldn’t contradict governmental advice, but it should advise what is relevant to it, in its own voice. Brands are more influential nowadays than governments, especially when facing the challenge of conversing with younger audiences about following instructions, albeit no belonging to a high-risk group – only brands can make it sound legitimately cool.

Brands play an important roll in informing and guiding society. Every brand has to ask itself if it can influence its community in ways the government can’t – and if so, it should.

03. Reach out and really help

In every industry in any place in the world, brands are now considering what they can do to offer help and support – from feeding communities in need to sharing their apps for free. It’s to time to step up and take active part of your community by thinking outside the box.

It can be a small gesture: take Lush for example, who offered free hand washing stations to slow the virus down. European chain Pret a Manger offered free and discounted products to NHS and medical staff. Microsoft had opened Teams premium for free use for six months, and Vodafone allows easy access to medical staff online.

Other brands take this opportunity to innovate even further, while doing the right thing and encouraging others to do the same. Dutch airline KLM has been promoting a campaign that call for minimizing flights to protect the earth. Fast food chains such as Burger King and Pizza Hut had turned children’s meal boxes to games kids can easily enjoy during lockdown.

Focus on actually solving pressing problems in meaningful ways, not just selling products. Brands should take this opportunity to create stability and help audiences feel that they are with them, as much as for them.

04. Mentally support your community

Another aspect in which brands influence these days is the offering of mental support.

If we go back to the grief cycle analogy, emotions like anger and anxiety, needs such as soul searching and reaching out to others – all come from the same primal step of grief: denial, shock, and confusion. When self-isolation begins taking an emotional toll, the yearn for human connection is bound to hit hard. Mental support can come from small local brands: for example, a community where small teddy bears were placed atop windowsills, so family trips with young children can turn from a lonely walk down an empty road, to an exciting teddy hunt. This brilliant move also assures keeping social distance.

Activities such as this one may be a private motivation but can also be created by imaginative businesses that truly wish to affect their communities for the better. Now, let’s look at some bigger players and their actions:

Netflix came up with the Netflix Watch Party so we can all watch a movie together. Choco giant Cadbury opened up a hotline with young volunteers to ease the pain of loneliness for elderly callers. Guinness stepped up with a bright insight: when the present is difficult, people find solace in the past and hope in the future. Nostalgia kicks in big time but let’s not forget about thinking onward and daring to dream. For obvious reasons, St. Patrick’s Day parade was cancelled this year, and so Guinness had put up a great campaign with the message “Don’t worry, we’ll march again”. We all want to march again, and the best brands are there to make sure we never lose hope.

05. Connect with your community

COVID-19 marks somewhat of an end or a limit to the hyper-individualized era, and the formation of a more communal and group-centric thinking. This is an era where communal value is the most sought after and appreciated of them all. It is relevant to global reality and brings about bounds of creativity and recognition in the undeniable social contribution of working-class heroes.

There are many companies who concentrate now on creating value for their communities. Facebook, for instance, had launched a 100 million dollar program to support small businesses in 30 countries. Professional staff from Microsoft and Google Hangouts give free digital services. And here, in Israel, there are banks, media and food companies to name a few, that give back to the community in its time of need.

Another stand out example is of Miller Lite beer, with a virtual tip jar campaign saying “taps are off. But tips are needed”, encouraging donations to a special support program for bar and pub workers. They managed to raise over a million dollars, including a donation for their own, for unemployed bar staff. They gave back to their community.

This is the time to take a stand and do something for the greater good. It’s a way to position yourself by simply being present and taking part. Doing this for your community is the most important thing right now, and in future to come as well – it is the beginning of a new era, after all. So communal thinking is here to stay. You must think about your place in the table and what you bring to it. Current clients and potential ones are interested in the communal benefit that their favorite brands have to offer, how their products can make our united life as a group, better. I believe that in time to come, simply creating an ad or come up with a cool idea, just won’t cut it. Gone are the days where brands present themselves – instead, businesses are going to explore these questions: what can we do for our community? What is the one thing only we can do?

06. Provide an alternative

Airbnb went through quite a financial turbulence. Since global tourism went into deep sleep, Airbnb has been focusing on local tourism – an expected yet difficult shift which they had managed to pull quite successfully, including framing, messaging and brand promise: instead feeling at home anywhere in the world, local travelers are invited to explore their nearest environment – go near.

Online events and live stories are becoming an inseparable part of our digital routine and are probably here to stay. As social distancing put traditional consumer engagement to a halt, more brands are taking to digital platforms. Welden, the bag brand, promoted itself during the Shanghai fashion week with videos only. The bags were presented in an online fashion show with fancy leather masks, hit 11 million views and accepted orders worth of about 2.82 million dollars, during the show. The masks did not go unnoticed, and a new mask collection was born following the positive feedback they received. Digital events are now perfectly legit.

Allbirds shoe brand combines both online and real-life sells in a smooth retail system, which really saved the brand during the pandemic. Allbirds used their advantage to improve its digital tools and launched an instore video chat, so customers can get a similar experience to actually being in the store. Another example is the NBA. It had to readjust its practice method and crowd presence, which is a huge part of sports. So, they created a sterile practice ground called The Bubble, every game and practice are held there and the crowd is virtual, so simulate a real game.

07. Introduce hope and optimism

Wrapping are round up is a roll that is also a mission: brands should recreate a perspective, a positive vibe, to remind audiences that this too shall pass. There is hope and there’s always a reason for optimism.

Take Nike for example. They released incredibly inspirational ad videos, reminding us that we are never alone, and as human history proves, we’ve pulled out of hardships before. We ca win this one too.

Times like these emphasize the need for some good escapism, away from the grind and routine. This is an excellent opportunity for brands to tell a relevant story that’ll take us away someplace different and better.

Looks like the pandemic and its implications might stick around for a good while and this is the new normal. As brands, we hold a responsibility, we have a mission to turn pain point into opportunities and make a difference for the greater good.

This sums up what you can do and how you can do it – create a better reality for your community, solve problems and build trust and loyalty.

So – what should you do first thing tomorrow? Plan ahead! Research, explore and discover your audience, sharpen your brand strategy, and use your own voice in unique and relevant way that creates empathy and assists in informing and educating the community. A voice that projects and creates security and solidarity, and grants you authentic authority. Solve problems and don’t just sell a product, offer real help and mental support, and create value for your people.

And most importantly: lead, be present and make a difference.