PR AGENCY DIARIES: NZ BRAND MESSAGING DURING COVID-19 RECOVERY
In a world where reputation will make or break your business, speaking to your audience in the middle or as we recover from a pandemic is a bit like wandering through a minefield.
You don’t want to say the wrong thing and come across as tone-deaf, or worse: exploitative – but you want people to know you’re doing right by your staff, your stakeholders and your community. Take it from the experts in the PR balancing act – you need to know how to be adaptable and nimble in order to get your message across to the people who need to hear it: your customers. They are listening, after all – and radio silence signals brand death.
As the PR agency responsible for some of the largest brands in New Zealand, here are some of the core tenets to keep in mind when adapting your own strategy. Those that are bold now with their marketing will not only benefit from a quieter advertising landscape (meaning reach extends) but have all built trust and reaffirmed that they are here for the long-run. Tick, tick, tick.
Adapt your content
You may be the super-duper organised type who susses all their social media content in advance. If you are, go you! Well thought out content is consistently head and shoulders above slapdash social – except if that content doesn’t change with the times. If your content calendars for the next two months were full of hot restaurant spots and insta-worthy travel destinations, you’ll need to rethink. At the very least change your copy – if you don’t, your next home décor post had better be about top ways to decorate the rock you live under.
Be a do-gooder
If your business is in the position to help others, you should do – not only will it give you major brownie points for whatever you believe comes next – but people love sharing good news and Kiwis are taking a far more insular approach to who they choose to part their money with these days (read: local relevance is key). A perfect example of this is Fisher Funds Feed the Frontline initiative. With our healthcare heroes working around the clock and struggling to juggle shift work with healthy food, Fisher Funds went the extra mile and partnered with Jess’ Underground Kitchen to provide 3,000 frozen healthy meals right to their doorsteps. Not only was it a lifesaver for our hard-working nurses, health care assistants, orderlies, cleaners and ward clerks – but it also got some pretty sweet coverage from Newshub, Prime, AM Show, Newstalk ZB, NZ Herald, Urban List, Good, More FM and more.
Brand over product
Pushing your products during a crisis comes across as salesy, and is a sure way to alienate your audience. Does that mean you should go quiet for four weeks? Well, that would be brand suicide too. Your customers are craving entertainment, inspiration, and an escape from the four walls they’ve been staring at for the last month. This is a perfect opportunity to build and strengthen your relationship with them, because people like products – but they love brands.
@brepoulter for instax
Pay attention to what your customers need
If you don’t know your market has changed right now, hold onto your rock décor because boy do we have news for you. Your customers who used to spend their spare cash on dinners out, are now stocking up on flour, potato starch and were until late fighting strangers for loo paper. My Nourish Kitchen spotted an opportunity that gave the people what they wanted – restaurant quality food, with recipes from some of Auckland’s most iconic eateries (SOUL, Euro, Jervois Steak House and Andiamo… yum!) that also supports the restaurant suppliers. Win-win, and delicious. Or take a leaf from Freedom Furniture’s book – they found a solution to video-call mishaps (like embarrassing messy rooms and scantily-clad flatmates wandering into shot) by providing Zoom call backgrounds that look how you wish your room looked.
Timing is everything
This is a tricky one to get right, but if you’re clever enough and quick enough, it can be a massive win. With the news of a nationwide lockdown announced and Kiwis faced with four weeks of being cooped up inside, Acorn TV nailed their timing by changing their 7-day free trial to a 30-day free trial. That’s 30 days of hand-picked, top-quality British drama to solve the age-old question of what to watch next – and a perfect way to give the people what they want, right in the nick of time. Also nailing their timing is Countdown : with online shopping at an all-time high, they opened a ground-breaking new supermarket that features all the elements of a regular supermarket but has one crucial difference: no customers allowed. In a New Zealand first, Countdown’s new e-store is purpose built for online shopping and can fill up to 7,500 orders a week. While it had been in the works for a while, the timing meant prime coverage on Newshub Live at 6pm, Newstalk, RNZ, NZ Herald and Stuff – to name a few.
