In times like this, when there’s a lot of pressure on brands to pivot and adapt at speed that it can be beneficial to take a pause and to celebrate the great work that brands have been doing. Whether it’s to propel their business and product forward or support the wider community, there are some excellent examples of marketing and operations that brands have been undertaking. Below are four great marketing ideas we’ve seen businesses take to inspire and attract consumers to remain loyal and support them.
Clever advertising
The burger giants, Burger King and McDonald’s have long been known for their creative and impactful marketing strategies. In the week that England declared a fresh lockdown to begin in November, Burger King made headlines with its latest output.
The business released a statement encouraging the public to order food from rival brands, including McDonald’s. The statement, which is posted to its social media accounts, urged:
‘Order from Mcdonald’s. We never thought we’d be asking you to do this. Just like we never thought we’d be encouraging you to order from KFC, Subway, Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Five Guys, Greggs, Taco Bell, Papa John’s, Leon… or any of the other independent food outlets, too numerous to mention here. In short, from any of our sister food chains (fast or not so fast).
It’s a brilliant move and one that shows support and generates goodwill with its customers and within the wider industry.
Filling seats
Entertainment venues have undoubtedly been amongst the hardest hit by COVID-19 – many have been unable to welcome audiences since March and have had to get really creative in order to bring revenues in.
Football stadiums – starting in Germany – and spreading through Europe found a novel way to do this whilst also creating an atmosphere for persons on the pitch and audiences watching at home. For a small amount of money – similar to what each person might on refreshments at a match – fans have been able to buy life-size cardboard cutouts figures to sit in the stands and form a crowd.
Some stadiums have gone further. Manchester United, for example, has been creating a mosaic of fan faces – the inspirational final image is to be stored in the club museum as a memory of the unprecedented season.
Changing tact
Every year, the nation looks forward to John Lewis’ Christmas advert – it is the king of great marketing ideas each Christmas. It sets the tone for the holiday season and is the advert to which all other retail marketing teams aspire. What’s more, it is a real revenue maker for the company, bringing in huge spend from consumers every year.
2020 will be different for John Lewis. This year, it plans to use the advert to aid food poverty – an issue that has become a huge issue for thousands due to the economic woes of COVID-19.
The ultimate goal of the campaign will be to help 100,000 struggling families with food, comfort and emotional support. As such, it will support FareShare, a food poverty charity, and Home-Start, which works with parents who need support. Customers will be encouraged to make charity donations, and products linked to the campaign will be available to buy.
Cabinets with charisma
At the start of the year, we teamed with Krispy Kreme to launch a new series of digital cabinets for retail display. The company described the brand enhancing installation as a “fundamental step-change” to how their doughnuts are presented and sold. Each of the cabinets is equipped with digital screens with the ability to show messages such as ‘made fresh daily’ or tailored content depending on the store, time of day and season.
Adding to the experience are digital shelf edge labels (SELs) with the ability to display full ingredients lists, ideal for customers needing to check for allergens. The SELs are motion activated when a customer walks past; the images switch between the image of a waterfall of doughnuts to fixed product information.
Throughout lockdown, we’ve been helping companies – like Krispy Kreme – take their marketing and brand strategy up a notch. Get in contact to see how we can do the same for you.
