The Conoravirus crisis will test us all. For brands, communication is a top priority in the face of uncertainty. Lets see how brands reacting to COVID-19 currently and What they should do to improve.
Here is a compilation of posts on How are Brands Reacting to COVID-19 Pandemic World, by Class of 2020
COVID-19 has not only disrupted India’s economy but has taken a major toll on the performance of various brands throughout the country, thereby smothering the New Year optimism that started the year. India is among the top 15 economies that are worst affected by the pandemic and many businesses have already suffered a devastating blow with its spread. In a way, brands, not just in India, but around the world are potentially preparing for the worst. At the same time, several brands have tried to put their best feet forward to tackle this health emergency.
– Dikshita Kaushik
“The world needs to prepare for pandemics in the same way it prepares for war.” Bill Gates talked about epidemics hosted by the Massachusetts Medical Society and the New England Journal of Medicine in April 2018. And here comes one in December 2019 for which the world was not prepared. No matter how much we boast about medical advancement in society with AI technology no one knows what we will face the next day.
The same goes for the brands. No matter how many crisis manual one makes and has all the experience in handling a brand’s crisis it all goes for a toss in a time like this. This is a time when brands need to show their empathy and not try to drive sales.
-Kritika Khatwani
The most important thing for brands to do is to create general awareness about necessary precautions to be taken by their employees’. Organisations should create an in-house team who manage the crisis of this pandemic. This team would research discuss and implement various safety measures and educate the employees. Have a guideline chart that ensures brief, accurate and easy steps pertaining to the virus and its prevention. In case anyone is infected, a chart with guidelines to deal with and manage the pandemic better would be helpful.
-Nafisa Jalal
The Pandemic has created stress on the economy and its people. Brands contribute to a huge part of communication in people’s life today with constant engagement offline as well as online. It is time for corporate and brands to act responsibly and help manage the situation better. There are different ways in which brands reacting to COVID-19: Lets see what thy should be doing
-Sakshi Jain
While some healthcare brands want to jump into the topic of corona virus, trying to make most use of the given situation; many wishes to stay away from it. The reason for their distance, is that they do not want their brands to play on a sensitive issue and make the brands look greedy for opportunity. In China, an app called Xiaohongshu or Little Red Book, that is an online shopping portal which caters to young women giving them beauty and fashion tips, has used fashion and beauty bloggers to say which lipstick, eyeliner to use that does not mess with their masks or which masks to wear on certain apparels. The trend to make money by some brands has brought rage for not showing concern about this.
-Alisha Shireen
Sectors like aviation, travel, and tourism, retail outlets have had a severe impact. Whereas, sectors like the hygiene market, video streaming platforms, the grocery retail industry are thriving.
Twitter has a word of advice for brands that have been directly or indirectly affected by the Coronavirus.
– Anjana Kallat
This disease outbreak is a crisis that is shaking the world markets, causing deaths and triggering concerns all around. It is disrupting a lot of business and life in broad-spectrum across various countries. WhatsApp and various other social media has led to a lot of rumours and news that added fuel to fire and created anxiety and panic among citizens. To stem the spread of this virus, not only government, institutions, and offices are taking drastic measures but also various brands. They are stepping up to help people and their employees in such a tragedy by bringing a new aspect in their communication by providing correct information and support.
-Neha Goyal
The recent outbreak of Coronavirus disease, also known as COVID-19 which according to Wikipedia, essentially is a disease caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has left people full of anxiety, stress and panic ridden given the fact that the WHO has recently announced it as a Pandemic.
So, under these circumstances how should brands handle a situation of this kind, something nobody thought would happen or have been prepared for? Here are four things brands should to do to handle COVID-19
-Lakhshita Singh
Quarantine restrictions are keeping people away from crowds, thus evacuating the most socially crowded places like cinema halls, shopping malls and retail stores. But, in spite of business taking a hit, brands cannot stay quite during this situation. While some brands like Hindustan Unilever and Amul have already come up with creative strategies to increase awareness against this deadly pandemic, other brands are yet to figure out what can they do for their part.
-Baishali Banerjee
The outbreak of corona virus has really affected all the businesses in several countries including India. Brands are facing unexpected decline in their sales.
Shopping malls and local bazaars are deserted as people have a great fear in crowded places. Non-Vegetarians are not consuming chicken anymore. Recently almost 2500 chickens have been buried alive by the poultry owners due to fact that the sales have been shut for them. Not only food and beverage, the textile industry is also going in loss. On an average, India exports 20-25 million kg of cotton yarn a month to China
-Chandrayee Mukherjee
In order to spread awareness and reduce the fear among people, brands are doing various campaigns. Personal hygiene brands like Lifebuoy from HUL is promoting the use of hand sanitizers to stay away from germs. HUL had released a print ad in which it was mentioned to use only alcohol based sanitizers, soaps. The key highlight of the messaging was that they mentioned their biggest competitors in their campaign and asked people to buy any soap they have access to. This shows that not only sales are important for a brand, their customer’s health is their top priority. Not only campaigns but also Q & A sessions with Ayurvedic doctors for mothers has been organized on digital media platforms to resolve all the queries related to Coronavirus.
– Tamanna Singh
Major brands faced a catastrophic hit because of COVID19, let’s deep dive into and see how brands are tackling and fighting against the deadly menace of coronavirus.
Amazon – Surgical facemasks and hand sanitizers two of the most essential products to keep we safe from the virus are running out of stock from the stores, whereas some of the online sellers selling it on Amazon at an exorbitant price. As a preemptive measure Amazon warned and blocked the sellers who aren’t adhering to the fair price policy.
-Anurag Sharma
A major change in consumer behavior can call for change in how a brand operated especially for brands that require a gathering of people like airlines, gyms, and hotels. People are canceling bookings and membership. Here brands need to be sympathetic to the situation and find ways to keep up with the dynamic environment. Gyms should extend the membership period for the time being. Almost all airlines have offered some respite to the customers in terms of fee waivers and flexible rebooking for all customers. These steps can help in further improving the corporate identity of the brands. Brands in the hospitality sector should provide timely customer assistance so that no further ambiguity is caused in booking cancellations.
– Saloni Ginnare
Due to this deadly virus called, Coronavirus which is also known as COVID’19, brands world-wide are
suffering. The disease is declared Pandemic by WHO. Places like gym, cinema halls, brands and also
educational institutes are shut in order to avoid public gathering. This is a difficult phase for various
brands and companies. Here are some of the things that the brands should do in this difficult situation…
-Vishnupriya Modi
During this time communications become important because safety of every person needs to be ensured and at the same time curbing panic amongst consumers and even for internal communications can be a task. The voice of the spokesperson or the leader becomes very important at a time like this. The spokesperson needs to speak to his/her employees and even the consumers. They can tell the stakeholders about how the situation is being handled in their organization, for example: allowing employees to work from home. During this time, it is the duty of the communications team to provide him/her with correct facts regarding information from organizations like WHO. Panic can also be avoided by him by providing assurance to the consumers and employees that things will be alright.
– Niharika Dowerah
While the healthcare, consumer, and eCommerce industries, and food delivery apps are seeing a boom in their sales, the service industry has been impacted negatively. Malls, academic institutions, and gyms have been shut down. Given the current scenario, people are also hesitant to travel hence affecting the aviation, travel, and hospitality industries. This has led to a fall in the stock prices and has made their stakeholders anxious.
-Trupti Dhamija
