QUICK READ: Some brands have decided that this is the time to give back to customers and the community while others are acting as nothing has changed. Will consumers remember and reward brands that give back?
Croc’s announced that if you are a health care professional in need of their easy-to-clean, comfortable Croc shoes, they have got you covered. Crocs have set a goal of donating 10,000 pairs of shoes a day for as long as they can to health care workers on the front line of the pandemic.
Ford is offering extended payment dates to people who may be effected by the pandemic via a loss of their job. Hyundai is offering no payments on new cars until the fall.
Some brands understand that the pandemic is a serious threat to business, others are still bombarding us with the same old advertising. Well established brands, I believe, are going to do OK in winning back customers but brands with lower brand equity are going to have a hard time.
I keep reading that “consumers want socially responsible brands” yet how do you explain their devotion to Amazon.com who treats warehouse workers like mice in a maze or Facebook who consistently shits on user privacy?
When this pandemic has subsided, and it will subside, people are going to be in a spending mood. Vacations are going to be hot along with, once again, going out and eating or hanging with the gang. I don’t believe that consumers are going to ask ‘did this brand help us out during the pandemic?” when deciding to purchase products.
There is still a hell of a lot of billionaire business owners who haven’t done a damn thing to help us out during this crisis. Calling them out on social media is not enough. Consumers need to hit them where it hurts and that’s leaving their brands on the shelf. If they don’t the message will be “it’s ok to your billions and not help us out”.
There re some brands I think will suffer but it’s going to be due more to political affiliations than what they did during the pandemic. The owner of My Pillow, for example, is losing sales thanks to his sucking up to an incompetent President as is the owner of Wendy’s. You can go public with political affiliations but you risk alienating customers.
Months after this virus is a bad memory people are going to spend money again. Prices will go up because retailers are going to have pay their staff more money but the public feels they are worth it.
As for marketing? I’m already hearing that people are angry at repeating TV commercials. That anger could result in consumers avoiding a lot of brands. Brands that have been socially responsible will get a lot of free PR and social buzz. Will that translate into sales?
