Don’t Be Tone Deaf: 5 Steps to Get Coronavirus Marketing Right

There’s a lot of debate ongoing within the marketing industry about what brands should do in these difficult times.

Clearly people’s health and safety should be uppermost in our minds, as should the welfare of the key workers in the NHS and other caring professions, those providing essential goods and services, and individuals and families affected by illness or the social and mental impacts of lockdown.

That said, there is a role for brands in this to consider. Marketing Week reported that Kantar's survey of more than 35,000 consumers found that just 8% thought brands should stop advertising. There is a clear expectation that companies should play their part, with 78% of consumers believing brands should help them in their daily lives. So despite the broader issues people are facing, they expect brands to contribute somehow.

How should we do this as marketers?

We certainly shouldn’t be tone-deaf. Merely continuing to sell products without acknowledgement or empathy with the current situation, or a tenuous link to the virus as an excuse to push promotions, feels deeply inappropriate. There do seem to be a glut of certain brands using the virus as an excuse to communicate with a database of people who they didn’t have a relationship with and where they don’t really have a relevant role to help right now.

To borrow a phrase from Private Eye, this is truly ‘Desperate Marketing’ – and absolutely to be avoided.

However – as has always been the case – identifying a meaningful, relevant role that your brand can play in people’s lives is the right thing to do. And more than ever, in these times, actions speak louder than words.

Here are some examples of getting it right.

Made.com are an online furniture retailer. Rather than try to promote their product they have been providing beds for exhausted medics on the front line, as they’d heard they were struggling for places to rest between long shifts. A brand listening to people, using what it does to do something genuine to help.

Sony have given away four PlayStation 4 games entirely free, in recognition that many are financially struggling and are in need of entertainment during the long lockdown. Again, demonstrating understanding your audience and providing something relevant and generous.

Ford, GM and Tesla are offering to repurpose their automotive plants, as demand for cars slows, to manufacture the much-needed ventilators that are in short supply.

LMVH (and others) have pivoted from making luxury cosmetic products to using their manufacturing and distribution expertise to make tonnes of hand sanitiser gel and ship it to hospitals to address the shortages.

So what steps should we take as marketers to get it right? I believe there are five steps brands should take in navigating this period:

1. Identify a meaningful, relevant role your brand can play to provide real help in this crisis

2. Think about how your company’s capabilities and infrastructure might be repurposed to be of service to people

3. Take practical actions that genuinely help affected communities

4. Avoid hard selling where audiences will not be receptive – take care that your tone and messaging flexes to empathise with people’s situation

5. If budget allows, use communications to maintain awareness and relevance with customers during the crisis, perhaps revolving around point 3 above

Not only are these steps the right ones to take in human and social terms, from a marketing perspective it will help your brand stay relevant and be remembered positively by people as life starts to return to the new normal.