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To Blog

Marketing hits and misses in the time of a pandemic

April 21, 2020
-
Shopper Behaviour, Shopper Vol 10
CovidOverload

Covid-19 has pretty much turned the world upside down, grinding life as we know it to a halt and creating economic upheaval as never seen before. The global lockdown has brands scrambling to respond to their new realities, reworking their marketing while navigating the fine line between being helpful vs exploiting the situation

Your email inboxes have most probably been bombarded through the last couple of weeks with updates from every company you have ever had contact within your life. Emails informing you about changes in service, updated policies, store closures, special discounts, and of course the fact that they ‘are here for you through this tough time’. If you think about it, now is the best time to truly understand the number of databases that your email id sits within.

Brands need to understand that their customers’ patience for marketing fluff is at an all-time low. A handy rule of thumb from Ryan Ku (Head of strategy at an SF based agency),  “Be helpful, relevant, informative, constructively distracting or authentically compassionate.” If your efforts don’t fit into one of these buckets, you are just adding to the noise.  

It’s important to take into consideration the changing needs of our customers and more importantly their current emotional state of mind. Deploying tone-deaf marketing communications is asking for a world of hurt where channels like social media allow for any backlash to be amplified.

Below we take a look at a few marketing hits and some epic misses across the world and hopefully, there is a lesson to be learned for the rest of us.

The Misses:

Corona Beer: The poor beer brand could not have asked for a worse start to the year than having a similar name to the dreaded virus. Their miss isn’t so much in the name but in their slow response to updating or at least canceling an awkwardly phrased advertising campaign. The new range of hard soda water came along with a tagline of “Coming Ashore Soon”. This obviously did not receive a favorable reaction from their fans as you can imagine.

Takeaway: Pretty simple – review your marketing campaigns and adjust accordingly.   


Asos: This popular e-commerce brand launched a special edition face mask back in August 2019, promoting it as the ultimate accessory for festival an flu season to help to deal with close-talkers. While this item was given a pass in 2019, the brand’s automated media campaign had it running right through the start of 2020 and into the peak of COVID-19. This obviously resulted in a number of complaints and the company eventually pulled the product from its website.

Takeaway: Remember that media campaign you signed off on 6 months ago, it might be a good time to review its timelines. Also, perhaps audit the products you are pushing out into the market.


Harvey Norman (Australia): Whoops, an Australian branch of Harvey Norman was forced to apologize after the below-handwritten sign appeared outside one of their stores. Linking products made outside of Australia to the virus and attempting to instill national pride for ‘Made in Aus’ was not in good taste and most certainly racist. This is a perfect example of how social media can highlight one mistake by one branch and amplify it across the world, casting a negative light on the brand as a whole.

Takeaway: Ensure swift and clear communications from your head office, providing all your employees with guidelines on how to navigate this period. This includes managing authorship rights around who can speak for the brand about the crisis.


The Hits:

KFC (USA): KFC started off with a huge educational push, reassuring customers of its safety precautions in store. Next, it partnered with a non-profit, donating $400,000 to go directly to distributing pre-packaged meals for school children.

Takeaway: This is an example of good, clear communications that shows how KFC is managing the situation and mitigating risk. Look out for opportunities to meaningfully give back to the community.


Burger King (France): Another fast-food brand for the win, Burger King scored a win on social media. The brand used Twitter to put out the exact ingredients needed to recreate some of the classic items on its menu. The best part, every ingredient was available in supermarkets across the country.

Takeaway: Look at the big picture, understand how you fit into your customer’s lives and what questions they might have in mind at this moment in time.


Z Energy (New Zealand): This article would be incomplete without mentioning the stellar local efforts by Z Energy. The company offered a month of free fuel to St. John ambulances across the country. Free fuel will help keep 700 ambulances and operational vehicles on the road as we navigate through this crisis.

Takeaway: Z Energy lived up to its core ethics, reinforcing its stance that it’s here for the good of NZ’s local communities.


Marketing in the time of a pandemic creates an opportunity to stand out and build positive brand sentiment. But it also can be a time to quickly drop down the ladder with careless efforts. The key is to be genuine and empathetic, understand what your customers are looking for and how you can add value to their world.

As seen in Adweek – “Strategy means knowing when to stay silent just as much as it means knowing what to post and when.”

Good marketers are always highly adaptable, and this time of crisis requires adaptation like never before. The question to ask yourself is: “what do we need to do right now, that is different from what we would normally be doing?”

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Shopper Vol 10Vishal Ponnappa
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Stay up to date with the latest news by Energi, about Energi as well as insights from the world of shopper marketing.

  • Put your feet up this weekend with a copy of @unomagnz’s latest issue, featuring these two incredible @sheeo_world Activators who are doing their part to drive global change and uplift other women in the industry - and we’re loving it!

Link to the full article in our bio. 👆🏻
  • Once again, here at Energi it’s business as usual but remotely. Stay safe everyone.
  • Calling our fellow bookworms, today is for you! 📚

From your favourite sun-lounger spot, or perhaps tucked away in bed, there is no better way to celebrate #BookLoversDay than by kicking back with your favourite read. 

Check out our latest blog post to discover a few of our most-loved classics. Link in our bio!
  • Happy #InternationalBeerDay! 🍺

In honour of this fun global event, we’re very excited to share our most recent brew, Energi Rapsody!

What technically is a ‘Rhapsody’ you ask? It's a piece of music written without a formal structure, expressing powerful feelings and emotional excitement. In that note, our limited edition beersie is rich with highly contrasted tasting notes and colour!

This fresh brew is a Bohemian Pilsner with black pepper hops and spicy herbal undertones, that will take you on a journey.

Rhapsody comes along with a curated playlist of Rhapsodies to give you the full experience. 

Check out the playlist link in our bio!
  • July 2020 will be remembered as the month for social media going dark.

At Energi, we joined the global boycott initiative over the last 30 days in order to express our disappointment in key social media platforms allowing hate speech to fester unheeded. 

Read more about this, along with the other exciting things we and our clients have been up to during this period in our latest newsletter. Link in our bio. ✨

#GoodEnergi #BlackOut2020
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We are so grateful for both of your diligence and hard work over the years.

You both bring so much joy to our team and clientele, we appreciate all your contributions to making the magic happen.

Special thank you to @bluebellscakery and @flowersafterhours for helping us spoil our girls. 

Let the celebrations roll on! 🥂
  • What a day! 🙌🏻 Last Friday, the Energi team ventured over to Waiheke Island for a strategic planning Away Day.

It was an action packed day filled with lots of hard work, followed by an amazing gin-making session with @thebotanicaldistillery and a divine meal at @mudbrick_nz in the evening.

2020 Here we come!👊🏼 #GoodEnergi #AwayDay2020 #WaihekeIsland
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Very exciting times ahead!

#GoodEnergi #ArugaNZ #Headlight #Partnership
  • The cat’s officially out of the bag! 😻

We’re very excited to announce that Energi is partnering with @aruga_nz, one of Australia’s most dynamic PR agencies.

Rated the top PR agency in Australia last year, this amazing agency has a lot to offer the NZ media and communications landscape.

Backed by solid experience, Aruga has an enviable client portfolio of more than 120 big-name brands, local legends and small challenger brands in Australia and has now turned its attention to New Zealand.

Aruga NZ will be based out of our office on Anzac Ave, so drop by if you are interested in having a chat.

We are excited about what 2020 holds for us all.

#GoodEnergi #ArugaNZ #PR
  • We’ve had a fun day in the office shooting with our newest client @thefloristaklairport. Life is always brighter with flowers! 💐
  • Happy birthday for Saturday 23 May @vishalponnappa. Thank you for your diligence, integrity, creativity and strategic smarts that you bring to the Energi clients everyday. Enjoy your next 12 months traveling around the sun and your @jumpinggoatliquor birthday gift with our sincere best wishes and appreciation.

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Marketing hits and misses in the time of a pandemic | Energi Advertising