Spend or Hold back

How brands should plan media during Covid-19

Advertising spends depend on future projections and revenue targets. What should brands do when the near future looks uncertain?

Should they hold back their money or go the whole control on brandbuilding?

Businesses across the globe are fighting to survive the economic impact of Covid-19. As a part of graveness drives, companies are scaling down expenditures and reviewing their ad spends.

Prudence says advertising cost should be scaled down. But should that be the case when media consumption on TV and digital is at an all-time high?

Should brands in India, especially the ones present in the essentials category, imitate the example?

It’s time to expect brands from these segments to invest in awareness and getting hold of potential customers. If brands can devote to the increase of awareness and production while looking at the demand, it would surge visibility and contribute to higher sales. To maintain and build relationships with consumers, many brands are raising content marketing investments. It could be subjective as some brands will have a greater opportunity to do this than others.

The auto industry is dependent on the dealership network and test drives, which are closed currently. Even the planned launches have been postponed from leading auto brands. However, it is continuing with its campaigns while exploring opportunities in the paid media space, even though in a smaller way.

The brands in FMCG, hygiene or edtech sector have gone up in terms of consumption. There is an increased opportunity for such brands to spend in order to generate cash, by putting the brand out there to try and turn into profits.

This is the time when you have to build a brand and if you go out of sight this time then I don’t think people will remember you. If you go with the markets and spent wisely then there is the visibility of the brand.

This is the right time to build your brand. Because as you can reach at the frequency which is way higher than TV and OOH, etc. And yes, people will take notice of your initiatives which will become a very big thing. Brands have already started doing more marketing activities. I see a lot of automotive, FMCG brands doing that already. However,they are leveraging only digital as a medium. The most important thing is to market responsibly. Consumers will be quick to judge the intention of the brand during these times.

Understanding new consumer behaviours will be a key in driving successful marketing strategies. And lastly, most brands will have to move towards performance-driven marketing. They will have to pay close attention to campaign performance and efficiency spending.

Digital marketing will emerge as the most essential channel strategies for helping brands sustain and grow while supporting their customers in this time of need.

Consumers are returning to broadcast, television, internet and other premium media sources for knowledge and information. And therefore, relying on digital ways of working and connecting with consumers and maintaining the decorum of lock-down will have lasting effects.

In a nutshell, the principles of marketing shouldn’t change, even in black event like the present one. But when the markets open up, will brands continue focusing on the fundamentals like brand building or will they be managing marketing spend efficiency with a targeted value payback for customer segments and saving money?