As part of our new series, ‘Marketers Playbook for 2020 Post Covid-19?, Sapangeet Rajwant, Head - Marketing and Digital – Hindi Mass Entertainment & Head of Brand Solutions - Viacom 18 says the pandemic is a signal for brands to reinvent their model of brand stewardship to make it more meaningful.
Life is unpredictable they say, but in the current scenario, it turns out, unpredictability is spinning our wheel of fortune. The pandemic has disrupted almost every aspect of our lives and transformed the way we live, love, think, and do business. What we knew or learned all this while appears to be redundant or inconsequential as we peer through the fog of uncertainty. Where hope and despair are the two sides of the same coin, we are anxiously flipping it while trying to put everything into perspective. Many organizations have circled their wagons to navigate the pandemic while retuning their businesses and charting a way forward to keep their brands buoyant. In times like these when the spotlight is on communication, marketers are pulling the strings to adapt to the new normal which is being shaped by a confluence of multiple forces.
Our minds are clouded with the thoughts of endless possibilities; how will the post-pandemic world look like, what impressions will the lockdown leave upon our lives, how will we recuperate from the financial burdens and many others. The challenging time is uncovering the most vulnerable and modest side of the consumers’ personality as they crave for real connection during isolation. For brands, it is a signal to change their narratives and reinvent their model of brand stewardship to make it more meaningful. The new model will need to have a short term as well as long term strategy for brand communication while accounting for present context and fluidity. Under our campaign #GharBaitheBaithe, we are delivering our message effectively and appropriately for Colors through relatable posts about quarantine, safety, and solidarity. Keeping the consumer at the center, we are going beyond the 30-second communication to deliver its message with compassion focusing more on longevity, health, safety, and solidarity.
For brand story masters, empathy is the need of the hour that will help them maintain consumer intimacy as we roll with the punches. A constant flux in consumer attitudes; behavioural and economical also calls for a more focused marketing approach with people seeking gratification in little pleasures of life. Virtual is a new reality as in-person engagement is losing significance. The disruption has sparked a sudden economic shift from physical to digital wherein in a matter of weeks as we have made a seamless transition into the virtual world. The rapid explosion of digital mediums has created a stream of possibilities to innovate and tailor marketing interactions to reach our audience. While making the shift, Colors is bending over backward to deliver memorable, satisfying, and relevant consumer experiences. In an industry first, we launched a show named Hum, Tum aur Quarantine to innovatively bridge the gap between characters and the audience from home. We are also creating vignettes to give the audience a glimpse into the actors’ quarantine lives to keep the ball of engagement rolling.
The secret, I believe, is to integrate across all those touchpoints where consumers are seeing the value and are willing to spend. It will not be wrong to equate the current times with an ‘evolution’ wherein we are reconstructing our spaces, minds, and spending habits in a tussle between needs and wants. With a decline in cash flow, where consumers are tightening the purse strings and becoming ‘cautious spenders’, we as marketers need to prioritize, ration, and collaborate. We have to orchestrate radical collaborations and optimize consumer experience by providing comforting, consoling, and entertaining content that will add value. As growth is much more elusive and much harder to achieve, the marketers will certainly have to acclimate to the change and maintain the brand dialogue. Those who will do things differently, reconsider strategies, enhance consumer experience, and usher in an era of digital intimacy will win in marketing’s ‘New Normal’.
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