By Alexis Williams, EVP of Marketing, The Stagwell Group
In times of national crisis, brands are faced with a unique dilemma. They exist to connect, to communicate, and to sell--but when tragedy strikes, consumers have bigger things to worry about than TV commercials and promoted tweets.
If brands carry on as normal, they risk appearing insensitive to the hardships their audience is facing. If they change their messaging in a way that feels inauthentic, they can be perceived as pandering.
But while it's tempting to turn away from these challenges by going silent, we must remember that brands are made up of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people, all of whom have as much responsibility as anyone to help their fellow humans during this time of crisis.
Now is not the time for brands to go dark. It's time for them to step up.
Do good and let your humanity shine through.
There are plenty of pitfalls for brands to navigate during an all-consuming crisis like coronavirus, but most of them can be avoided by following a simple rule: do good and let your humanity shine through.
The humanity thing is key. Consumers know that there are real people behind the brands that advertise to them, and the more you do to expose our shared humanity, the better off you'll be.
If your company provides an essential service, such as a restaurant handling delivery orders or a shipping company managing pharmaceutical package delivery, maybe it means highlighting the people who are working hard and putting themselves at risk to keep everyone healthy and safe through the crisis. Or maybe it means modeling human decency by highlighting how your brand is treating employees and customers with kindness and compassion.
The other part of the equation is doing good. We are living through a time of unthinkable human suffering, where thousands of people are sick and many more have already lost jobs and wages. Brands have extraordinary resources to relieve some of this pain, and many of them are already stepping up to the plate.
For instance, LVMH is repurposing its perfume factories to make hand sanitizer and Sweetgreen is delivering free salads to hospital workers. Brands should ask themselves what they have to offer and take action.
It's time for us to rise to the occasion.
Though it may be challenging, brands really do have an important role to play right now.
By letting their humanity shine through and giving back to the consumers who make their business a success all year round, these companies can in return offer kindness, joy and critical resources in a time of sickness, fear and isolation.
At some point, we're going to make it through this thing. And when we do, we'll remember the brands who stepped up when we needed them most.
If brands carry on as normal, they risk appearing insensitive to the hardships their audience is facing. If they change their messaging in a way that feels inauthentic, they can be perceived as pandering.
But while it's tempting to turn away from these challenges by going silent, we must remember that brands are made up of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people, all of whom have as much responsibility as anyone to help their fellow humans during this time of crisis.
Now is not the time for brands to go dark. It's time for them to step up.
Do good and let your humanity shine through.
There are plenty of pitfalls for brands to navigate during an all-consuming crisis like coronavirus, but most of them can be avoided by following a simple rule: do good and let your humanity shine through.
The humanity thing is key. Consumers know that there are real people behind the brands that advertise to them, and the more you do to expose our shared humanity, the better off you'll be.
If your company provides an essential service, such as a restaurant handling delivery orders or a shipping company managing pharmaceutical package delivery, maybe it means highlighting the people who are working hard and putting themselves at risk to keep everyone healthy and safe through the crisis. Or maybe it means modeling human decency by highlighting how your brand is treating employees and customers with kindness and compassion.
The other part of the equation is doing good. We are living through a time of unthinkable human suffering, where thousands of people are sick and many more have already lost jobs and wages. Brands have extraordinary resources to relieve some of this pain, and many of them are already stepping up to the plate.
For instance, LVMH is repurposing its perfume factories to make hand sanitizer and Sweetgreen is delivering free salads to hospital workers. Brands should ask themselves what they have to offer and take action.
It's time for us to rise to the occasion.
Though it may be challenging, brands really do have an important role to play right now.
By letting their humanity shine through and giving back to the consumers who make their business a success all year round, these companies can in return offer kindness, joy and critical resources in a time of sickness, fear and isolation.
At some point, we're going to make it through this thing. And when we do, we'll remember the brands who stepped up when we needed them most.
