Detailed Marketing Code Of Brand During Epidemic Period

Founded in Madrid in 2012, Babaa is a small consumer knitwear brand. During the epidemic period, the brand seems to have positioned itself in the market position and has won the loyalty of consumers who are now isolating themselves. Its slogan reads: comfortable Merino woolen sweater, the price is moderate, to accompany you through the seemingly endless social isolation.

However, it is not the intention of Babaa founder Marta Bahillo to publicize the brand in this way. She released a video of her children's visit to Barcelona's Babaa factory before the epidemic spread to Spain on the Instagram account of the brand. In one video, her son watched the knitting machine in the factory. In another video, she took her newborn daughter to see the Babaa seamstress.

Bahillo said she had avoided publishing her personal life before, but with the death of more than 10 thousand people in Spain, where Babaa headquarters is located, she began to think she needed to do so.

"People are dying, some of them are my neighbors. I don't know who is still alive when I can go out," Bahillo told BoF. I didn't even think about making money at that time.

These sincere contents were loved by fans, and 1230 commentaries and 41 commentaries were harvested. The participation was two times that of Babaa on average in Instagram. Bahillo said that despite the delays in supply chain disruptions, brand sales remained stable.

Marketing during the epidemic season has become a brand minefield. Companies need to communicate directly with customers, especially when most of the big economies are closed. However, many of the marketing techniques that have been proven by practice have now lost their effectiveness.

Now, though it is not blindly selling products, it is the time to show the true attitude and connotation of the brand. The brand should consider using the opportunity at the moment to catch the attention of customers and finally attract customers to consume.

1. Recognize the epidemic, but don't let the potential customers feel depressed.

At present, many people, except for the threat of new crown pneumonia to their health and economy, will hardly distract themselves from other things. The big brands must admit this crisis, otherwise they will be insensitive or indifferent to society. Advertisements that show people to have fun at outdoor parties are doomed to be unpopular.

But that does not mean that marketing activities have to go through a gloomy and gloomy style. For example, after an outdoor wedding ceremony that followed a quarantine rule in New York recently, the clothing brand La Ligne wrote an easy tone mail, named the "self isolation bride", and provided some dress ideas in a humorous tone: "the marriage certificate officer at the four floor apartment window" can wear a striped button shirt. "I can get a cardigan sweater from the new honeymoon when I'm quarantined."

Data from the retail research and analysis platform Edited show that home working, self care, fitness and interpersonal relationships can help brands find the right balance between publicity and marketing and the current epidemic.

Coach's promotion of Coach Originals series changed its strategy of "star dominated" and turned its attention to customers. Coach has asked the actor Michael B. Jordan in the advertisement: "Why are you unique?" and now they ask fans on Instagram: "what brings you happiness?"

Coach also hand in hand the Instagram blogger We "re Not Really Strangers" ("we are not strangers") who regularly releases warm heart messages, and released a picture of a painted billboard in Manhattan.

Nicole Jennings, senior vice president of ForwardPMX digital media, said: "the brand needs to find a balance, not only in this environment, but also in a fashion company." ForwardPMX is a brand effect marketing agency that serves Asos, Tommy Hilfiger and other brand customers.

2, cooperate with KOL, but don't let them lose control.

Large retailers such as Macy s and Ulta have reduced or completely suspended the marketing mode of the Commission distribution. Messi This KOL mode may save marketing costs, but it also reduces the image of Companies in social media when companies need to interact closely with consumers.

During the period of isolation, the brand can not produce its own content, so the KOL content recommended by the product is particularly important. Moreover, consumers who are now at home have more Internet access than usual.

Sophia Roe is a chef and a healthy living KOL. She has 125 thousand fans on Instagram. In March 17th, she released a video in collaboration with Sax Saks Fifth Avenue, Fifth Avenue. In the video, she and other two gourmet KOL wear Proenza Schouler, Nanushka and other brands of clothing, to decorate exquisite citrus cocktail. The videos were filmed before the outbreak, and presented in a concise and powerful way the cooking masters competed in five minutes to prepare delicious dishes and cocktails.

Now brands should monitor the way of cooperation between KOL and fans more than ever. For example, Naomi Davis (Social Media nickname Taza), a maternal and infant KOL living in New York, has 468 thousand fans on Instagram and has worked with Olay, Target and other brands. At the end of March, Davis released some of the contents of the family car traversing the United States. Because of breaches of epidemic prevention recommendations, these contents have aroused the anger of fans and health professionals.

"During this period, I suggest that brands should be KOL vigilant," said ThomaiSerdari, an expert on luxury marketing and brand strategy and an NYU Stern School of Business at New York University. "Consumers are always watching (brands and KOL moving at one go), and now they are watching more closely," Stern said. They will not easily forgive or forget the mistake of "brand and KOL".

3, create a virtual paradise for consumers, but don't think that it will take a lot of money to do that.

As the Coachella, fashion week and other major marketing activities have been postponed to the autumn, major brands are trying to create an atmosphere of activity on the Internet.

For example, BottegaVeneta recently launched the "Bottega residence" (residency), which has hosted various musical performances, artists' collaboration, cooking gourmet shows and "Sunday movie nights" on the brand official website and social media. Kezo launched the Stay home with Kenzo campaign, playing DJ music every week on LVMH's social media, and invited artists to appear in the Kenzo.

The major fashion brands also work together with streaming service providers to create brand names for home viewers who cannot go out. The eyewear brand Persol released a capsule series and placed the release time before the second quarter of the Netflix drama La Casa de. H&M also joined Netflix to draw inspiration from a series of teenage love comedies to To All the Boys I ve Loved Before, and launched a series of single products.

Salvatore Ferragamo has launched an intelligence challenge game through the Instagram story, providing entertainment and entertainment for consumers while promoting the brand without trace.

"Sometimes people just need interesting content," said Christian Johnston, co-founder of The GLD Shop, Mens Jewelry website. The GLD Shop recently launched a vote on fans in social media, asking fans to choose a Marvel Entertainment jewelry jointly released by the first brand.

4, you can continue to send marketing mail, but don't go too far.

Marketing mail can help brands directly contact consumers, and the cost is low. It is precisely because this method is widely adopted by many retailers that the consumer inbox is full of mail.

"I really don't think it's appropriate to adopt radical e-mail advertising now," Serdari said. "Brand needs to reconsider the frequency of sending e-mail, and it may be a good choice to reduce the frequency of mail, so that the brand can also have time to reconsider the information it sends."

Brands can also consider other marketing tools that can make brand marketing more thoughtful and helpful to attract more audiences, such as paper catalogue.

"Now we are all at home and receiving paper mail is a big deal," Jennings said. "This may be a good time for brand advertising to re-enter the mailbox."

5, you can consider making a discount, but don't turn discount into a habit.

The epidemic has sharply reduced consumer spending, and brands and retailers have been trapped in overstock of commodities over the past quarter. Many brands have already begun to discount at this time of the full selling season.

However, discount sales may lead to price competition. And after the improvement of consumer confidence, the trend of price competition can hardly be reversed. This is especially true of brands that rely on wholesale sales, because the third party retailers are forced to adopt the same or even lower price as other retailers.

"Our discount sales will hurt our retail partners, and it will do more harm than good to us," said Marc Keiser, co-founder of Losangeles menswear brand Keiser Clark. It can only bring short-term benefits to a few people, but it damages the long-term benefits of most people.

Some brands do not offer discounts for new products, but offer promotional discounts for quarterly inventory items. Italy brand Attico, famous for its gorgeous feathered dresses, this week offered a double discount for new products and inventory products: the brand launched the online charity store, which has launched a series of brands since 2019, and sales profits will be used to help Italy's emergency Civil Defense Department (ProtezioneCivile) deal with the health crisis.

Serdari said: "the most important point here is that this way of promotion does not give consumers a discount on current or future products, which is particularly important for luxury brands."

Adding charitable colors to promotions also helps to consolidate the concept of "discount does not always appear". Staud plans to donate 10% of website revenue to St. Vincent Meals on Wheels charity project. Second hand website Vestiaire Collective hosted a "new crown virus charity Coronavirus" (Coronavirus Charity Sale), selling celebrities such as Kate Moss, and announced that all proceeds would be donated to WHO (World Health Organisation) and other groups.

6, rethink your marketing strategy. Don't panic.

The epidemic has forced major companies to abandon their original marketing strategy, and the recession will further cut the advertising budget. However, the brand should try to ensure that the information delivered by the company is consistent with the direction of the marketing budget expenditure.

For example, according to Joseph Kerschbaum, vice president of 3Q Digital search and development, advertising spending on brands in traditional media such as TV programs and live sports has declined, and may turn to YouTube and other digital media channels. Or, for example, the Coach mentioned above, they cut the actual billboards into a content on the Instagram.

Kerschbaum also suggests that big brands use existing data to understand how to better touch existing consumers, email marketing, paid search, or paid social media channels.

"If you reduce the marketing budget, it may not be a good idea to try a brand new channel. Stick to your existing channels. "