Brand Forum, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on daily life and business operations is far reaching and on a scale not experienced since times of war. While finding solutions to supply chain and the many business challenges have rightly taken precedent over the past few weeks, strong, relevant and continued communications from brands is paramount.
Mark Ritson commented in a recent Marketing Week article. “At some point consumers will return to the streets, the cafes and the various other activities that they have been denied during the dark days. Keep the brand light burning, because the cost of snuffing it out for the rest of 2020 and then trying to reignite it next year is gigantic".
The following offers some guidelines on how best to communicate with your customers and consumers. In general the first port of call is to revaluate all current and planned communications to remove any content which may now appear insensitive or ‘tone deaf’. Brands such as KFC and Hershey have had to pull large-scale advertising campaigns, which overnight, became obsolete as they were in breach of World Health Organisation recommendations for containing Covid-19. Many Irish brands had pre-planned Easter content that may have featured families eating with grandparents; big family gatherings; Easter Egg Hunts etc – all of which would be against current social distancing guidelines.
Agreeing who is managing the communications output on behalf of the company is key. Whether it’s the founder or a team member, appoint one individual to coordinate all the businesses communications at present and allow for time to plan. To follow are some guidelines:
Who should you be communicating with?
• Staff, stakeholders, supply chain - In a time of crisis, the most important group of people you need to communicate with may not be your consumers. It may be your staff or supply chain who require immediate support and clear guidelines on what happens next. While you may not always have all of the answers, don’t let that stop you communicating in the first place. Open lines of communication with regular updates supplied when available avoids confusion and assumptions which can be damaging to a business.
• Consumers - You need to assess if your core consumer audience has changed in any way – is it now broader or narrower than before? What information do you have that is relevant to their needs?
Tone Of Voice: How should you position your communications
• Brand Values - While the world in which we are doing business has changed, your brand values and tone should remain authentic and consistent.
• Show Empathy - Empathy is key to connecting with your audience. You need to assess how your audience is feeling, and how best you can connect with them at this time.
• Demonstrate Solidarity - While we must adhere to social distancing, people are craving a social community. The #TogetherAtHome movement is resonating with consumers with people giving back to the community through offering free online content and resources such as live-streaming of music and performance, fitness classes and cookery demonstrations. Cooperative efforts are being rewarded through engagement.
• Avoid Tokenism - Today’s consumers are extremely savvy and demand transparency. Avoid jumping on a bandwagon.
• Stay Calm - Your messaging should be sensitive to the times and your communications should avoid contributing to any sense of panic.
Starbucks manage the situation well: “The world is grappling with an issue of enormous scale and human impact, and our hearts go out to all who have been affected by the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19).”– Starbucks
Messaging What Should you be Saying:
• Establish the facts - What is it you are currently saying about your business, brands and/ or product range? Has anything changed in the current circumstances that is relevant to your audience?
• Prepare a Q&A sheet - Draft a messaging document for all members of the team outlining the steps your company is taking to protect workers; how you can reassure consumers about your production process and any details of likely business interruptions.
• Listen to your consumers - Employ social listening tools (details below) to monitor what your consumers are saying online, what topics are trending and what popular hashtags are relevant to your business and brands.
• Encourage two way conversation - Acknowledge the changes being encountered and ask your audience what content would be beneficial to their needs.
• Promote wellbeing and positivity - Support for positive mental health; support for Irish and local businesses; “all in this together” mentality.
Channels where should you be communicating?
• Selection - Consider more traditional channels such as radio, where chat shows are seeking positive content on the form of cooking tips, gardening and kids entertainment. In the past few weeks, the social channel TikTok is proving highly relevant and entertaining for this dislocated period of time, particularly with Gen Z.
• Channel Audit - Assess if the channels you are currently using are still relevant to reaching your audience i.e. media consumption is showing increased engagement with news, social, TV, podcasts, radio and video Out of home advertising, sports and events are almost non-existent.
• Assess opportunities - can you be the solution? Are you doing something to help which can be communicated? Is there an opportunity to connect with consumers in new ways? Innovation has been prevalent: nimble brands have embraced new routes to market via ecommerce and delivery options, building supporting communication campaigns, such as St. Tola Goat’s Cheese direct, Cashel Blue and Boyne Valley Food Boxes; and foodservice outlets BuJo has launched a burger kit to make your burgers at home. A host of Irish drinks companies have created much sought after hand sanitiser Blacks of Kinsale; The Shed Distillery and many more.
• Community Engagement Campaigns - home eating occasions are now a focal point of people's daily routines and preparing food has assumed a new level of relevance. Bord Bia’s #QualityKitchenCookAlong https://www.neighbourfood.ie/markets https://eatforireland.ie/and Gastro Gays #CovCookClub
• Evaluation – Critique every execution with rigour to ensure that you deliver the right messages to people where they are now and when they are most receptive. Check tone, language and messaging is still connecting and resonating with your audience, particularly at this time of rapid change. Test as you go.
Staying Relevant: It is important to be listening to what your consumers are talking about and to be able to respond appropriately. Here are a number of resources which can help:
1. Online Monitoring:
- Trending Google Searches Ireland – can help in refining what information your audience is looking for.
- Answer The Public - an analysis of questions that people are asking on Google and YouTube which this can help in deciding on a topic for a blog post or video series.
2. Social Listening:
- Hashtag Research – you should research the most popular hashtags at the moment and make a list of those most relevant to you e.g. QuarantineAndChill; #CoronaCooking; #ImDoingFineBecause; #StayAtHomeChallenge; #CabinFeverCooking
- Follow key food and drink influencers – and engage and respond to content
- Notifications – set up notifications for category peers and / or key influencers on social media. This will ensure you get an immediate notification when they post content.
Get Day Trends – highlights trending topics on social media.
Tweet Deck – allows you to monitor a number of social accounts at once and track key hashtags.
3. Media Monitoring:
- Google Alerts – set up alerts for relevant content online or for brand or product mentions for your company or competitors to keep up to date.
- Media Monitoring – track mentions for your brand, relevant topics or competitors through service providers such as TrueHawk Media; Rue Point Media.
In summary:
• Stay connected with consumers and the trade.
• Position your brand in a relevant and meaningful way.
• Develop strong and purpose led communications. Find the right story and strike the right tone. Don’t over communicate, be useful, be relevant and avoid adding to the noise.
Bord Bia has been adapting to the evolving COVID-19 situation and what we continue to do, to support business continuity in our industry - the COVID Hub brings you the most relevant and useful insights and services.
Brought to you by Bord Bia’s Brand Forum. For further information on relevant supports and services from Bord Bia see COVID Hub and for information on Bord Bia’s Brand Forum contact Niamh.MacHale@BordBia.IE or Gavin.Costello@bordbia.ie
Join the Brand Forum community on a webinar dedicated to the Media Landscape, Thursday 30th April ’20, 11:00am - 12:00 hrs to get a snapshot on the media market in Ireland, how media consumption has changed in the past few weeks, media opportunities available in the current environment and planning considerations for your brand. Click here to register.
References:
• Bord Bia COVID Hub relevant and useful insights and services.
• Twitter: Brand Communications in time of crisis
• Warc : Brands need to keep the lines of communication open
• Ogilvy – What does Coronavirus mean for brands on social media
• IPSOS – Covid-19: The Creative Fightback
• Financial Times Weekend Magazine, technology 4/5 April’20
• neighbourfoods and Shopify
