Investing in “Brand” During Coronavirus Beats Short-Term Tactics

With the way of life subject to daily changes, many have been focused on short-term solutions. So how important was it for brands to emphasise their emotional and rational values to distinguish themselves from the competition? How did they reinforce their importance to consumers without damaging the brand and business through a period where it appeared the only comparator was that of price?

As time has gone on and stores remain closed, browsing has become a solely online experience. But that doesn’t mean brands cannot influence choice. We argue that investing in “brand” is the most important thing to do. It will still affect preference and (crucially) drive brand search volumes. Having a greater understanding of what the attributes of a brand means to a consumer when (in many categories) they can’t see it, feel it, experience it, has become vital in such a market.

One example of this is in the mattress market. This area has been evolving for some years now in terms of new technology, delivery to home in a box, 100 day trials etc, and new brands emerged such as Simba, Eve and Casper to name but a few. Marketing activity from launch tended to focus heavily on a cost per acquisition, social media approach with even TV plans skewed to a direct response approach. But consumers still liked to go to a furniture store and lie down on a mattress and so distribution in bricks and mortar retail was important as it still was the hugely dominant proportion of sales.

But we can’t (and wouldn’t want to, I’d wager) go to a store and bounce up and down on a new multi-layered combination of springs and fibres any more. We are, however, spending more time within our own four walls than ever before and consequently spending more time on improving our own little ecosystem. A natural first consideration has become sleep. We do more of it, so how do we make our sleep more comfortable and therefore beneficial to our health and wellbeing?

Answer, buy a new mattress. Where do we buy it? Online only right now. It’s the only place we can. But which one do we buy as we want the best and not necessarily the cheapest? The bedding companies keep telling us that on average, we tend to keep a mattress for eight years… so better make the right choice.

The thinking is therefore focusing on “which brand is best for me?” Currently, the category is flying and the winners are the ones that have kept investing in brand advertising above the line and therefore have been the mattress of choice when people consider which one to place in their online basket. And where have they been advertising? TV of course. Still the best medium to build a brand. Still the best medium to create emotional as well as rational relevance. Still the best medium to bring creative ideas to life. Still the most trusted medium (and arguably safest to advertise within). And still providing great value in terms of cost.

The creative point is a big one here and a big part of the Electric Glue point of view about the importance of planning creative and media together and then sacrificing the plethora of choice across the long tail of media outlets. This results in focusing on single, large media owners by platform to drive the creative idea through those media owners’ ecosystems.

TV as a medium offers a fantastic canvas for ideas to launch, live and flourish in the most expansive and resonant ways. Short term, executional online advertising looks bland and samey. “Oh, look, another shoe.” It all looks the same so how can a brand create presence, fame and advocation through such work? The simple answer is – they can’t. But with a great ad on TV they can. 

The effect on brand preference and consideration is immense and especially relevant now, given we don’t know yet how long this current way of life will continue for. Brand equity  becomes increasingly important and vital. Also, if vaccination does give hope for some light at the end of the tunnel, marketeers need to be thinking now about how their brands will be perceived when consumers emerge blinking into that light. 

Investing in brand for the “now and the next” has never been more crucial and remembering that the balance between long-term and short-term with the heavier focus being on brand building is more important now than ever before. Those brands that are continuing to keep their eyes on the long-term are better placed to hold their share of the market, convincing consumers to choose them by placing their values at the forefront of everyone’s minds - not just pushing competitive prices. So when a consumer is faced with the hundreds of choices found online, the tipping point still remains to be “brand”.