The Evolution of Marketing Messaging During a Pandemic

Nearly 10 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the reality is still shocking. The past year has tested every leader, industry, business, and individual to confront their weaknesses, handle their darkness, and fight to see another day. 

If there was a theme to describe this past year for companies, it would be evolution. 

Businesses already did their best to evolve, but COVID-19 led to expedited efforts, innovation, and adaptation. In such a fast-paced world, watching marketing messaging adapt and react has been particularly interesting. 

This point in time is reminiscent of the period of time after 9/11. 

After such a catastrophic event, reality was distorted, pain was lingering, and trust was broken - leading to several industries repositioning themselves. In their messaging, airlines focused less on the pleasure of flying and more on the price, tourism and hospitality industries addressed safety concerns to promote traveling, and media companies evaluated their materials with a more sensitive lens. And, eventually, NYC recovered. 

Similar industries such as travel, hospitality, tourism, and entertainment are being impacted again during the COVID-19 pandemic. With 22.9 million tourist trips in 2020 - two thirds lower than the 66 million trips in 2019 - New York, and many of the businesses that reside there that rely on tourism, have taken a hit.

Initially, in response to the unpredictability of the coronavirus and uncertainty of the future, marketers leaned on a human-centered messaging approach to appeal to consumers. While empathy in a time of crisis is important, it led to cluttered inboxes with messages from random brands that were less informative and more performative, and repetitive messaging containing the phrases, “We’re all in this together,” and “In these unprecedented times…” 

When every message looks the same, the authenticity of the message is tarnished and the trust is lost. 

In the past 10 months, brands have used their messaging to advocate for the community, to educate and entertain (especially to children who cannot be at school), and to promote health safety standards.

Guinness: Community 

Lego: Education

Uber: Health and safety

Where is messaging now and what should marketers do moving forward? 

Empathy + Authenticity 

The American Association of Advertising Agencies found that 43% of consumers want to be reassured from brands and 56% want to hear how brands are impacting communities. In addition to informing the public, brands are exploring reflecting empathy and their values in their messaging all the while trying to avoid sounding tonedeaf or repetitive. 

Responsive VS Reactive

Consumers and employees deserve to hear about changes in processes. Taking a thoughtful approach as opposed to a reactive one is necessary in a time of crisis. Although things may seem fast-paced, empty promises are worse than no promise at all. 

The summer of 2020 made brands step back to evaluate their current processes and whether or not their values aligned with their actions. During the social justice protests, many brands made promises that weren’t kept. In an effort to be more authentic, this came across as inauthentic.  

Maintaining Engagement 

Re-engaging a consumer is more costly than maintaining and engaging consumers. Although some industries like tourism and travel are inhibited by COVID restrictions, they are focusing on building trust and planning for the future. Some companies like Nike and Peloton even made their apps free for a period of time to promote exercise during shelter in place orders. 

Read more about the response of different industries here. 

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Considering the pandemic isn’t news, it’s best not to make COVID a central part of your marketing messaging. Focus on providing the consumer with everything they need to stay informed in order to maintain that trust. Take a look in the mirror and evaluate if your pre-COVID values and procedures still hold up. If not, now is the time to reinvent and reshape your organization.