Crisis and Caterpillars

Right now, if you are feeling inner disquiet and debilitating disharmony, you are not alone.
You have lost your routines, friends, activities, sports, independence, time in nature, travel, and necessary novel stimulation. The best technology can offer is simulation of physical events and or webinars. Like zombies, you are doing your part in attending without much participation and even less expectation. In fact, brands are at a loss on how to maintain it's prominence and be at the center of their clients' decision making process.

The controversy of COVID19 compiled with the uncertainty, the pandemic is proving to be a challenge in providing visibility into fluid plans. According to Newscred, 42% indicated that their marketing team lacked the bandwidth to quickly create new content as the result of shifting priorities with another, 40%+ indicating that managing realignment of budget & people resources is problematic.

For so long we were so focused on tangible goals, that now we are at a total loss on how to go after our goals, garner leads, construct conversation and finally package our conversion. I believe, the clue lies in going beyond the surface and take a dive into the mental construct of your audience.

First, know the basic fiber of human existence. It is fear  — anyone and everyone that you encounter in the virtual or physical space is going through it now.
We are living in perpetual fear. We fear the fear of death, we fear the fear of unknown, we fear the fear of being not accepted, we fear the fear of failure, we fear the fear of being invaded by trolls, we fear the fear of being judged, we fear the fear of not resonating with our followers, and at this moment we fear the potential pitfalls of the vaccine that is supposed to be one-stop cure of this pandemic.

Above all, fear freezes reflexes, warps judgement and multiply mistakes.
Worse, it’s contagious. It robs the mind of all it’s powers of acting and reasoning.


Second, know your audience want something more than immediate result or joy. They want a lingering sense of pleasure, or that deeper sense called happiness. “This is one of the secrets by which we shape the fulfillment of our designs. The something more assumes amplified power with people who cannot give it a name or who (most often the case) do not even suspect it's existence.”

Know, that most people only react unconsciously to such hidden forces. And there in lies our opportunity as designers and marketers, to try new things, elaborate new ideas and flirt with risky proposition. Somehow, some way, we have to call a calculated something more into existence, define it and give it shape, then people will follow.

Building Your Butterfly

COVID-19 gives you a reason to examine your ecosystem, dismemeber the parts that is not working and design a brand configuration that is strong enough to survive and thrive.

“Caterpillars chew their way through ecosystems leaving a path of destruction as they get fatter and fatter. When they finally fall asleep and a chrysalis forms around them, tiny new imaginal cells, as biologists call them, begin to take form within their bodies. The caterpillar’s immune system fights these new cells as though they were foreign intruders, and only when they crop up in greater numbers and link themselves together are they strong enough to survive. Then the caterpillar’s immune system fails and its body dissolves into a nutritive soup which the new cells recycle into their developing butterfly.”

The caterpillar is a necessary stage for brands to become relevant and sustainable. It is the precursor in defining the new developing reality.  The task is to focus on building the butterfly — the success of which depends on powerful positive and creative efforts in all aspects of brand deliberation and brand engagement.

Deliberating During Crisis Means Dealing with New Brand Reality

Keep the Momentum Going
However, come to acknowledge the fact, that, there is no ideal product but only a solution that fits the prospect's needs and desired outcome. Remember, it is not about differentiation  from competitors. Current opportunity in the crisis lies in how “brands can be differentiated for customers”. Throughout this crisis, the brands that prove to be relevant to customers’ concerns about safety, security, and assurance will find competitive footing.
How Petco is Ceasing the Moment in Defining this New Reality
With pet adoption rates spiking, and with pet lovers spending extra time at home with their furry friends, pet owners are able to ask vets their questions on Instagram live and are definitely appreciating the benevolence that Petco is offering during the pandemic.


Resist Shallow Empathy Embedded with Extortion
Redrawing the company logo to illustrate physical distancing (a stance undertaken by McDonald, Coca-Cola, Audi, and VW) is all well and good, but what is the point of it if you are not offering a tangible value; “broadcasting bland emails expressing empathy (together with an exhortation to visit their online stores or to upgrade to product protection plans that customers have rejected many times before); and information-light public service announcements are all examples of communication tactics that have been poorly received by customers.”


Define Your Brand with Delicate Deliberation
Your customers may be confused and in despair. They are not stupid.
Stay away from commercially exploitative tactics.

Guinness paved the path surrounding St. Patrick’s Day, when the company shifted its focus away from social celebrations and pub gatherings and instead leaned into a message of longevity and wellbeing. Moreover, Diageo’s (owner of the Guinness and Johnnie Walker brands) promise of over $1 million to support bartenders and other affected groups around the world of a good example of incorporating the human element into marketing messages. Being sensitive to the human side of things, and especially job displacements and hardship is important to consumers and resonates.

In the competitive world of sports, Nike dropped the subscription fee for its NTC Premium service that provides streaming workout videos, training programs and expert tips from trainers, the sportswear giant announced in a blog post,” notes Marketing Dive.


Re-calibrated and Empowered
It is during times of crisis that the brand has the opportunity to drive influence if they move with agility. LVMH, was the first to recalibrate its' product by pivoting from producing perfume to making hand sanitizer, a lead that was swiftly followed by many small distilleries. Likewise, a small Danish supermarket used the same algorithm that applied discounts to multiple purchases of the same product (to facilitate “buy one, get one X% off” promotions) to charge a massive premium to shoppers attempting to hoard items in short supply.

Leveraged supply chain has empowered Panera Bread to benefit its customers by allowing them to add basic essentials (such as milk, bread, eggs, and produce) to their orders of regular menu items for pickup or delivery.



Strive for Search Engine Optimization
You are existing in a 24 hour, 365 days online environment. SEO is a vital online marketing tool. More importantly, organic results are more trusted by search engine users. It is crucial to tag your products with the attributes used by consumers to search in their category — such as “antibacterial” or “disinfecting” for cleaning products, and “non-GMO,” “healthy,” “low fat,” or “zero carb” for food products — even mentioning these terms ahead of your own brand names (something that the leading brands would never do). This helps your products rank higher in the search results of consumers who have no strong brand preference in the category.

Finding Opportunities During Challenging Times

The COVID-19 crisis is daunting and disorienting. There is no doubt that this health crisis has turned our personal world and the business world on its head. Health crisis has changed our lives in fundamental ways and turned the business world on its head. For example, brand that were planning to attend or host trade shows, conferences or other events have to quickly pivot to virtual events.

According to Newscred research, there is a significant increase increase in investment in the following channels:

• Virtual event creation - 78 percent 
• Web content - 72 percent 
  
• Webinars - 67 percent 
• Social media - 66 percent 
  
• Blog content - 57 percent 
• Video - 50 percent 

This means that marketers are either having to venture more deeply into areas they’ve only dabbled in, like video creation for example, or, more likely they are needing additional resources to help them create the content they need to survive in the coronavirus chaos. 
So, brands have a chance to expand their reach through the use of new channels and agencies and freelancers have an exciting opportunity to serve new clients with new and creative services. 

Keep your spirits high. Stay Positive!