You've been through the hardest time of your life. At the time, it felt that you are reaching a breaking point. But you pulled it through. It made you tougher, it made you who you are today. Your character was tested. It wasn't anymore what would you do if you ever find yourself in that situation. Something that you might have thought of. No, real-life and unexpected turn happened. The decisions you made then defined you more than you can imagine. The lessons you learned are the most significant teachings you got. Not even the best business schools in the world could teach you that.
We have all been through similar times. It doesn't often happen that our characters are tested. But when it does happen, we learn more about ourselves than in any other situation.
Now, let's multiply this by a few billion times. And we reach the situation with coronavirus. Nothing has tested the world's character more since World War II than the coronavirus. It is obvious that there is only one superpower in the world today, and we are all on the other side. It was unthinkable that we could all be so fragile and vulnerable.
The most important question is, what are we learning if we are learning at all?
The most human company will win
Every brand owner got many reports. From management consultancies, research companies, and tech platforms. Everyone has all the insights, what is changing, and how people are reacting to it. Perhaps this is the first time that you have all the data that you always wanted to have. Response teams have already made their decks with do's and don'ts.
Let's not be opportunistic.
Let's solve and not sell.
Let's be there for our customers.
Let's be empathetic.
And when this is all over, we will grab the opportunity.
How empathetic is this?
If you have a brand purpose, then you would know what to do. COVID-19 shouldn't change that. But all that purpose fluff - purpose before profit - is being challenged. If COVID-19 is putting that purpose on the test and you are not passing, then sorry, you don't have one. The purpose cannot be a gimmick as it is the "raison d'etre", and you cannot come up with one overnight.
Precision marketing is not helping either. Obsession with 1st/2nd/3rd party data and to measure everything cannot help right now. Everyone became an expert in direct response, but we are far from being experts at the human response. And this is what is needed.
At times of peril, the only thing that works is humanity. In the world of brands, this cannot be more true.
You cannot fake humanity. You cannot talk about humanity. You can only behave in a way to champion humanity.
In "Marketing Rebellion," Mark Schaefer mentioned that most human company wins. I would urge everyone to read it and reread it as there will be no better time than now.
Another book that I would recommend on the topic is "Marketing 3.0" by Philip Kotler. Written in 2010, cannot be more relevant today. If marketing is all human and the next era of marketing is all about human centricity, then we all know what we need to do.
People are expecting brands to resolve societal issues more than from governments. Now is the time to step up to the challenge and take a brand turn while championing humanity.
People are waiting!
The most human agency should take a lead
COVID-19 has briefed all the agencies. And, I don't remember seeing such a swift collective response to come up with an answer. The brightest minds have been providing their thinking and expertise. Each agency is showcasing its know-how and that they are the best to handle this situation.
Again, the Maslow hierarchy of needs cited many times. Many reports are circulating, webinars held, micro websites made - PR done. But if this is not opportunistic, then I don't know what it is. The very same agencies do not practice the same advice given to their clients. All the reports and websites about the insights on corona are a simple new business gimmick. What is worse, their clients do not see that same commitment and effort put into their plans.
The pressure is enormous. Advertising sensitivity has reached its historical peak. Whatever you say or don't say as a brand can have adverse effects in the post-corona time. Rather than preparing fancy slides for the public, agencies should become obsessed with their clients.
The whole situation has put all agencies on the spot. Helping clients to take a turn and transform is the burden agencies must carry. And the agency should play a leading role in defining that turn. When was the last time they were given such an opportunity? In the process transforming themselves should be the new normal.
If the most human company wins, that same company will need to have the most human agency.
Being more human than ever before
There are only two things that can unite the world, alien invasion or global pandemic. We have seen movies on both topics. Somehow, I'm glad that it is pandemic as we wouldn't stand any chance with the aliens.
If I need to answer if there is anything that I like about the COVID-19, my answer is no, but I cannot ignore the fact that the collective spirit of the world is awakening. And in a way it is beautiful. At least my generation hasn't had a chance to witness it. We also haven't had a chance to hit the pause button. So two things are happening simultaneously - unity & break. Little that we knew how much we needed both as individuals and society.
What if we start seeing this as a second chance that you don't get very often in life. A global second chance to change and make things better.
The problem is evident. Things have been going so fast for each of us. We became blind to things happening around. We became blind to how our own choices on what we consume and how we behave impacts the world. The speed of progress is overwhelming. In the train that goes 600km/h, we enjoy the speed of progress, but we cannot see anything through the window. If we cannot see anything around, what is the point of going so fast?
Amid the rush, we got a hard brake. No one expected that global quarantine is reality except in the movies. In a matter of a few weeks, COVID-19 erased all the differences that existed in our society. Socio-economic, cultural, national, etc. No one is untouchable. In the process, it made each of us more human than we ever were. For me, this should be the most important lesson. At the same time, an opportunity that each of us should embrace and recreate a much kinder world. And it starts with an individual, not governments, not companies, but you.
We are all in this together
Those are powerful words. And indeed, we are in this together. We were together before the COVID-19, and we will be together after the COVID-19. Let's not take those words lightly.
Another important lesson is that we became more sensitive and aware of our impact on society. As potential carriers of disease, unintentionally, we could end up killing someone else. We are not in quarantine to avoid getting an infection. We are in quarantine to prevent spreading the disease.
If we think further, there are so many things that deserve a quarantine. Other things that we do could easily be as severe as spreading the COVID-19. But their effect is not as acute as COVID-19, so we don't end up seeing the impact.
The good thing is that people are changing. At least that is what I'm witnessing around me. Many of my friends are asking me about vegetarianism. What to eat, how to cook, etc. I've been vegetarian for 22 years (more than half of my life), so I could help. Their motives are human. If they become vegetarians, they will stop diseases like COVID-19 to happen. But being vegetarian has a far more significant impact on our society that many are not aware of.
1. Prevention of diseases (60% of known infectious diseases in humans are transmitted from animals)
2. Stop depletion of natural resources (imagine how much water and food are wasted to produce just 1kg of beef)
3. Stop Amazon deforestation (growing cattle is one of the main reasons)
4. Stop the world's hunger (all the resources not wasted on raising cattle are more than enough to feed the whole world)
5. Prevention of Greenhouse effect (one of the biggest contributors to this is cow's farts - yes, you read it right)
This one simple choice on what to eat has a ripple effect on so many things that makes things far better. Think about all the other decisions you could make. Now it is time to reflect on what we do and be more aware. Now it is time to make different choices. As the choices we make today will determine the life we are going to live tomorrow.
COVID-19 has given us a global lever, let's not miss the opportunity to pull it! Instead of rushing to the business as usual, let's become architects of the much kinder world.