2 years ago Mark Ritson walked into a room full of new-age marketers to discuss the shit does and the shit doesn’t matter in the marketing world.
“You cannot judge tactics until the strategy is formed,” Mark Ritson
Mark also shares that marketers live in their own fancy little world who know nothing about their product and the consumer. Because we have been too grossly occupied in the latest trends of the decade.
In 2011 when I decided to quit my job to go full time with Lighthouse Insights, my co-founder and I had a big concern - “Why will anyone read us? We don’t come from the industry, no MBA, and have no formal education in the field of marketing.”
Back then when commenting was looked at as a cool thing, an experienced marketer who was pissed by my review said that “We have no right to write about marketing as we understand shit and we don’t come from the industry.”
My response - “True, I don’t understand marketing but I am your consumer. I want to know how your product or service solves my problem.”
It is more than 9 years I have been observing, writing, and ranting about the industry from the lens of the consumer. Now with my startup dead and me having a lot of time to sleep and do nothing, I spend more time observing and ranting. With the advent of the new decade, almost all marketers started writing about the trends to be watched in the new decade.
Nothing new, the same shit (AR, VR, AI, ML, videos, regional content, blockchain, etc.) that is being told for the last two years.
We are in it together BS starts
And then nature decided to fuck all our plans with COVID-19. It was the month of March when the Indian government decided to address the situation by putting the country into lockdown. Suddenly we were hit by the hard reality of being locked down in our homes.
The first two weeks were fun with the majority of us sharing Zoom headshots on Linkedin, shorts were the new cool on the professional network, how everyone was loving the regular chores and Work From Home was the new cool.
At this point, the marketing world came up with this phrase “We are in it together” which I consider the biggest BS of recent times.
Today almost every conversation on any medium starts with the mandatory first line - “We hope you and your family are doing good and we are all in it together.” After that now please read our sales email or whatever we intended to speak.
A recent email from a brand had two different fonts for communication. Basically they had taken an old email and added the new message of “We are in it together.”
The first two weeks everything was fun and almost every other brand was running 21 days of fun activities. Dear marketers if I really want to have fun online I am very well aware to find my fun, a brand page is the last place that I will come and have fun. If I want to learn a new dish or have fun I am already following them on my Instagram or will start Netflix on Amazon Prime.
And these days kids are no more interested in painting or drawing. I have two nieces. They love music and painting but more than that they love TikTok. Every day they have a new video on TikTok shot by their dad.
The shit got real when the Indian government extended the lockdown and suddenly no one was posting their regular chores video. Because by now we have started accepting in our hearts that there is no going back.
The biggest question brands started asking what should we do now? Should we go out and advertise or stay silent. Meanwhile with the economy going on lockdown, job market freezing, marketers had no choice but to freeze their ad budgets. The big consulting firms started pouring with their research reports and started advising the marketers what they should do to survive the COVID-19 mayhem.
The 20th Annual Edelman Trust Barometer - an online survey done in 28 markets with 34,000+ respondents shared that they want to hear from their brands what they are doing to respond to the pandemic in a manner that is comforting and reassuring. It shouldn’t be adding to consumer anxiety and concern.
Empathy and support are playing a big role but at the same time, the consumer wants brands to focus on advertising on how products and services can help people cope with pandemic-related life challenges.
In the last month, I have seen reports that I don’t see in a year. Published by consulting firms to agencies - from people who understand how to play with data to confuse the audience, and from creative agencies who have no clue.
But is it so hard to understand what a consumer wants when he is witnessing a pandemic or crisis? Most of us had one question: how should we do marketing during COVID-19?
I have an uncivilised and civilised answer. The uncivilised answer:
“Don’t be an asshole. Put yourself into the shoes of the consumer and ask yourself what you would hate to see during these tough times which we all are facing. What communications would you block or curse certain sales promotions?
A marketer is also human, he/she is as affected as we all are. Then why do we fail to see the line?
Is it so difficult to be human??”
For the civilised answer, you can read my post - Marketing in a pandemic.
Empathy is the new buzz word
Empathy became the new buzz word. From press releases to webinars to LinkedIn posts you found just one thing that brands and brand managers should be kind and follow the path of “Empathy” I don’t have a problem on the new divine path discovered by my dear marketers but empathy was also there in the pre-COVID-19 world.
The Hindu which is keeping the print advertising alive has a brilliant copy for all of us:
Empathy is stinking now. Take any piece of communication all of them are saying the same things - ThankYou for your support, We have got your back, We salute the frontline workers and the list goes on. Almost every other ad is saying the same thing.
Brands are just playing the safe game like always. They want to show that they care but at the same time, they just want to be part of the conversation. They don’t want to walk the extra mile and make a real impact.
With social distancing becoming a harsh reality Dove decided to put a face to the real beauty advertising through a “Courage Is Beautiful” campaign, breaking in the U.S., showing faces of healthcare workers marked by the protective gear they’ve been wearing during the coronavirus crisis.
The brand is also donating to Direct Relief as part of the effort. “As a thank you, Dove is donating to @DirectRelief to care for front-line health care workers in the US. Dove’s parent company, Unilever—which also houses Tresemmé, Simple, Suave, and St. Ives, among others—has overall donated more than $108 million in supplies and money to relief efforts via Feeding America and other charities.
#CareWillOvercome from Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company is an encouragement short video that showcases stirring images of people from around the world. It includes doctors, medical workers, and citizens who are bravely doing their bit to help to leave no stone unturned in fighting this global crisis. What is the brand doing on the ground other than doing an emotional video? The press release had nothing about it.
MasterCard decided to laud the unsung heroes - like the ‘kirana‘ store owners, pharmacies, milkmen and vegetable/fruit vendors, have become the ultimate warriors, by ensuring that we all have an adequate supply of essential commodities in our homes. The brand launched a video, a mobile number to thank these merchants or if you are Twitter-savvy then you can tweeting a thank you message, along with #ThankYouVyapaariyo. Once the lockdown is lifted, the same number will be used to receive requests from merchants to enable their shops with digital payment acceptance infrastructure.
My society is doing something interesting - “We have kept a collection box till the end of this month. Whatever money will be collected will be given to the daily staff who have made sure to collect our garbage every day so that our society is clean and free from diseases. And we are not asking anyone to tweet or calling to say thank you.”
Ceat Tyres has launched a new digital campaign expressing gratitude to truck drivers as they have kept the supply of essential goods ongoing amid the nationwide lockdown. Obviously the video does the job and meanwhile, the company has so far sanitised thousands of trucks, tied up with fuel stations and provided free meals to 15,000 truckers, all of this with the brand motto - 'It helps'. Small effort but definitely helps.
Recently, Dairy Milk, the brand launched a limited edition of Cadbury Dairy Milk bars by replacing the brand logo with 'Thank You' to highlight the country's spirit and generosity amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Mondelez India said it has committed part-proceeds from limited-edition ‘Thank You’ bar sale towards health insurance policies of daily wage earners, via a partnership with Nirmana, a non-government organisation that works with the unorganised sector.
Great movie but what does “part-proceeds” mean? Don’t tell me as a brand you don’t have a budget decided for this campaign. When it is already there in your excel sheets then what is stopping you to share with the public. Trust me your press release will look more killer.
Lenovo has just launched the SmarterEd platform in collaboration with eVidyaloka, a not-for-profit organisation that focuses on transforming India’s educational landscape. This free platform is designed to encourage youth to participate in digital remodeling of the education system, by matching learners with volunteer educators in one-on-one online learning sessions.
I haven’t tested the platform but the platform uses smart technology to match teachers and students and takes into account their respective teaching and learning styles.
How will the execution pan out, how good will the experience be, etc are things that are there in my mind but at this moment I am happy that Lenovo isn’t following the rat race instead doing a genuine effort to solve a problem for its target audience.
Besides how many brands came forward to support the migrants or even feed them a meal or provide them a free ticket to return to their home towns. Birla Cement has come up with a new video where it is saluting the workers who volunteered to paint the school building which was their lockdown center. The workers said this was their way to show gratitude for the kind treatment handed out by the residents of the village.
I am just wondering what role the brand is playing other than the same thank you message. I have asked the agency co-founder on Facebook and I am yet to hear from them.
The Karnataka government after a lot of drama and backlash on social media has decided to resume trains for migrant workers stranded in the state. It is such a shame that the construction lobby was opposing the move, and it also reveals the dark underbelly of Bengaluru’s economy. Can helping migrant workers during these tough times be a part of brand purpose?
I can add a few more examples (not to forget how the soap and sanitiser brands have milked the COVID-19) and there will be some who are doing the real hard work while the rest of us are busy doing press releases, telling the world how they have become creative by shooting ads on smartphones and sharing work from home diaries. Trust me the consumer isn’t bothered about your ad and your creative saga.
Those thank you and we are in it together campaigns can win you awards and you can shove it in your office desk. Tell the whole world how humble you are after receiving the award, the consumer gives a fuck.
Will the brands come to feed my family when I don’t have a job tomorrow or will they come to see me if something bad happens to me or my family in these tough times. So cut the crap, we all know what is the job of marketing. Do that properly. Sell products and during such times if you can’t do then just shut the fuck up and stop sending such BS communications.
I am a consumer. Please don’t sell me the BS of “We are in it together.”