As part of our new series, ‘Marketers Playbook for 2020 Post Covid-19', Puneet Das, Vice President Marketing – Beverages, India, Tata Consumer Products says that brands should evolve with the changing consumer mindset post this crisis and build long term relationships with consumers in a ‘purpose driven’ manner. In a post Covid-19 world, most of us will be expecting to come back to a ‘normal’ lifestyle, but already the impact of the crisis has been such across our daily lives, that everyone is trying to get a sense of what will be the ‘new normal’. Consumer trends, in a post COVID-19 world might vary between, a desperate need to ‘feel normal’ versus being ‘extremely cautious’ about everything especially when it is related to food, travel and hygiene. The former will spur consumer spending while the latter may lead to a slower recovery in branded consumption. However, as marketers, it is imperative that we understand consumers at a deeper level and ensure that our brands evolve with the changing consumer mindset post this crisis. What should one do as a Marketer Post COVID-19?
- Continue to build consumer experiences that are genuine and personalized: Consumers will no doubt remember the corporates or brands that made a genuine attempt to ease their lives during this crisis. Hence, it will become even more important to consumers on ‘how you make them feel’ and are you able to genuinely make a difference in their lives in a meaningful manner. So continue to remain invested in making memorable consumer experiences.
- Leverage technology to adapt to changing shopping behaviors: Restrictions due to lockdown scenarios have led to many new consumers becoming even more comfortable with transactions on e-commerce and shopping online. While a lot of them may return to ‘their regular offline shopping behavior’ once the situation is normalized, but the online shopper base might overall increase. Brands should look at building strong digital assets and further leveraging technology to offer seamless shopper experiences. Marketers should ensure that the ‘new acquired shopper base’ continues to be active (e.g. providing relevant content that can help them in their research for their next purchase) and the increase in time spend online is effectively used to translate into ‘call to action’.
- Be more agile and adapt quickly. Prior to this crisis, the term ‘VUCA’ was often used to teach businesses and corporates lessons on how to navigate, what were mostly one off or ‘anticipated’ economic/environment challenges’. However, this crisis has taught us on what it really means to be ‘vulnerable’, with an ‘uncertain’ future, dealing with a world-wide ‘complexity’ and leading to a situation which is highly ‘ambiguous’ for a long period of time. And this is felt not just by businesses but by every human being on the planet. Hence, businesses/ brands need to learn from this experience and truly become agile & flexible in their approach. During the crisis, there were many such examples of brands/companies redefining their core to ensure ease of consumers e.g. alcohol/Distilleries company supplying hand sanitizers, apparel companies manufacturing face masks etc. Brands /businesses should remember this in the post crisis world and continue to challenge & redefine themselves in keeping with the need of the consumer.
- Make ‘Purpose’ as the core of your brand. One thing is for sure, if consumers were looking towards companies and brands doing their bit for ensuring a better and sustainable future, this expectation in a Post COVID-19 world will increasingly become a necessary requirement. Hence, brands should continue to build long term relationships with consumers in a ‘purpose driven’ manner and not just talk about it or use it as a ’gimmick’, but also ‘Walk the Talk’ as per the need of the hour.
