Quarantined: Event Marketing Questions for a Post-Pandemic Society
A picture is said to be worth a thousand words…an unprecedented quantum shift…are a few of those words that accompany the envisioned picture of any future sense of “normalcy” in a post-pandemic society.
What comes after the initial quarantine upheaval still is very much a mystery, however, what remains is a collective postulation with respect to a brand’s event marketing efforts navigating in a new world order given the marketing challenges in a COVID-19 culture.
The coronavirus pandemic has generated a national collective response not seen since WWII. Automakers have converted facilities to make ventilators, ordinary citizens have sewn face masks, athletes and celebrities are banding together for an “All In Challenge,” and others are daily generating new collaborative ideas to benefit and add value to the masses during this global upending milestone, this partner-pivoting-mindset may provide some direction for a brand’s messaging and marketing mix spend moving forward in an era marked with great unknown.
In a data-driven time in which vetting and spending are scrupulously scrutinized for program effectiveness, this time of reset allows CMOs and Brand Manager’s to briefly take a breath from their collective gasp…and reconsider best next steps moving forward.
Since the advent of the internet, marketing messaging has increasingly become polluted with various platforms vying for people’s attention. What has often remained is unwelcome, ineffective white noise. As such that reality has largely been the antidotal draw and benefit of face-to-face marketing activation seen in the event and experiential sectors: for a brief moment, you have a captive audience that is not only open to messaging, but willing interacts with the brand. This approach has worked because it doesn’t focus on the masses but rather on the core audience who has a natural affinity for the respective brand. In turn these same consumers—having experienced a noteworthy customer experience—often become the brand’s greatest ambassadors via word of mouth in a traditional viral context. That said, those realities existed prior to unprecedented regulations and restrictions.
In the months ahead in which many events simply won’t exist and many beloved sporting and entertainment venues may only operate with a skeleton existence and a limited number of attendees, the pivoting challenge for agencies and brands operating in a new regulated landscape will to promote critical thinking rather than thinking critical and creatively collaborate with partners in a way that genuinely aligns with one’s core audience and organically connects with those that have a natural affinity with the brand.
Though moves to a highly digital experience—with advances in AR / VR & Streaming—will be a requirement of the contingency planning process, dismissing the “high touch” effectiveness of physical events in lieu of “high tech” experiences is likely a short-sightedness. Since Creation mankind has longed for human connection. And living in a society in which social-distancing is a mainstream colloquialism, it has only only exacerbated the necessity and need for human connection. When civil liberties are momentarily taken from people, humanity naturally all-the-more craves to reconnect with their friends, family, and its subculture-pseudo-family members through memorable shared moments—if, but to offer some nostalgia-sense of “normalcy” and “belonging.”
So the question remains, how does the event marketing world move forward in 2020? Below are some thoughts…
Although B2C activations / events may not take place in the traditional sense given regulations, brands that courageously embrace the unknown and actively partake in this uncertainty will do so with a sense of empathy—doubling down and serving, supporting, and listening to their core audience in a “community outreach” fashion and creatively being where their customers exist.
For B2B initiatives, those marketing efforts may be able to more readily exist in a better timely fashion given limited attendees. Nonetheless, those brands that move forward and succeed in this arena will be those that are agile and best positioned to mitigate unmet expectations and best manage new yet incredible opportunities. In turn the brands that connect at a heart level will see how serving their customer’s in darkest times might very well serve as a company’s finest hour and a resurgence in brand loyalty.
For the brand: be calculated but courageous. Extreme ownership is a must. YOU must rise to the task. YOU must embrace the moment. And to make a real difference, YOU must take each step with dignity, discernment, and determination. Remember, this responsibility is a gift, for there can be no opportunity where there is no challenge.
Bottomline: Dynamic brands that reset, collaborate, reinvest in their core customers and best serve their communities will not only seek to benefit in this new economic reality, but their example of servant-leadership will serve as catalysts in this healing process.