Marketing in the time of Covid-19
The coronavirus crisis will test us all, but marketers need to think long-term and keep building their brands, protecting their staff and honouring their values.
By Mark Ritson
You don’t need me to list what has happened in the past few weeks or ruminate on the potential behemoths that could topple in the weeks to come. Too much of that is already going on across social media. If I see one more chart from someone in marketing about ‘flattening the curve’, I will break free from my self-imposed isolation and flatten them.
The first lesson of the coronavirus crisis that now engulfs us is to shut the fuck up and let the experts guide us. I am well aware at this point that expertise from the medical fraternity or our so-called political leaders seems in short supply. But that does not justify marketers feeling as if they have some god given right to share their thoughts or solutions or recommendations. We are marketers, for fuck’s sake, and most of us aren’t even any good at that. Let’s leave the epidemiology to the professionals.
That said, we should not shy away from talking about customers and business in the age of coronavirus. It might seem superficially mercantile to discuss brands, pricing and customer behaviour as we stare down the barrel of a pandemic. But the practical reality of global economic trade means that we need to market now for the good of all mankind.
