“Today, we now have not only an economic crisis, we have a health crisis, and we have an emerging social crisis—all together at one time, which challenges our fundamental assumptions of how we thought the world of business would unfold less than a year ago.”

– Dr. Peter Evans 

In the face of an unprecedented threefold crisis, marketers and executives must reassess their strategic planning and not simply hope for the best. Given this dramatic shift a large portion of companies state their plans could use a change to reflect the changing global environment.

It was with this perfect storm of challenges in mind, that we hosted a live webinar to discuss the current demands on strategic planning  and recommendations for future planning. Our very own Anne Knecht, facilitated a conversation between Vivaldi CEO Dr. Erich Joachimsthaler and the Platform Strategy Institute managing partner, Dr. Peter Evans on the perils of conducting business as usual and how to approach future planning. Find discussion highlights and the webinar recording below: 

Approaches to Planning – is the old planning process fit for these extreme conditions?

We kicked-off our discussion by noting that traditional frameworks like a SWOT analysis are being phased out as a reliable technique for planning today. Strategic planning may typically require focus on first-order analysis, but good strategic planning is second, third and fourth-order analysis. Good strategic planning should reveal multiple chains involved in planning. Further, both our brand experts agreed that an enduring methodology will include looking at the following four components: 

• Megatrends (customer behavior, market derived, etc.) 
• Shocks (unpredictable events)
• Constraints (ex. talent, information, demand, regulatory) 
• Enablers (ex. new technology, new intelligence, new insights). 

 The approach to strategic planning needs to change. Erich and Peter discussed the following four areas that require rethinking for strategic planners:   

• Data – What data is necessary to insert in the process? What are alternative data sources?
• Methodologies – Do you want to shift from forecasting to scenario planning? What is the confidence level of the forecasts?
• People – Do you have the right team and talent involved in the process? 
• Process – Have you reimagined the planning process itself given our new virtual working environment?

Recommendations – The Future of Planning

In a live poll, 98% of our audience indicated that their strategic planning needs some changes or a complete overhaul. With this being such a hot topic Erich and Peter discussed three ways for businesses to not only survive, but exceed the challenges of today’s world: 

1. Recognize that this year’s process will require more resources to be deployed and will include more stakeholders to put together a strategic plan. As social disruption evolves, stakeholders such as line of business owners in supply-chain managers, CSR, and HR will form a bigger part of the strategic plan than ever before. Good strategic planning will reveal the real tensions and trade offs between stakeholders and business units company wide and help eliminate instances of one half of the company not knowing what the other side is doing.
2. Traditional inputs to strategic planning are inadequate, the KPI’s set last year will not be measures of success this year. Getting as close to where the consumer is/ wants to be is going to be critical. Sign-posts that indicate the company is preceding on the right track and give warning that the company is departing the track set by the plan will be reliant on “first party data” that comes directly from consumers. 
3. The data and expertise you relied on in the past might not be adequate for current needs. “Left-field” information, or information not normally considered, will have to be included – like healthcare data and data from your ecosystem partners. 
4. Consider what your plan is relative to other companies in your industry. Identify relevant ecosystem partners and draw information and inspiration from them. This perspective can help companies think through and build competitive advantage.

It can be easy to fall into the gravitational pull towards the cyclical loop of “analysis paralysis” or planning towards one set goal; however, now is the time to focus on proactively engaging with customers with the intention of building shared value. How do you plan to shift your strategic planning? 

Interested to learn more about how to remain prepared for the future? Stay tuned for our next conversation on how to best navigate today’s world of business of brands by subscribing here. 

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About 10 years ago Philippa Lally, a health psychology researcher at UCL challenged Maxwell Maltz’s  theory that you can create a habit in 21 days, she  found that on average it takes more than 2 months before a new behaviour becomes automatic. We are now 70 days into lockdown in the UK and whilst many like Mark Ritson are  ‘calling bullsh*t’.  on the ‘new normal’ there can be no doubt that the current situation has changed everyone’s day to day lives in ways that will create something that will stick.

So, we asked the different offices across the Vivaldi Group what they thought the current situation would lead to the ‘rise of’ and conversely what it would lead to the ‘fall of’. We have categorised the many comments into 4 areas from the impact on work, travel, online and family time as well as areas such as conscious consumerism, the impact on leadership and the rise of a more egalitarian society.  

• WORK AND FAMILY 

The area that has experienced the biggest impact of the past few months has been on people’s personal life – this encompasses both family and work. For the majority working from home has become the norm which has had a consequential impact on family life. This, coupled with the inability to spend time with family members outside of the home unit, has brought with it both positives and negatives.  Enjoying more family time and the simpler things in life and having more time to yourself to do what you enjoy made possible by more flexible working practices was the overwhelming sentiment from the team and something that everyone felt strongly would and should remain. 

Last year Vivaldi published a piece of research into the future of work which found that an organization’s success will be largely determined by their ability to adapt to the demands of its next wave of employees. Within this we identified 4 different types of organisational archetypes across these two axis stretching from individualism to collectivism and technology to humanity . At the intersection between the axes, we find the Virtual, Aspirational, Playful, and Caregiving organization. We believe these will be the dominant archetypes defining the path for how other organizations can adapt to the Future of Work, by responding to the external drivers that are currently changing the business environment. Let us know if you want to hear more about the full study here.

• LEADERSHIP AND EGALITARIANISM

For the first (and no doubt last) time ever the majority of the world are all doing the same thing – staying at home – this has given rise to a feeling that this could lead to a new feeling of egalitarianism where (in the words of one of the team) “we see the end of inequality as education and work become available and accessible in a variety of different ways and barriers will fall”. In turn this, the team believed should give rise to a more ethical leadership both towards employees but also in society as a whole and a more balanced and considered appreciation of different people’s situations. 

This has a clear impact on how brands should be communicating and developing relationships with their audience showing a more human side as Vivaldi’s CEO Erich Joachimsthaler wrote in a WARC study  “The global economy is shifting from siloed and closed to open and collaborative and the consumer context is changing, with consumers now in control and those consumers have an abundance of products and services to choose from. This has many implications for  brands including their architecture strategy – read about Vivaldi’s perspective here    

• TRAVEL AND LOCALISATION

The lockdown across the world has been disastrous for the tourism and transport industry however there has been a positive from the perspective of the team in that it has resulted in a move towards a more localised mindset. Many pointed to the benefits of enjoying and appreciating their local areas and high streets resulting in more community bonding as well as people creating their own communities that suit them around these areas. 

This localisation extends to a desire from the team to think more locally in the future, to appreciate more what is on their doorstep and whilst there has been an inevitable rise in  online shopping there is a desire to go back to appreciating and supporting local shops. This could present opportunities post lockdown for bricks and mortar retail to fight back against the invasion of Amazon and Alibaba – a recent Vivaldi study here looked at the opportunities for retail innovation and taking advantage of localised presence with digital innovation. 

• CONSUMERISM AND INNOVATION 

One of the most referenced and discussed areas in the ‘rise of / fall off’ question was that of the a rise of conscious consumerism, from upcycling of clothes to reducing meat and dairy intake to giving up on car ownership to a focus on DIY and make it yourself all pointed to a shift to a more Generation Z’ mindset which is reflective of the ages of a large number of the team however the principles are far deeper and appeared to be uniform across all age groups.  The effect of the current situation means that businesses will need to make shifts to become more innovative to engage this Gen-Z mindset. 

This will have an impact on approaches to strategy, product usage, consumer relationships, customer experience and communication will need to evolve from sales-led, transactional and siloed to consumer-led, valuable and interactive. Vivaldi  have identified 5 key Gen-Z insights that will help your brand unlock growth opportunities revolving around the following values: Access Over Ownership, Hyper-Personalization, Anchored In Ethics, Seamless Experiences and Capturing Attention. See the full report here: 

This is just an overview of the many different thoughts from the global offices on the effects of the current situation and the short and longer term impact, and whilst not scientific the answers made for an interesting assessment of the changes the last 2 months have seen and the potential effect it might have on the months and years to come. We will look back later in the year to see how many have struck and who knows see how many might even become habits.

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There you are – nearly through Q1 of a successful year, your carefully crafted strategy is starting to move the needle as in-market communications numbers are starting to come in. And just like that — an epidemic of never-before-seen proportions changes not only your customer’s lives, but your business from end-to-end. Sound familiar?

You’re not alone.

You would also not be alone if you thought immediately, “Do I maintain, increase, or cut spend?” Of course, figuring out the answer is easier said than done. Most don’t get this right in good times, let alone in a pandemic of never-before-seen proportions.

And today, when—and how—you make these decisions matters. After all, CMOs are no longer building brands—you’re building a business!

There’s one thing you definitely can do to help your company and brand right now and that is to increase marketing effectiveness and figure out how to get more for your marketing spend.

However, the way to increase marketing effectiveness is not how you think.

The standard recipe is to review your current spending and cut initiatives, efforts or campaigns that underperform. One of the common discussions is about balancing the budget between short-term initiatives that drive immediate sales versus brand building initiatives that ensure longer-term growth (over 6 months). Backed by decades of research, Les Binet and Peter Field recommend spending 60% on brand building and 40% on immediate sales activation.

With falling sales, the pressure to maintain or soften the blow is high, leading brand investments to typically get the cut.

From our experience, we know that there are three key factors that you should consider in optimizing marketing effectiveness. These factors have become powerful in recent years and will continue to do so as the hyper-connectivity in our world increases.

The three key factors to your success are: network, viral, and learning effects.

Let’s look at these factors one by one:

Network effects.

Network effects kick in when a product or service becomes more valuable as more people use it. Think Airbnb. The more Londoners offer their spare rooms or stately homes through Airbnb, the more valuable the service becomes for both tourists and the London renters. Tourists get greater selection, increased availability, more variety and choices. Since tourists get greater value, they use Airbnb more, creating more customers for the London renters.

This means that you shouldn’t just look at your marketing in terms of how much it drives sales or creates brand-building impressions. Look at what it does to the value of the product or service to all of your customers. In Airbnb’s case, customers include not just guests, but also hosts. Not to mention other partnerships and ecosystem complementors.

Sadly, it’s been reported that Airbnb reduced marketing spend by $800 million a few weeks ago. Tom Ajello (VIVALDI’s Chief Creative and Digital office who also happens to be an Airbnb Super Host) had this to say:

“The marketing spend issue with Airbnb is a complicated one. On one hand you might see it just typical budget cuts. On the other hand, the negative effects of those cuts reverberate throughout an interdependent system they (Airbnb) are ultimately responsible for.”

1. They cut marketing spend but didn’t consult, warn or engage us, the hosts they make money off of.
2. They allowed guest to back out of their stays with hosts (and again, didn’t consult us) — forcing hosts to “hold the loss.”
3. They didn’t advocate for hosts (THEIR NETWORK) in the face of government loan opportunity.

“These were not wise decisions— creating a perfect storm of the NEGATIVE Network Effects,” Ajello said. With the drastic negative impact Airbnb’s marketing spend decision had on its hosts, it is no surprise that some investors call for the resignation of its CEO Brian Chesky.

The second factor is virality.

As people find value in a product or service, they voluntarily become advocates for it, encouraging others to join. This advocating leads to free, authentic marketing. Think GoPro, the action camera that has a commanding market share among extreme sports enthusiasts, surfers and snowboarders. The Hero 8 camera is so good that it doesn’t need much advertising; however, GoPro still spends in the millions. Should it maintain its spending? Yes. GoPro benefits from the viral effect with campaigns that encourage surfers to share their pictures or videos on popular social channels, like Tik Tok and Instagram. When people post Go Pro-created content on their social media, they concurrently promote GoPro to all of their followers. GoPro can also repost the best content to its own social channels, making people want to shoot content only possible with a GoPro. In plain English: the virality effect creates more camera sales.

Similarly, Chipotle leveraged the viral effect with its Tik Tok challenge last May. After a Chipotle employee went viral for flipping a lid to seal a burrito bowl, #ChipotleLidFlip challenged its fans to replicate the move. Partnering with Youtuber David Dobrik, there were over 111,000 video submissions and 230 million video views. Every time someone posted a #ChipotleLidFlip submission, they simultaneously communicated to their followers that they enjoy eating Chipotle and connect with the brand enough to participate in one of its challenges.

This means that you should also look at your marketing in terms of how much it encourages users to post about, and therefore authentically promote, your product or service.

The last factor is the learning effect.

The more consumer data the brand gathers and synthesizes as a result of a marketing campaign, the more valuable the campaign becomes. That’s because, obviously, data is invaluable when companies can leverage it to better target consumers in their future offerings and marketing.

Campaigns can achieve the learning effect by generating consumer data in two ways. First, campaigns can collect data directly from customers’ interactions with the campaigns.

Consider Naked Wines, the platform that enables wine-lovers to fund and access unique wines. Their ongoing email campaign provides users with personalized recommended wines, based off the users’ past wine purchases and ratings. As users purchase the recommended wines, Naked Wines gathers more data on its users’ shopping behaviors and wine preferences. The emails also ask users to rate more wines, as more ratings will enable Naked Wines to provide them better recommendations. With a deep, growing understanding of its customers’ wine preferences, Naked Wines can continuously provide users recommendations that keep them purchasing more wine.

Consider your marketing in terms of how much actionable data it garners, whether directly in the campaign or through acquiring new customers whose product or service usage then improves your offering and marketing.

We believe that the combined power of network, viral, and learning effects on marketing effectiveness and business value can be extremely powerful. It’s worth evaluating every marketing initiative or campaign in terms of how they support these effects.

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^[i]  https://analyticdashboards-wordpress-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/analyticdashboards.wordpress.com/2020/04/10/myths-on-marketing-in-recession/amp/

^[ii] https://www.prweek.com/article/1678649/airbnb-pause-marketing-amid-covid-19

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You’ll be hard-pressed to find an industry that’s carrying a heavier load during the COVID-19 pandemic than the healthcare industry. Health systems globally are cracking under the pressure of extreme utilization and exhaustion of resources (e.g. healthcare personnel, ICU beds, ventilators, PPE, test kits, etc.) with over 2.4M confirmed cases worldwide and counting.[1] Here in the US, depleted storages, lack of early intervention, and the inefficiencies and inequalities of our health system have already led to tragic health outcomes.

During this difficult time, a notable bright light shines from the number of “unlikely” brands and cross-sector partners that have stepped up in response. These companies are leveraging their massive reach, technology, data, and business assets to join in the fight alongside healthcare systems. Once rivals in business, these brands are coming together when it matters. For example, 15 global pharmaceutical and biotech companies (i.e. Novartis, Sanofi, J&J, Eli Lilly, Merck (MSD), Pfizer, etc.) have committed to sharing proprietary assets and expertise to find a vaccine through the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator led by the Bill and Melinda Gates’ Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and Mastercard.[2]

Furthermore, we’ve seen a rise in brands outside of “traditional healthcare” pool resources to contribute to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, a past Vivaldi client, ABinBev is producing and distributing hand sanitizers as well as redirecting $5M in sports and entertainment ad spend to support the American Red Cross in getting more blood donations.

This surge in collaboration across sectors, ecosystems, and organization is not only an inspiring tribute to the ingenuity of humankind and our ability to come together, but also a prime example of why Platform Thinking prevails as the new model of value creation.

Simply stated, Platform Thinking is a fundamental new way of doing business – from when businesses focus exclusively on competition (or disruption) to when businesses center on collaboration and mutual value creation to solve big, complex problems. Problems like a deadly, extremely contagious pandemic.

Platform Thinking companies are focused on leveraging their interactions (engagement, collaboration, data) and not just transactions (which stems from the old industrial era model) at the core of their business – between two or more participants.

Companies that leverage Platform Thinking are the ones that know how to leverage their Interaction Fields – creating, facilitating, and motivating interactions, collaborations and connections and in turn creating value for all those involved.

Here is a short list of notable initiatives or companies that exemplify Platform Thinking:

• Pharmaceutical and biotech companies working together: Pharmaceutical companies are coming together during this global pandemic in several ways. As aforementioned, by aggregating scientific, development and manufacturing resources, pharma and biotech companies are racing together toward therapeutics. Many public-private partnerships are popping up in collaboration with government, public health, digital health, and pharma companies like this partnership set up with the NIH, FDA, Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, and 16 pharma companies. Additionally, pharma companies are freeing medical professionals and employees who are registered healthcare professionals to join the front lines while providing pay and job security for them.
• MIT COVID19: Beat the Pandemic Challenge – MIT affiliates launched a series of Hackathons that bring together global partners, including payers (payers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, startups, innovation accelerators, digital health companies, universities, etc.) with the sole purpose of collaborating to solve the world’s most pressing challenges around the COVID19 outbreak. Collaborators included Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Amazon Web Services, MIT Hacking Medicine, Merck (MSD), BCG Digital Ventures, and more. During their first weekend virtual hackathon, the initiative had 1,500+ participants, 250+ mentors, and 40+ partners working together from 100 countries to focus on two challenges:

(1) Protecting Vulnerable Populations: How to protect vulnerable populations from the effects of COVID-19?

(2) Helping Health Systems: How to support hospitals with shortage of staff, supplies, and resources?

• Privacy Preserving Contact Tracing: Apple and Google—once staunch adversaries in the Android vs iPhone mobile game—are coming together to bridge the gap and leverage their network of 3.5 billion active phone users to tackle contact-tracing for COVID-19 with collaboration with developers and government / public health organizations. (source)
• Uber’s “Helping Move What Matters” initiative: supporting local restaurants with UberEats, and moving supplies through UberFreight, and working with Uber Health’s efforts to provide 10 Million rides and deliveries to healthcare workers and those in need.

It’s critical to understand that the companies or organizations that are the center of these initiatives – like MIT Hacking Medicine, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Apple and Google – have been in part successful due to their ability to (1) identify who are the players in their interaction field, and (2) how to best leverage their interaction field.

Brands that are teaming up to aggregate data and technology, or provide ancillary services to pandemic relief efforts demonstrate us how the age of Platform Thinking is not only here, but also that brands that leverage their interaction fields best are the ones that are most impactful in solving big, complex challenges.

If you’re interested in learning more about Platform Thinking, Interaction Fields, and our Platform Thinking Workshop (or how your company can think about best identifying and leveraging your interaction fields for business impact), please email us at hello@vivaldigroup.com.

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Sumia Shaikh joins Vivaldi after working for years at the intersection of Corporate Innovation and Biotech at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. She also spent several years supporting partnerships and growth for early-stage startups at MassChallenge. Sumia has a Bachelor of Science in Allied Health Sciences with a concentration in Public Health. She’s particularly interested in how digital health and wellness brands leverage new technologies, data, and innovation strategies for impact.

[1] https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

[2] https://www.biopharma-reporter.com/Article/2020/03/26/Gates-Foundation-partners-with-industry-on-coronavirus

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The COVID-19 pandemic and its global consequences for social and economic life keep the world in suspense for over two months now. While the overall dimensions of the crisis change on a daily basis, there is immense pressure on politicians to stabilize the situation. Yet, consumers also expect companies to contribute to a solution. Since many industries face massive restrictions of their usual working conditions, it requires pragmatic but precise measures to navigate a company’s brands through the crisis as unscathed as possible.

We at VIVALDI are convinced that both thoughtful communication and authenticity take top priority during such a time of crisis to avoid irreversible damage of a company’s image. But what are the right actions to take? And how can all relevant stakeholders be addressed comprehensively – from customers to employees, investors and business partners?

To start, not reacting at all to the crisis, ignoring instructions or possibly neglecting a stakeholder group can cause lasting damage to a company. Secondly, when conceiving and developing corporate actions of crisis management it is crucial to remain true to a company’s values and purpose.

What exactly is a brand purpose?

The brand purpose describes a company’s motivation, the “why” of what they are doing or their reason to exist apart from doing profitable business. An approachable purpose has to be focused on the core competencies and actual capabilities of the brand. Concurrently the needs and wishes of the customers as well as socially relevant topics and areas of responsibility must be addressed and combined to a comprehensive ambition. It’s a statement of belief and pursuit, the concrete formulation can range from an abstract to a concrete strategic goal of a brand, depending on the industry, customer structures and the company’s culture. In a comprehensive and actionable guiding principle, the purpose can be complemented by a vision, a mission and corporate values.

Figure 1

So, how does that help to prevent your business from the consequences of a global pandemic? 

1. Brand purpose as a guiding principle in crisis management

A strong, continuously cultivated purpose shapes a strong brand statement, that provides a useful basis for credible crisis management and the opportunity to position oneself as a doer in this extraordinary situation. Therefore, actions taken to cope with the virus that reflect a brands purpose will be perceived especially authentic and therefore more effective. Our CEO Erich Joachimsthaler emphasizes that “Brand values are no longer just communicated; they are delivered and experienced.” So, following this principle and really bringing to life a company’s values during these times should be the overall focus when approaching your stakeholder groups. Inversely, addressing these values throughout the process of crisis management will perspectival strengthen the purpose. That again offers companies to pursue a sustainable growth strategy even within their limited possibilities during a crisis state. For some concrete inspiration and best practices read our recent post on outstanding positive examples of reactions to the COVID-19-crisis.

2. A Brand purpose strengthens customer relationships

Studies prove that a strong purpose enables brands to build deeper bonds with their consumers. Looking towards the worldwide challenging situation and it’s not even fully predictable impact on economy, it gets obvious that now is the time to strengthen those bonds wherever possible. Many brands underestimate that aspect and thus risk to lose the relationship to their customers. Putting your customer in focus therefore opens up the opportunity to come out of the crisis ahead of competitors instead of just surviving it. That is why we highly recommend shifting remaining resources and marketing spend into long-term marketing and brand-building activities, which leads to our third aspect:

3. A Brand Purpose keeps strategic goals in sight

Following a dedicated brand purpose demonstrates that a company does not only understand and address the world we are living in right now, but also aims for goals and customer needs that must be faced in the future. That’s why, no matter how extraordinary the situation might be, now is also the time to reconsider strategic goals and use them to guide companies and brands though an unstable environment.

If you are interested to discuss how you can elaborate your brand’s purpose or to implement it in a comprehensive concept contact us via email or give us a call at +49 1522 9230 752 for Germany/ Europe and +1 212 965 0900 for the US.

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The current COVID19 situation is a double-edged sword – clearly it has changed many things forever, but it has also brought out some of the best innate creativity we have ever seen, something that many brands and companies can learn a lot from. 

I recently wrote a piece about the creativity and invention that I had observed in the last few weeks – from those supporting the effort to creating digital connections to using levity and connection to those using empathy and education there are many brands getting out there carrying and not hunkering down. 

As we have moved from the immediate to the medium term the creativity of this approach offers inspiration for how brands and companies can plan for what they do now and move beyond the reactionary to the creation phase.

Her are few immediate areas that brands could consider looking at:

1) Social Media Channels offer a great opportunity

If, like me, you have experienced a huge increase in Whatsapp messages from various friends and colleagues stuck at home wanting to communicate and share you will know that social media usage has skyrocketed. Brands have been taking advantage of this from conducting virtual events, educational and informative videos and hosting get-togethers to lift spirits. 

One great example is Nike. The brand launched a new message, supporting social distancing and health at the same time: “Play inside, play for the World.” They made the use of their premium training apps free for 90 days. This has meant that usage of the training app has increased by 80% which has contributed to an increase in 30% for digital sales.  

2) Influencer marketing has become all about ‘homefluencers’

When it is no longer about showing holidays, nights out and perfect outfits, influencers across channels from Instagram to YouTube to Tik Tok and Snapchat have been looking for new ways to connect with their followers.

At the heart of great influencer marketing is working with people who understand intrinsically where they fit into a consumer’s life and during a crisis many have been great at adapting to new situations. As a result, homefluencers can be highly effective in educating audiences on social impact initiatives or simply entertaining customers while promoting a brand that they use.

3) Think about how you can pivot the message

A recent piece in Adweek highlighted Visa’s 1 week turnaround from focusing on content from their Olympics sponsorship to working with their roster of Team Visa athletes British skateboarder Sky Brown; Kenneth Tencio, a BMX freestyle biker from Costa Rica; and Greek pole vaulter Katerina Stefanidi to film new spots using their phones at home showing superhuman feats such as washing hands and sanitising. Interestingly to the point above they used their social channels to launch the campaign and decided not to put any media behind it but rely on WOM and sharing.

4) Making the physical virtual

Like Visa there are a number of brands for the whom the backbone of their 2020 plans was built on live events – whether that be sponsorships, festivals, sampling or experiential marketing activity these plans are now in need of a fast pivot and we have developing solutions to make this happen. From holding virtual events to working with influencers and from hosting live feeds of activity to re-imagining a creative campaign brands everywhere are busy looking for alternative solutions. 

The Fashion industry which relies heavily on live events in particular have shown great innovation after the cancellation of various up and coming key shows and have been exploring pivoting to digital, a move that could become increasingly common.

“This is a huge focus of everyone working in immersive technology — creating a sense of ‘presence’,” says London College of Fashion’s Matthew Drinkwater, whose Fashion Innovation Agency has worked on a number of projects that use augmented, virtual and mixed reality, a group collectively referred to as cross reality, or XR. In particular this year, YouTube’s new fashion vertical, /Fashion, live streamed more than 40 runway shows, including newcomers Bottega Veneta, Jonathan Simkhai, Tod’s, Marni and Lanvin. YouTube’s fashion month livestreams garnered over four million views.

Live sports are another area looking for new virtual solutions with stadiums closed and all events cancelled, organisers are generating advertising revenue by streaming virtual sports on various social media sites. From Italy’s Mugello motorcycling circuit, which would have attracted 200,000 people for its MotoGP weekend on Sunday, attracting more than 10x that figure with a live-streamed virtual race promoted as “The stay at home GP” and Boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who died in 2016, was even brought back in action, beating Sonny Liston again on Friday in a virtual bout with 35,000 YouTube viewer it seems that live might never be the same again !

5) Add value to your audience 

McDonalds and Burger King recently inspired at home cooking as it released previously secret sauce in their production of their iconic Sausage and Egg McMuffin and Whopper products. Similarly Gregg’s in the UK just launched #Greggsityourself  to help you If you’re craving a Sausage, Bean and Cheese Melt right now – they also promised more easy-to-follow recipes on the way asking followers on their Instagram channel to share their gifs.

In a time when we can’t be with our friends and family Netflix launched Netflix Party bridging the gap by letting you and your friends simultaneously stream shows and movies on your desktop, so you’re always watching the same thing at the same time.  

Finally The German software giant SAP announced in late March that they have launched a new digital learning initiative which offers “innovative, interactive educational content to support students, professionals and anyone wishing to continue to learn during this challenging time.” Added to this, SAP have also rolled out a number of free initiatives to support the business community, including Remote Work Pulse, which enables employers to remain connected with their staff at a time when over 85% of workers surveyed in the US said that they wanted more from bosses to help them adapt to and manage their new situation. 

This is just a selection of the options available to brands and companies right now, the overriding principle seems to be that if brands approach this situation with an open mind solutions such as these will help not only understand the innovation opportunities that are on offer they could also conceivably discover whole new engagement and commercial opportunities.

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As millions of learners had to adapt to new ways and technologies crossed the chasm to mass usage, it quickly became apparent that there is no going back to the world as it used to be. Covid-19 is changing education in profound ways, just as in its time the Black Plague changed the world.

A thread became popular on Facebook, amid all the worries that the kids will fall behind. “What if, instead of falling behind, our children ended up ahead?” The thread generated quite a bit of controversy, as tired parents wrote about the impact of loneliness and unprocessed trauma, and yet it kept being shared. Just as those affected by the Black Plague would be startled to learn about the new, flourishing culture that the Renaissance was to bring about, today’s educational companies, institutional leaders, educators and parents may have in front of them, in the lingo of Erich Joachimsthaler, opportunities hidden in plain sight. In many ways, Covid-19 simply accelerated changes already under way, in a world of platforms and multifaceted learning. What the crisis did is dramatically alter the technology development curve, moving technology usage to mass and creating new opportunities poised for exponential growth. What are some key vectors of change likely to shape the world of education after the crisis?

1. A New Wave of Learners

As expectations of a 2021 baby boom have become commonplace, a new generation of learners may be about to enter the scene, dwarfing both baby boomers and millennials. This will create new demand for education, in a world where transition to middle class in many emerging economies was already creating considerable demand and strain on the system. It may be next to impossible to meet this growing demand for education through the old model, highly labor and capital intensive. Economies that were already under strain to devote resources to education may be unable to continue doing so as resources continue to be diverted to healthcare and other priorities. This may concern state-run education in many countries of the word, but also private institutions that rely on individual giving through donations and tuition, where past rises increasingly seem unsustainable. New learning models and business models will need to be found.

2. A Learner-Centric Education

This new wave of learners will have the power to pull the blanket to its side in a dramatic way, shifting away from learning organized around educators and institutions to a learner-centric model. The shift to learner centricity was well underway even before the crisis, with players who missed it increasingly losing ground, and it is by no means unique in the big scheme of things – it is no different from the shift to patient-centric healthcare, that Michael Porter analyzed already many years ago, or shift to customer centricity across so many different industries and players. In education, this shift is likely to be accelerated now that millions of learners are called upon finding a way to learn that works for them, with little support and (perhaps with freedom from?) oversight by teachers and educational institutions.

3. The Empowered Learner

As learners increasingly yield more weight in assessing how education is structured and delivered, they will be able to shape things in unexpected ways. Specifically, social media is split between reports about kids bored and disengaged, and those taking ownership of their learning process – by doing creative projects after school-mandated work, finding and cultivating new interests and pursuing their curiosities as they have the time to go deeper. It becomes apparent that learning does not have one flavor or a one size fits all model – but rather can, and needs, to be bent and adapted to everyone’s individual needs and interests. Just as the Renaissance brought about a newly well-rounded individual, we may now be at a time when basic encyclopedic knowledge yields little practical value. Instead, an undying curiosity and an ability to dig deeper, willingness to engage with complex problems that have no easy answers, may be more conducive to success in life, rather than knowledge of facts that have no practical application.

4. New Educational Outcomes – the End of Testing?

Indeed, the very notion of the outcome of a successful education may be changing. Forbes already called the Covid-19 time the official end of the testing era. Indeed, there are many practical problems around testing that create immediate headaches for institutions, educators and parents – will the students complete requirements for their current year? Will they be tested? How will gaps be addressed? Will they simply be moved to the following year, negating the purpose of testing? Will they have to complete this year in the next  academic year? With so many unclarities, we might expect that students come back vastly different levels – in higher ed, they may have had the time to explore a favorite research subject, neglecting required coursework. In K-12, some may have spent endless hours reading, while others chose to dive into coding and robotics, leading to dramatically improved STEM skills. It may prove challenging, as a society, to bring everyone back down to the same line in the sand across subjects, as required by testing. This will mean an increased opportunity for adaptive learning systems that allow learners to move at their own pace – going faster in some areas and slowing down in others until mastery is attained.

5. The Power of Data

However, the need to measure outcomes will not go away – indeed, technology can serve the need for deeper measurement than afforded by high-stakes testing at a discrete moment in time. Today’s technologies create an opportunity for measuring student engagement and progress throughout the learning process rather than at the end of it – studying correlations between various factors (from time to login to time spent on each section etc.) that ultimately allow for an understanding of patterns leading to success. As the use of technology becomes more prevalent, there may be no need to submit students to periodic testing that they resent – but rather measure their progress along the learning journey, allowing to raise flags and address problems as they arise. Ability to interpret and make usable Big Data that is generated by educational technologies will continue creating untapped opportunities – especially as a standard way to store, interpret and present the data provides a much better chance for cross-market comparison and insights extraction, favoring the emergence of platforms in EduTech.

6. Technology Adoption Curve

The opportunity for a platform to emerge that puts together all different market participants to leverage data that improves performance across the board is now becoming a more viable proposition as technology adoption has made a huge leap. Indeed, received wisdom that learning can only be done through face-to-face teaching is quickly turning on its head – the current experiment became a de facto forced technology training for reluctant millions. Yes, in-person interactions will continue to be missed, but necessity is the mother of invention – it becomes increasingly apparent that technology can enhance and transform learning in profound ways.

7. Learner Engagement

No, technology cannot replace personal interaction – it will always remain priceless. Nor should it. Institutions that were able to build successful online learning programs have long known that the worst way to create an online learning system is to try to transpose and replicate in-person learning. Instead, it is much more powerful to leverage technology’s intrinsic power to enhance the learning process – not only through continued loops of evaluation and performance improvement, but also through opportunities for deeper engagement of an increasingly fickle and demanding learner audience, who expect a smooth and glitch-free experience that they find in video games and social media. The holy grail will be to keep this audience engaged in the learning process the way social media keeps them glued to the screen – the race, from the likes of BrainChase to Night Zookeeper, is already on.

8. Learning accessibility

Technology is not simply making learning accessible to different types of learners, beyond the traditional conceptual academic learner – from hands-on learners who love learning by doing, to visual learners or those who thrive on gamified competitions – it is simply making learning available to many. Even before the crisis, as employers such as Google started offering their own educational courses, news stories emerged about young people from all corners of the world completing these courses to land a coveted job at the technology giant. Now that technology usage becomes more enduring and commonplace, this will lead to a massive breaking down of barriers, as it will not be necessary any more to show up on a campus to receive an education (or indeed apply for a job). This will be good news for learners with disabilities – technology offers help in a way that physical environment may not – but also for non-traditional learners, from veterans to mothers, who were already changing the demographic composition of campuses prior to the Covid crisis. As geographic barriers further break down, this will also mean an ability to take any course from anywhere in the world on a topic of interest, as already evidenced by the opening of most of the world’s cultural institutions and museums to learners from around the world. Without the need of physical presence, learners today can already explore collections at the Louvre, listen to the Vienna Philharmonic, or interact with experts at NASA. This will lead to the emergence of global excellence centers; learner and researcher communities around the globe will in turn offer more opportunities to sharpen skills by interactions with the best. As barriers break down, opportunity – both educational and economic – will become available to many, creating more open markets and global competition.

So, what will this mean for education? In the short term, a need to adapt to the new reality of creating a digital educational ecosystem, truly leveraging the power of technology to enhance the learning process. In the medium term, the opportunity for platforms or networks to emerge that will leverage the power of data to enhance interaction and improve performance. In the long term, an opportunity for exponential growth, fueled by breaking a breaking down of barriers in an increasingly open field. And for learners – opportunity for an education on their terms, to truly harness their unique talents.

Just as peasants moved into Renaissance cities to create a new class of merchants and seize opportunities previously unavailable to them, who knows what new barriers will today’s learners, hunkered in their houses, break down? Who will be the partners – companies, technologies and institutions – who will help them shape their new world?

How do you see the world of learning changing?      

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Sweetgreen – Arming Hospital & Medical Workers with Locally Sourced Sustenance 

With in-person services and socialization put to a halt until further notice, the restaurant industry is among the hardest hit by this pandemic. However, despite the threat of daunting revenue projections and an unforeseeable future dictated by COVID-19, Sweetgreen – the locally sourced, healthy, fast-casual salad chain – is putting the medical community fighting this pandemic first. Acting on their company’s mission “to inspire healthier communities by connecting people to real food,” Sweetgreen has repurposed and dedicated its outpost operations to delivering free salads and bowls to the hospital workers and medical personnel sacrificing their lives to combat this crisis.

Vita Coco – Using their Gains to Benefit Communities In Need

As consumers attempt to prepare as best they can for the unknown and continued disruption to their lives, people are stocking up in droves on the household and pantry items that they deem essential. So, while many other industries are suffering from staggering sales declines, other F&B and household product brands are experiencing the opposite. Among the F&B products consumers have chosen to amass, Vita Coco – a nutrient-rich, shelf-stable, coconut water brand – has seen a dramatic uptick in sales, increasing upwards of 100% across large, key retailers. As Co-Founder and CEO, Michael Kirban reflected on the company’s recent spike, he took to LinkedIn to ask, “But when things get bad, shouldn’t we be doing good?” Vita Coco has since committed to donate $1MM of their incremental profit gained as a result of this pandemic to organizations directly helping those that need it most. Kirban is also urging other businesses that are in similar positions of privilege to “make [Vita Coco’s] donation seem small!”

ClassPass, CorePower Yoga, and Peloton – Bringing Fitness to Everyone

Once flocked to by consumers looking to improve or maintain their health and well-being, workout studios have shut their doors to protect people from the potential spread of dangerous germs that group exercise and shared equipment could enable. As the COVID-19 situation unfolded, ClassPass, the online fitness class booking platform, continuously updated its response with the health and safety of their customers in mind, while also recognizing that the urge to workout and stay fit was not going to go away for their customers. ClassPass’ first move was waiving the cancellation fees and rolling over any unused credits to encourage anyone who felt unsafe and/or uncomfortable attending classes to take precautions. Less than 2 days later, as the gravity of the COVID-19 situation became more apparent, ClassPass revisited their plan and put the onus on the company to act responsibly. ClassPass removed the ability for its customers to book any upcoming classes and suspended billing on all memberships until further notice. Despite no money coming in from its members, the company is still continuing 

to provide members access to their audio and video workouts online for free as part of their dedication to “helping people feel their best.” Similarly, CorePower Yoga, a cardio-yoga fitness studio chain, has made their special collection of online classes free while their studios remain closed, and Peloton has extended their free trial of its app by 3x to 90 days.

AB InBev, Diageo, and Pernod Ricard – Taking their Inputs to Produce New Outputs

With healthcare workers and consumers alike fearful of the spread of COVID-19, a dire shortage of medical and other disinfectant supplies continues. While some individuals are taking to Amazon to make a killing by upcharging these products by an exorbitant amount, many large spirit manufacturers are temporarily repurposing their operations in an effort to produce and donate hand sanitizers to those who need it most. Pernod Ricard was among the first major distillers to disclose their plan to produce and donate 70,000 liters of alcohol for hydroalcoholic gel. Shortly thereafter, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Diageo, the world’s largest beer company and largest distiller, respectively, both committed to donating millions of liters of alcohol to make disinfectant products and distribute them to healthcare systems and workers.

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This too shall pass…it might not feel like it now but there is going to be a future. Coronavirus will change so many things and whilst we have this time it is so important to start thinking about that future – to help us plan and for our mental health. It has all happened so quickly and as the pandemic stretches on we won’t know the whole impact until it’s over. Life has been radically transformed and when the world starts up again, like it will, we need to be prepared as things will not be the same. At Vivaldi developing a dynamic understanding of people is at the heart of everything we do – our brand, innovation and communications strategies. Humans are amazing and adapt.

Across our global offices we are sharing thoughts on what the permanent changes may be as we prepare ourselves and there are some threads that we are starting to track to be future ready.

1. Digital acceleration. Needs must and people are learning new ways to use the digital tools available to them – be this isolated older people doing their grocery shopping online or learning how to connect with family on Skype, children taking part in You Tube Live PE lessons with over 950,000 others, using online tools daily for homeschool, subscription services booming and rolling out innovations like Netflix Party, virtual galleries bringing the Louvre as close as the British Museum, online gaming, Houseparty the list goes on and grows by the day.  People are not going to forget these ways of doing things when the pandemic is over. They might actually prefer them especially where they offer short cuts to give back time that they might want to spend connecting with the real world they are currently missing. We are at a moment of accelerated creativity and innovation with people and businesses finding new ways and thinking differently. Your business needs to be tracking these emerging changes – not necessarily acting now but planning for the digital customer of tomorrow. Looking at new digital interactions and mapping them to see the impact for brand strategy,  innovation and creative communications.

2. Reprioritisation. People say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. A hug from a friend, a child genuinely missing school, small talk with a local shop keeper, seeing your mum on Mothers Day, missing office banter OR working out which brands or products you really “can’t live without”.  This moment is going to redefine us, frame a generation (lets hope nothing worse comes long) in big and small ways. Just look at the grocery sector which is now seen as fundamental more than just a money making machine. It shakes up every trend, it hopefully helps “wellbeing” and purpose led marketing escape platitudes as people recognise what is important and what is authentic. Companies from Amazon to McDonalds are struggling to walk the walk, whilst LVMH came from nowhere to lead the pack with agile but tangible action. At a product level brand managers need to think through how they will fit into the world that follows. Scenario planning needs to look for some of the ways people may react  – either rebounding with frivolity like the Roaring 20’s despite austerity or with a renewed interest in meaning and simple life rejecting all that we found we didn’t need. It will differ by segment and sector so working through how the context for your marketing has changed, predicting scenarios and how your brand plans for that culture will ensure purposeful agility to reclaim a bright future rather than having to panic again to keep up. 

3. Borderless balance. Before CoronaVirus the world was frantic- work, socialising, caring for aging parents, choosing between thousands of coffees, finding your purpose and developing a side hustle…but it has all slowed down for those of us who are not Key Workers. Life has got simpler yet scarier. And the simple has been embraced to block out the fear. People are enthusiastic about having the time to play Lego with their kids instead of commuting, running to refresh their mind, making bread or eat lunch as a family. It’s a bit lonely and boring at times, but for many it’s reminding them of some of life’s pleasures, proving the flexibility remote working offers and that connection is still possible. For many of us still lucky enough to be working, work is now what we do more than a place. The world is working from home if they can. Some companies have had to panic buy staff laptops whilst others like ourselves have always needed the tools to work remotely across regions, at home or across time zones. But every business will get there – they have to to stay in business. This is a fundamental shift. It is a crisis making us all work differently, a time where creativity may trump productivity, collaboration is virtual – a colleague in New York is as much a face on screen as those in London. This has a huge impact on b2b marketing, opens up opportunities for borderless competition, changes the cultural and working demands of staff. CoronaVirus may have just killed the 9-5, monday- friday office culture and accelerated international competition. Businesses can use this time now to create a plan for when this is over, to learn from how people have changed to grasp the good of a better work life balance and borderless connections. If your business is not going to use it to their advantage another will to inform brand strategy,company culture or enter a new market.

Everyone’s plans for the year have just been thrown up in the air. No one could have planned for Coronavirus but you can start planning for the future. We might not know the date but we know its going to happen. Lenin said “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen.” The world has changed fast and so we are not caught short when this all stops it is important to start listening, watching and strategising for the new world. We are thinking about it are you?

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Their advice was to be helpful and supportive to consumers BUT also add some distraction and levity and to create community and positivity. This week Kantar launched their COVID Barometer showing a clear majority of consumers expect advertising to make a positive contribution to society: ‘Talk about how the brand is helpful in the new everyday life’ (77%) ‘Inform about their efforts to face the situation’ (75%) and ‘Offer a reassuring tone’ (70%). Conversely 75% said brands ‘Should not exploit the coronavirus situation to promote the brand’ while 40% said they ‘Should avoid humorous tones’.

If brands are to follow this direction then they need to walk a fine line between turning off all communications and being cognisant of the situation, this means thinking carefully, definitely not bandwagon’ing, being sensitive and most of all being consistent with their current brand image and not ‘purpose washing’. So, it is great to see so many brands stepping up and not pausing their contact with the World but rather showing they care, and that they can help. We thought it would be useful to share some of the work and organise the list:

1) Supporting the effort

There is a hugely long list of brands that are donating money, supplies and resources to helping all areas of our lives in the fight against the virus, rather than list all of these extremely valuable efforts here are a few companies that thinking innovatively and in some cases quite differently:

 – Many different alcohol firms pledged to focus on creating sanitiser including Diageo who pledged to make more than 8m bottles for frontline health workers across the World on a more localised scale in the UK Brewdog joined the initiative and in the US Atlanta Based Old Fourth Distillery all helped out. It wasn’t just alcohol brands LVMH were in early using Dior Soap bottles to distribute the sanitiser.

– H&M who had shut shops across the World said it would use its vast supply network to source personal protective equipment including masks, gloves and gowns for hospitals in the European Union to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. 

– Pret has also extended its support for hard-pressed NHS workers, offering them hot drinks for free and implementing a 50% discount on all other products. CEO Pano Christou announced the move in his blog, where he thanked NHS workers for all their hard work. The message rapidly gained public support.

– Ford has joined forces with 3M and GE Healthcare to design and make air-purifying respirators that can leverage existing parts from all three companies. For instance, parts could include fans used in the F-150 pickup truck and 3M’s air filters. Recent report also show that Dyson are almost ready to go with their ‘Co-Vent’ product to help patients with breathing difficulties.

2) Creating digital connections

With gatherings restricted in just about every major city in the world, it’s safe to say that any conference, event, meeting, and other in-person gatherings are going to be postponed indeed all face to face is now off the table. As such companies are looking for how to recreate the in-person experience and drop barriers that online previously created for personal connections, many are doing some sterling work including:

– 14 of the World’s best museums from MoMA to the Musee D’Orsay along with b2,500 other spaces from around the World are offering digital content, virtual walk throughs, livestream talks and curated collections thanks to the extensive Google Arts and Culture project  

 – Paywalls are falling at institutions including The Atlantic, WSJ, New York Times and Washington Post – interestingly a lot of European media outlets have not followed suit but many magazines have including Vanity fair and New York magazine.

– America’s oldest film studio is using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to experiment with what many believe is the inevitable future of film distribution. Universal Pictures will release its current theatrical movies online, including The Invisible Man, The Hunt and Emma. Other distributors and producers have followed suit with many other films available on Amazon, iTunes and other stores.

– Plenty of homebound pop stars have performed virtual concerts during the coronavirus outbreak and recently Bud Light got in on the act sponsoring its first “Bud Light Dive Bar Tour: Home Edition,” featuring country music star Jake Owen. The show, which Owen performed from his house, for a free show but it did feature a cross-promotion with alcohol delivery service Drizly, which gave people $5 off their orders with the promo code “BUDLIGHT.

3) Levity and invention

Despite the challenges of sensitivity and purpose the creativity of brands and agencies hasn’t been diminished over the last few weeks. At first many brands have had to pause (and potentially forever mothball) ill timed and off message campaigns including KFC UK with their ‘Finger Lickin’ Ads and Geico with their “Perfect High Five” Geico spot. Clearly it is no longer business as usual but that said there is also a time for some levity and creativity including:

– Due to most restaurants and bars in big cities temporarily closing or suffering from the effects of social distancing, Time Out magazine has rebranded itself as Time In. bringing you the best of London whilst you are still at home.

– The ever inventive Brewdog have not only switched all their UK Bars to click & collect via our Hop Drop app, they have now gone even further opening what they bill as their biggest and most important bar – The Brewdog Online Bar – this Friday 27th March you are all invited for live beer tastings with their co-founders James and Martin and other beer experts, homebrew masterclasses, virtual pub quizzes, Q&As with BrewDog crewmembers, live music and comedy and giveaways and exclusive merchandise.

– MTV is one of Viacom’s many entertainment brands to partake in its #AloneTogether campaign. The aim is to encourage people to stay at home with the promise that MTV and other channels will be there to keep them company. Promising live artist and celebrity takeovers, positive news bulletins, and continued social engagement with users they want to evoke the sense that we’re all in it together.

– With restaurants closed Chipotle are trying to make the isolation bearable by offering the chance to virtually hang out together with its ‘Chipotle Together’: a series of zoom hangouts featuring celebrity hosts and attended by up to 3,000 guests. So far, celebrity hosts have included stars of the US series, The Bachelor, and featured live music from rock band Portugal The Man.

4) Education and protection advice and help / empathy

One of the first reactions to the outbreak was made by Clorox who, on January 24, around the time the coronavirus outbreak was making headlines worldwide, added a landing page to its site specifically discussing 2019-nCoV. The page provides basic information about the virus and suggested practices that can help stop its spread.

With the stress and anxiety people are feeling over coronavirus, Snapchat is expediting its “Here For You” feature providing users resources when they search for topics related to mental health, such as anxiety, depression, stress, suicidal thoughts and grief. The resources are provided by health partners including: Active Minds, Because of You, Crisis Text Line and Seize the Awkward in the US and Young Minds, The Samaritans and Diana Award in the UK.

Exercise is clearly key when you are stuck indoors and a number of celebrities and companies have been helping get the World jumping – after Joe Wicks managed to get nearly 1m parents and kids heartbeats to rise this week, Popsugar released its new subscription fitness app early to get people exercising amid the outbreak. While Active by Popsugar will normally be a paid app, the company is offering the platform free for the foreseeable future. The app features over 500 fitness classes from celebrity trainers and other experts in yoga, strength, cardio and pilates.

As the coronavirus spreads and the economy sinks, brands will be hard-pressed to stir demand for big-ticket items, like cars. Hyundai and sibling brand Genesis are trying to spur purchases by relaunching a recession-era program called Assurance Job Loss Protection. The brands promise to make up to six months of payments for drivers who lose their jobs and have purchased or leased their vehicle between March 14 to April 30, 2020.

On Tuesday this week a social-media campaign was launched to encourage people to order takeout on Tuesday in support of workers. The Great American Takeout is asking people to order in on Tuesday and encourage friends and family to do the same, via their social accounts, and then to post pictures of their takeout meals. 

Promoted on the social accounts of various regional and national chains, including Panera Bread, Noodles & Company, The Habit and Torchy’s Tacos, it also gained the support of Visa and PepsiCo on Monday. 

Finally lots of brands have been using innovative and creative ways to get people to respect social distancing. Coca Cola used its iconic Times Square billboard showing Coke’s name with extended spaces between letters, McDonald’s controversially separated the Golden Arches and following suit the Latin American e-commerce company Mercado Libre has changed its logo to reinforce the importance of social distancing swapping its classic logo of two clasped hands to two elbows touching. 

I am sure we will see many more brands stepping up to the plate and getting it right (and sometimes wrong) but what is clear is that this is not necessarily a time to stop communicating. Instead brands should be looking to rework their marketing and consider shifting to follow new media consumption patterns including daytime television watching, more time online, and more time on ecommerce whilst of course not forgetting to use the time to continue thinking about long-term brand building.

We will be updating you periodically !

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