COVID-19: Four Key Lessons for Brand Protection

The COVID-19 pandemic has already proven to be an event which will be remembered and talked about for a generation. Fortunately global pandemics of this scale are not common but one thing COVID-19 has shown is the influence major global events can have for brands owners and for brand protection. As the outbreak continues to evolve there will no doubt be further thoughts and insights into the effects it has had on brands but there are already four key lessons that every brand owner should be aware of.

 1.      The market for domain names reacts quickly to major events

The domain name market responds quickly to big events. Really quickly. It’s often mentioned that financial markets respond almost instantaneously to new information about a business or other relevant industry developments and domain names aren’t much different. The number of new domain registrations containing the string ‘coronavirus’ or ‘covid’ had topped 1,000 a day by early March – the point roughly at which the outbreak began talking hold in Western Europe – and had reached 5,000 a day by the middle of that month. These domains have been used in a number of different ways ranging from low-risk cybersquatting issues all the way up to high-risk issues which have used COVID-19 to try and target customers with phishing websites. Registering a domain name in 2020 is cheaper and easier than ever before and COVID-19 is just another reminder of how quickly the domain name market responds to major events relating to specific brand or global issues which effect multiple industries.

 2.      The economics of counterfeiting

Global events like COVID-19 can create the perfect economic cocktail for counterfeiters. In the case of a global pandemic we’ve seen that items like face masks and hand sanitisers become very scarce whilst the consumer demand skyrockets. These two things combined create a market price which is much higher than we would normally expect. For a counterfeiter this is a golden opportunity – an item which thousands of people are desperately searching for and a market price which is significantly higher than it would normally be. In this kind of environment it’s no surprise that counterfeiters are quick to react by attempting to meet the excess demand with counterfeit products. Latest estimates suggest that Britons have already purchased ￡800,000 of counterfeit face masks and Amazon and eBay have removed listings for items with massively inflated prices although this has in many cases not gone far enough.

 3.      Exploitation of fear and uncertainty

There’s a psychological element involved too. The uncertainty created by COVID-19 in terms of how long people may find themselves in lockdown, how much of the population could be infected by the virus, when a vaccine might be available and other similar questions has understandably left many people feeling worried about what the future might hold. In an environment of uncertainty people look for stability and certainty but this provides an opportunity for third parties to use this for their own benefit. Earlier this month Google claimed that they had blocked 126 million COVID-19 phishing emails in just one week. In a time when many of us are working from home and do not currently have the face-to-face interaction that we normally would we’re becoming reliant on email and other technologies to communicate with colleagues, friends and family. Fraudsters know this too and they also know that many are likely to fall victim to spear phishing attacks and other impersonation tricks during a time when we’re communicating virtually. Organisations who we normally look to for reassurance during uncertain times like the World Health Organisation and the UK government have been particularly targeted by phishing attacks in recent weeks as fraudsters have attempted to use trusted names for their own unscrupulous purposes.

 4.      Reputation matters

The actions taken by various individuals and businesses in response to the pandemic have frequently been making headlines in one way or another. With a large proportion of the world’s Internet population currently staying at home it’s no surprise that people are spending more time reading, sharing and commenting on potentially damaging news stories and social media posts which could exacerbate issues affecting corporate reputation. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the decisions and actions that brands take every day, but particularly during times of major global events, can be very positive for brand image but very damaging too.

 The one common theme for all four of the points above is how quickly they can take hold. For many people it was only in late February and early March that it became clear COVID-19 posed a serious issue for continental Europe and the United States. In just a few weeks new threats have opened up for brands in all industries and will no doubt to continue to evolve as COVID-19 develops but if there is one lesson that can already be learnt it is that a strong brand protection strategy needs to be agile.

 References:

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/04/sipping-from-the-coronavirus-domain-firehose/

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-rip-off-face-masks-targeting-british-consumers-11974729

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/25/amazon-and-ebay-failing-to-stop-covid-19-profiteers-says-which

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/17/google_coronavirus_spam/