Ever since the 21-day lockdown began on 24 Mar’20 across India, businesses have been severely affected. Manufacturing Industries and their ancillary suppliers, FMCG companies and the entire supply chain – First mile, Middle Mile & Last Mile including Logistics companies, Fleet Management, Drivers employment and finally, the Points of Sale – General Trade Retailers and Modern Trade Retailers are among the most affected that move the country’s GDP. Apart from this, core industries including Aviation, Banking, IT & ITES, Cement, Steel, Realty, etc. have also been severely constrained, thanks to a complete travel ban, so prospecting & conducting business becomes a tough challenge in the current times.
I have been talking to many of my friends & Industry heads across Industries and the overall response has been that the Industry would take much more time than what is being estimated. Some say 3 months, some say 12. We don’t really know as I don’t think there is a perfect or a scientific way to assess the outcome. So, let it be.
What should Brands do during these times and how to stay relevant during a crisis like this?
Every company worth its salt (or sanitizer) has gone out of the comfort zone to create new business opportunities. Cavin Kare is one such example among many others. The company used this crisis as an opportunity to recreate the original sachet revolution the company’s founder pioneered many decades back – CK launched Re. 1 Sachets of Sanitizers for a one time use as well as multi-size SKUs for home and public use. Meanwhile, ITC announced that it is converting it’s Perfumery at Manipura, Himachal Pradesh into a Sanitizer making unit while also reducing the price of a 55ml Savlon Sanitizer to Rs. 27 (From Rs. 77). The world is eagerly awaiting a major disruption from homegrown and self-styled Patanjali Ayurved – especially for Sanitizers which seems to be the darling of many FMCG companies.
A bigger question topping the minds of Brands – should we continue any sort of Marketing now or stay put? Would any loud move hurt the already low sentiments of consumers?
Honestly, there is not one single, correct or appropriate answer. I guess, it changes from Industry to Category, luxury goods or Essentials. For Ex., while ITC is going full hog in its communication for Savlon, the company’s other lifestyle products such as Fiama di Wills have taken a back seat. HUL’s Lifebuoy handwash came up with a Tv Ad that urged consumers to wash hands with any soap and not just their own. Most of the other companies who are in the non-essential space are mum in their Marketing activities (on ATL Media) since this could backfire majorly. A number of brands have gone quiet especially on the social media pages. Until mid-March, there was quite a noise on safety, hygiene standards and general wellbeing. Thereafter, even that has stopped.
At Levista Coffee, we decided to stop any new mainline advertising and focus only on Public Service Announcement and worked closely with India’s two leading vernacular news channels, Thanthi Tv (Tamil) and Public Tv (Kannada) and both the communication have been well received by the audience. These brand reinforcements (16 appearances in Tamil and 10 in Kannada daily) send a positive message to benefit society and thankfully, we have only heard good words from people. On social media too, our messaging has completely changed. Every Crisis is an opportunity. It depends on how we, as Brands and Individuals use them.
Authored by S. Shriram – Vice President, Levista Coffee
