There is no denial that COVID has either paused the growth of several sector or slowed down the overall progress. Advertising industry is no exception, with pandemic in place the market has struggled to cope with the loss of outdoor advertising. The only medium that has performed extremely well is digital. Majorly because of availability of affordable internet combined with work from home that has resulted in the heavy consumption of data through different checkpoints. With the rapid growth in hyper-connected consumers, VR and AI are gaining an increasingly prominent role in marketing and advertising as they provide more authentic and personalized engagement opportunities. In past six months the ad industry has evolved and adapted the new normal and new age audience’s demand.
Advertising in times of COVID 19:
Advertising has evolved over the years and has adapted the 360-degree approach to reach the audience across various touchpoints. In the pandemic the digital advertising has taken a center stage where brands are leveraging different social media platforms to reach their potential user. For example, Facebook has over 2.2 billion users and Facebook alone has 98 personal data points,totaling 215.6 billion data points that are leveraged by brands.During the isolation period, people are spending more time on their devices, social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, etc have seen a rise than usual. Consumption of OTT platforms have hiked too. Gone are the days when emailers and newsletters were a thing. In the times of uncertainty, brands need to re-strategize and keep the connect with audience on when, how and what can make their users respond or react. Personalized advertising is yet a game changer during this global pandemic. Although COVID halted the economy but it has also provided an opportunity to re-calibrate the entire advertising approach that would help brands and marketers understand their customer (audience) better. Many brands have shifted their mediums from physical to digital. Chatbot is one such revolutionary AI miracle that is convenient for users to reach the brands and explore without any hesitation. While consumers are searching for any product, the searched data is collected by brands and this helps them in offering products or services of choice to their audience.
A Visible Thrust in More Personalized Approach
An increase in ad-spends on digital media is visible due to the ongoing consumption. Anticipating consumer needs and reacting to it is of utmost importance. Consumption patterns and habits have changed and post lockdown, these habits may still take time to change. However, the relation that brands develop during the time of crisis considering the sensitivity of things around is in long run. Personalized advertising has become the ultimate tool for the brands to spread awareness and keep its audience engaged even during this time of lockdown as they do not need to shut down their operations completely.
At this point what matters the most is that brands are pushing personalized content to engage with the audience. Businesses should maximize social listening and be prepared to put out important brand statements. Informing the target audience on how your brand is managing the pandemic; and most importantly, the content that the target audience is exposed to. The efforts today will ensure relationship sustenance in the post COVID world.
Authored article by Mr. Sameer Makani, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Makani Creatives
