6 Brand Marketing Examples: Good and Ugly of Coronavirus
Staying at home is the #1 recommended activity. School doors are physically closed–making parents impromptu teachers. Zoom is the new everyday conference room.
The way we live and work has completely changed due to the Coronavirus. It’s not business as usual. It’s not marketing as usual–especially for brands.
I’m no expert but I’d think brands discuss or work with an agency on crisis management. They have some sort of playbook in place for crisis management. But what do you do for a WORLD crisis?
Those playbooks are being written right now.
Unprecedented times call for learning on the fly and using instincts. Do we pause the campaign? How and what information do we communicate? Should we send out an email since others are doing it? Is it ok to advertise now? I’m sure these are all questions discussed by marketing departments across the globe.
I have great empathy and compassion during these challenging times. We’re all learning to get through this day by day. There are successes and there are mistakes. Check out these 6 attention grabbers I found scrolling through social media. The good and the ugly.
Let me know what you think.
The Good
Guinness*
When you look at this you see it. An ice-cold frothy glass of Guinness beer. Well…not the normal glass. But a glass with a “Stay At Home” message. It’s so simple. So why the *?
What if I told you that this beautiful ad wasn’t created by Guinness? Guess what? It wasn’t.
It was created by freelance copywriter, Luke O’Reilly.
Guinness didn’t make this but loved it so much they made it a real ad.
Nike
The copy is the star here. Simple. Short. Punchy.
I loved sports growing up and can relate to the message. I dreamed about playing in front of millions around the world. That dream didn’t come true but I’m playing my part now.
Inside.
Budweiser
Last year, Budweiser made a tribute video for NBA star Dwyane Wade’s retirement tour. This video reminded me of it.
There’s a real tug of the emotions in this. I love how they use the names of professional sports teams to pay homage. Each day essential workers go to work to help get us through this crisis. They are true heroes.
In uncertain times, there’s one thing that remains certain: we are #OneTeam.
— Budweiser (@budweiserusa) March 25, 2020
Let’s come together in support of the heroes on the front line of the health crisis.
Learn how you can join us and the @RedCross at https://t.co/a3OxgiGqeF pic.twitter.com/e7OC8cKAMm
Major League Baseball
Baseball is the sport I love the most. Playing the game since a young kid through college, baseball has given me great memories and friendships. And every year I look forward to Opening Day.
This year is different. There wasn’t a first pitch. A crack of the bat. Or the 7th inning stretch.
Baseball is a team game played by individuals. And everyone has a role to play. I love how they weaved that message in with our current situation.
Even though we’re apart, we can come together. #OpeningDayAtHome pic.twitter.com/1x9VCifRje
— MLB (@MLB) March 26, 2020
Oatly
I’d never heard of Oatly–or oat-milk for that matter–before seeing this. I like how they handle the valid objection upfront with the first sentence. Why is this in my inbox?
After some research, it seems “it only took like forever” for them to offer a shipping option. A welcome message to get in your inbox if you’ve struggled to find it in stores.
The Ugly
BMW i
This tweet was deleted ::hand clap:: and an apology posted. But nothing really dies on the internet.
A hard part about marketing is showing empathy. There’s an enormous amount of talk of its importance, but it’s easier said than done in practice.
When you’re writing a new playbook mistakes are going to be made. This is one. But the positive about mistakes is that we can all learn from them.
