The new normal
“New normal” is a concept that contains both uncertainty (because it’s unpredictable) and promise (there’s still something new waiting for us anyway). Social distancing is forcing people to stay at home more, and it’s clear that there have been some changes in behavioral trend .
Consumers tend to use technological devices more, show their preferences for shopping online, digital entertainment, and working from home,…) Some of these changes in behavior may be temporary, but many others may be permanent. In the face of many rapid changes in these difficult times, what can brands do to help their brand evolve with the new normal?
To quickly adapt creative messages to fit the situation, marketers may want to build more responsive operating models internally and with agencies. Access to remote production and creativity will become especially important as the crisis deepens. Typically for Nike, they immediately created a new message: “Play inside, play for the world.”
“Play inside, play for the world” – Nike: Nike: Play for the World
Food Love Stories – Tesco: Tesco Food Love Stories | Dedications
Show empathy and sincerity
A society still reeling from the effects of a global pandemic and an unstable economy will not buy from an overly materialistic brand; the ability to build an emotional connection and a “we’re all in this together” story is more crucial than ever. It’s also time for brands to get loud about their values and make customers aware of how much they care. For example, Facebook has produced a short film honoring the ways people are keeping connected to our daily lives, which are disrupted by the worldwide pandemic, emphasizing the significance of staying connected to friends, family, and the community throughout the COVID-19 crisis.
Keep up with trends and build scenarios
Actively tracking behavioral trends helps marketers gain more real-time insights. Marketers will also want to survey consumer opinions and trends on a regular basis to not only better tailor messages and dialogues with their audience across different brand touchpoints but also enable chances to seek development opportunities and to quickly respond to crises if any. Building a dashboard with these types of data is also essential for businesses to make the right decisions.
Adapt to the ever-increasing growth of E-commerce
The COVID-19 crisis has spurred an expansion of e-commerce toward new companies, customers, and product categories. It has enhanced dynamism in the cross-country e-commerce landscape and broadened the reach of e-commerce, including through new companies, consumer segments (e.g. elderly) and products (e.g. groceries). In the United States, for example, whereas the percentage of e-commerce in total retail climbed steadily between the first and second quarters of 2020 (from 9.6 percent to 11.8 percent), it jumped to 16.1 percent between the first and second quarters of 2020. The trend is similar in the United Kingdom, where the percentage of e-commerce in retail increased from 17.3 percent to 20.3 percent between the first and second quarters of 2020, before increasing dramatically to 31.3 percent between the first and second quarters of 2020.
Adapting to a new way of working to keep delivering products
It’s exciting how quickly businesses are moving to remote working. The implementation of collaboration technologies can fulfill the needs of chat, file sharing, meetings, calls, and enable teams to stay connected and stay productive in a seamless manner. Recently, the trend of “virtual happy hours” is gradually being applied to build team spirit. Managers are doing their best to transform from marketing, sales, and services to ways of working in order to adapt to this “new normal”
Brands are responding quickly in this awareness-and-adaptation phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s pivotal, also to plan beyond the crisis. As a saying goes “only change exists”, staying agile, alert, and innovative is the only way that brands can survive and grow in “a world full of uncertainties and surprises”.
Author: Le Hong Hoai
This article is in a series of a mentorship project that I am collaborating with students from business schools. They will be guided to write about a topic in Marketing they are interested in, and I will coach as well as proof-read and edit. If you are a student and wants to collaborate, please write to me at yennhi.tr.writing@gmail.com.