What a dramatic change this Covid19 has brought to our lives, whether it is the business or for us human beings. India went for a complete lockdown beginning March to fight the pandemic. Undoubtedly, all business establishments irrespective of their strength and type of industry have been affected by the recent outbreak of COVID-19 to a great extent.
Businesses, jobs, saw great upheavals, the world also saw a tectonic shift in the way we communicated. The Indian Advertising all through this crisis/ lockdown has been on their feet by innovating new methods of communication for their brands to reach out to their consumers. Brand communication was more empathetic, keeping in mind the sentiments and moods of the consumer in general.
Medianews4u in their series ‘Back to Business’ have spoken to 70+ brands on how they are effectively changing their communication strategies. We are now talking to the Advertising Agencies who are the brand custodians on what will be their strategy for their clients in the new normal.
Siddharth Devnani, Co-Founder & Director at SoCheers on the way forward in the new normal….
The lockdown is more or less lifted now, what as an Agency would be your priorities toward your brands?
Firstly, it is to ensure we are being mindful of the monies being invested by the brands we take care of. It is super important to be efficient and frugal without compromising on impact. We also need to look at the new habits or change in consumption patterns – the old methods may not apply – so hard introspection is needed.
Brands in the new normal are now seeing new buying habits, as a brand custodian what will be the new strategies and advertising message?
Both the virus and the consequent lockdowns have disproportionately affected different sectors and consumers have naturally changed how they buy. So there will not be a one size fit all strategy. What needs to be looked at is each sector’s and TG’s current and potential future behavior. Eyes and ears on the ground are needed irrespective of the sector. Brands that do this well are the ones that will be faster to bounce back or can even provide more value in this new normal.
As brands now are going digital, will you advise them to also start their own e-commerce platforms?
Absolutely. I am still to see a business – product or service – which cannot leverage online selling at any point in the buying journey. Every brand should leverage the forced push to digital transactions their TG has gone through.
Will brands now be more open to more spend on digital as compared to traditional platforms?
It is very likely given that at least one of this is happening – buyers are transacting more digitally or at the very least they are spending more time online. Brands should leverage this.
How will you rebuild brand loyalty for certain brands which fell off the radar during this lockdown?
Brand communication needs to be authentic and mindful – this is what the audience would really appreciate given that it hasn’t been easy for anyone.
Being relevant to the current scenario – where does one fit into the TG’s lives in this new normal or even showing how one is restarting or ramping up would be the right thing to do, rather than pretending nothing happened and just restarting where it was left off.
With the approaching festive season and IPL on the cards will we see a spike in Ad spends, will traditional mediums benefit?
TV and digital are likely to benefit the most. OOH & print to a lesser extent and events, BTL even much lesser. I am keen to see the innovative ways traditional mediums will leverage this season – I am sure all of them have some tricks up their sleeve – brands and agencies alike.
