Necessity is the mother of invention: communicating during a pandemic

The importance of communication has never been more paramount. Just look at the attention the government’s move away from its ‘Stay at Home’ slogan received. This crisis has put both group and individual behaviours under unparalleled scrutiny. It’s a situation which demands effective communication.

How businesses are responding to this challenge – and engaging with customers through their marketing efforts – is hugely divergent.

On the one hand, many companies are putting advertising on hold, unsure of the public’s mood and whether their ads will connect in a crisis. Recent research suggests that 55% of advertisers have paused campaigns in response to the situation[1].

Meanwhile, we saw early moves from corporate conglomerates like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Audi and Volkswagen who quickly responded to the crisis by interpreting social distancing with logo redesigns.

While these global brands can be confident of retaining their market position, a huge number of companies recognise the potential impact the virus will have on consumer demands and the need for a substantive shift in how they connect with their customers in this time – that goes beyond a temporary redesign of their logos.

Necessity is the mother of invention. At a time when the tools marketeers typically have access to is limited, companies are being forced to rethink how they create engaging content that will resonate.

Enter the rise of user-generated content. With social distancing requirements and lockdown rules prohibiting the use of traditional camera crews, we’re seeing more and more authentic content being leveraged. The ‘amateur’ nature of the content being captured can be incredibly powerful because it shows life as it really is. There’s no gloss or spin.

And that’s what consumers want to see at a time like this. Now is not the time to champion a hard-sell. People are experiencing unprecedented levels of fear and uncertainty – and they expect brands to understand and respond to this in a way that demonstrates humility.

Recent research shows that certain advertising characteristics are connecting better, including those showing human connection, exhibiting self-awareness and connecting to community[2]. Interestingly, this may be a result of a ‘right brain reset’ that could change the way we advertise going forward.

The left brain is narrow, goal-orientated and procedural; the right brain is broad, intuitive and empathetic. For the last two digital decades, there has been a shift in society towards left-brain dominance – and advertising hasn’t been impervious to this shift. Creative has become flat and abstract, often failing to elicit an emotional response.

Covid-19 has switched our right brain back on – we’re on high alert, processing new threats and looking out for others. We see this manifested in initiatives like Clap for Carers, which get people up and down the country out on the streets on a Thursday night applauding NHS workers. This mental shift explains why ads showing people connecting are resonating more strongly. The legacy of coronavirus could potentially result in a longer term right-brain reset for society.

So who’s doing it well so far? I loved ITV’s reinterpretation of ‘Clap for Carers’, a tribute that saw NHS workers thanking the UK public for staying indoors but also reminding people to look after their mental well-being in lockdown.

I also think Facebook’s ‘Never Lost’ ad is incredibly powerful. It’s a montage of haunting and hopeful imagery and video set to a spoken word track by British poet Kate Tempest. It majors on the power of community to get us through tough times.

Within our portfolio, British Gas have recently launched a brilliant new ad. The timeline from brief to delivery was 10 days, with the entire film shot in three days to social distancing guidelines using GoPros.

I think the advert captures the beating heart of the brand. We are always ‘Here to Solve’, helping customers in any way we can. But we always want to celebrate our workforce who are putting themselves at risk, juggling calls and childcare to respond to emergencies and deliver food to the most vulnerable.

What common threads lie behind these campaigns?

Authentic content. Real footage of real people. Emotional engagement. A spotlight on workers. A tone of empathy, understanding and directness.

Whilst these ads were borne out of necessity, I hope they set a new precedent for how we engage moving forward. It’s crucial that brands embed right-brain thinking into their communications in the weeks and months ahead.

[1] https://www.marketingweek.com/brands-advertising-coronavirus-crisis/

[2] https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/content-marketing-thought-leaders/2020/what-should-ads-look-like-in-the-time-of-recession-