insight

The coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic has caused turmoil in Malaysia and around the world, impacting national economies, business activities and personal lives. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the virus may never go away and wearing face masks every time we’re out, and maintaining social distance will be the new norm. The Movement Control Order (MCO) has disrupted the ability of businesses to operate. Many businesses are on the verge of shutting down due to the rapid decline in their revenues. Employees are getting retrenched, or are facing huge cuts in their salaries.

The movement restrictions have forced us to confine ourselves at home and spend more time or work using social platforms such as Google Hangouts, Microsoft Team, Zoom and Skype. Businesses are trying their best to keep their brand alive amid the crisis, by making full use of digital marketing. Some companies even curate content related to the COVID19 situation to build presence and expand their consumer reach. The pandemic has definitely gotten everyone into the digital game to get their brand out there to bring in business.

 As the core of brand-building, the marketing strategy and content should be appropriate given the circumstance. With the “coronanxiety” built up in every individual’s mind, people are now thinking twice before they purchase online items, order food delivery, or even get into contact with our Poslaju guy.

However, the plight is advantageous for some brands as they are able to innovate and promote their business. Popular food chain, Nando’s South Africa (SA) took this opportunity to jab at KFC’s tagline “Finger lickin’ good”, by saying “Turns out finger lickin’ isn’t good.” The Twitter post has been liked more than 36k times with 36.1k retweets.

Local food chain, myBurgerLab was also affected badly by the MCO but its co-founder acted fast to save the business. The mechanism they used was as simple as buying a discount voucher to get them through the month of May. They managed to reach the market and raised RM50k based on one personal Facebook posting and their strong brand affinity.

Delivery services such as Grab and Foodpanda have also stepped up their game by providing more delivery options besides limiting to only food. Renowned insurance company, AIA Malaysia, came up with a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme to help provide RM2 million financial support to all medical and hospital staff working in the Ministry of Health’s designated hospitals involved in screening and admitting COVID19 patients in the country. These brands saw the opportunity to show that they are aware of the situation and took to social media to further build their identities.

“It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.” – Tom Brokaw

During these hard times, it’s important for businesses to channel their brand identities through the given platforms with appropriate content in order to stay relevant. It is not the time to sit back and accept the cruel fate while watching competitors take the situation to their advantage. Consumers want to see how brands are aware and reacting to the crisis by investing in digital advertising to safeguard and maintain the future of their brand position.

We never know when the pandemic will, or even end, and when the economy will improve. It’s time we start embracing change, take positive action and deliver solutions to our consumers that can provide valuable impact to their lives.