{"id":16200,"date":"2020-06-08T15:41:09","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T15:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.world-media-group.com\/?p=16200"},"modified":"2020-06-08T15:41:09","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T15:41:09","slug":"key-take-outs-rebooting-your-brand-business-in-the-post-covid-19-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandbox.world-media-group.com\/admin\/2020\/06\/08\/key-take-outs-rebooting-your-brand-business-in-the-post-covid-19-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Take Outs: Rebooting your brand\/business in the post Covid-19 world"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><u>Rebooting your brand \/ business in the post Covid-19 world<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As businesses plan for life after Covid-19, a crisis with no precedent, how do they approach a world challenged by economic recovery? That was the topic posed to a panel of four industry experts today in the World Media Group\u2019s third webinar, hosted by Damian Douglas, Managing Director EMEA, Time.<\/p>\n<p>Douglas framed the conversation by looking at where we are in the news cycle and the financial markets. While both suggest we are in recovery mode, the situation is still fragile. The crises of recent memory (the dot.com bubble 2001, the financial crisis 2008) were economic in origin, and neither led to mortality or unemployment on such a significant scale, which adds another layer of complexity. When previous playbooks and recovery strategies can only be indicative, how can businesses build or rebuild brand equity through a period of huge disruption?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z2P8Tea-6XE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Douglas began by asking Louisa Loran, Vice President at Maersk responsible for the company\u2019s brand communications strategy, how the logistics firm, which is instrumental to the global supply chain, had handled the Covid-19 crisis.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Strong customer focus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Loran explained that when she joined Maersk, her challenge was to understand how an asset-driven company could become more customer focused as part of its digital transformation. The decision to become customer-centric proved its worth, firstly a few years ago when they had a cyber-attack and now during Covid-19. \u201cIt\u2019s the ability to understand your customers and put together value propositions and solutions to match their needs that enables you to be successful,\u201d she said. \u201cSo Covid has been business management for us, not crisis management.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gordana Buccisano, EVP Global Client Transformation, Havas Group, who works directly with Loran on the Maersk business, agreed. She said her role had not changed through the crisis \u2013 she was still focussed on both long-term brand positioning objectives and short-term commercial objectives supporting Maersk\u2019s digital transformation. \u201cCovid or not, what matters is having the agile mindset to be able to adjust,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Authenticity is still key<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Douglas then turned to David Wheldon, Vice President at WFA and the former Chief Communications and Marketing Officer for RBS, to ask what we should be looking for in brand behaviours, and how brands could build consumer preference, particularly against challenging economics. The key is authenticity, Wheldon said, and \u201ca brand, knowing what it is and what it does, and doing it in the right way, with the right tone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Referencing Wheldon\u2019s time at RBS, Douglas asked what the sentiment around that brand was when he joined in 2015, following the damage to its reputation in the 2008 financial crisis. Wheldon described RBS as the \u201cleast trusted brand in the least trusted sector.\u201d His first job was to take an honest look at what RBS was: \u201cA failed attempt at building a global brand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He discovered that the Royal Bank of Scotland brand \u2013 what customers who banked there called it \u2013 wasn&#8217;t as damaged. A brand strategy separating out the consumer facing brands, focusing on its customers and telling them the truth led to the bank\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Authenticity and value are an important part of Maersk\u2019s new brand strategy. \u201cIn the past, Maersk had a perception of being reliable,\u201d Loran said, but they needed a different strategy to grow the brand. \u201cWe landed on being trusted, open and brave,\u201d she said. Instead of saying, \u201cWe\u2019ll tell you exactly when the vessel will be there,\u201d it allowed them to say, \u201cYou can trust us to find the right solution for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Loran believes that being brave is also about being honest and taking responsibility for what you can solve. \u201cThere are certain things we do with the strongest belief that they&#8217;re the right things, but we also admit our failures when they happen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Consumer confidence on the rise<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With consumer confidence playing an essential role in how well brands perform, Douglas asked Phillipa Leighton-Jones, Editor At Large \u2013 The Trust \u2013 The Wall Street Journal | Barron\u2019s Group, to talk about its consumer confidence reports and what they meant for brand behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>Leighton-Jones described The Wall Street Journal | Barron\u2019s Group as a bellwether of what the C-suite is thinking. \u201cThese are the decision-makers who will be shaping the economy of the future in many respects,\u201d Leighton-Jones said. \u201cAnd when you\u2019ve got marketers who are fighting hard for every dollar of discretionary spending, you need to make sure that they know what kind of environment they\u2019re talking in and what kind of conversations they need to be having.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So what <em>are<\/em> the decision makers thinking? According to Leighton-Jones more than half of the1000 respondents surveyed across The Wall Street Journal | Barron\u2019s Group expect the economy to get better in the next three months, a 22 percentage point gain from mid-March. They also anticipate an increase in expenditure on personal goods and travel, she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Less twaddle, more focus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, Douglas asked Wheldon if it was safe for brands to revert back to type and start entertaining us again after months of being circumspect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think people have had enough of \u2018we&#8217;re all in this together, with you every step of the way\u2019 type communication,\u201d Wheldon said, adding that some of the brands doing it looked \u201cpretty inauthentic\u201d and there was a lot of \u201ctwaddle\u201d around. He praised KFC for really understanding their market. While they were closed, the fast food provider encouraged customers to make their own KFC at home and post their attempts on social media, then responded with \u201crelatively insulting\u201d comments about people&#8217;s efforts. It went down well because \u201cthey understood their audience, got the tone right, and were sensitive to what was happening,\u201d Wheldon said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Relieving Customer Pain Points<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Returning to The Wall Street Journal | Barron&#8217;s Group\u2019s Leighton-Jones, Douglas asked how publishers could capitalise on what has been a period of growth, with increased audiences and engagement. \u201cPeople are looking for brands to talk to them,\u201d she said. \u201cNot necessarily to sell to them, but to demonstrate some value and leadership. It\u2019s always going to be about putting the customer first, and thinking deeply not about what products or services you want to sell them, but how you can solve their pain points.\u201d Demonstrating what she called \u201cedifying utility\u201d, allowed businesses to tell \u201cbrave brand stories that are authentic, and that show your leadership,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How far to plan ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Picking up a theme from audience members, Douglas\u2019s final question was how far should brands plan ahead when everything is changing so frequently.<\/p>\n<p>Based on his conversations with CMOs, Wheldon said, \u201cOn the whole, it&#8217;s a 30 day rolling plan with the 90 day horizon, and financially that kind of works for most people. Because beyond that, how would you know? So zoom in tight on 30 days, and be flexible and pragmatic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Loran said Maersk will continue to operate on many levels, optimising on short-term weekly cycles, evaluating their value proposition communications three months out, and planning ahead much further \u2013 three to five or even eight years \u2013 for their brand architecture and repositioning. What won\u2019t change, she said, is their brand vision \u201cto connect and simplify our customer supply chain,\u201d which is not an overnight turn.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Be bold and brave<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Douglas wrapped up the webinar by revealing the results of an audience member poll asking how optimistic they were that the advertising industry would bounce back before the end of 2020. The results, he said, were fairly evenly split (35% optimistic, 42% pessimistic and 23% unsure), reflecting where we are right now with the ever-changing news cycle.<\/p>\n<p>Finishing on a positive note, he pointed out that brands and businesses had \u201ceverything to play for\u201d and this was an opportunity to be brave as we navigate clients and businesses through a period that no-one\u2019s experienced before. \u201cAs humans we will make mistakes,\u201d he said, \u201cBut ultimately, I think we&#8217;ll get judged on motive and generosity.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5>Should anyone wish to hear more about the Consumer Confidence study Phillipa Leighton-Jones mentioned, please do get in touch with phillipa.jones@wsj.com<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rebooting your brand \/ business in the post Covid-19 world As businesses plan for life after Covid-19, a crisis with no precedent, how do they approach a world challenged by economic recovery? That was the topic posed to a panel of four industry experts today in the World Media Group\u2019s third webinar, hosted by Damian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,20,126],"tags":[62,102,63,124,127,128,129,130,78,70,125,131],"class_list":["post-16200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-key-takeaways","category-news","category-webinar-2020-rebooting-brand","tag-62","tag-authenticity","tag-branding","tag-build-brand-equity","tag-business","tag-consumer-confidence","tag-consumer-pain-points","tag-economic-recovery","tag-global","tag-key-takeouts","tag-post-covid","tag-reboot-brand"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Key Take Outs: Rebooting your brand\/business in the post Covid-19 world - World Media Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandbox.world-media-group.com\/admin\/2020\/06\/08\/key-take-outs-rebooting-your-brand-business-in-the-post-covid-19-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Key Take Outs: Rebooting your brand\/business in the post Covid-19 world - World Media Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rebooting your brand \/ business in the post Covid-19 world As businesses plan for life after Covid-19, a crisis with no precedent, how do they approach a world challenged by economic recovery? 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