Why are there rhyming ads?

Why are there rhyming ads?

Are they clever or just a fad?

Do people actually remember these ads?

Or are they mere pastimes from some grads?

Do these make you buy what they’re selling?

Are they a waste of time or simply upsetting?

Do they amuse people just for them not to remember?

“Did you see that commercial? From whom? I don’t remember.”

What about results? Do rhymes catch attention to gain them?

Does it bring in customers who think, “That’s great! What a gem!”

We love advertising for everything it does.

It draws attention and gives product information.

But does it need to rhyme

to get your attention?

Customers are smart.

Don’t treat them like children.

Appeal to their heart

Make ads result-driven.

It’s ever-present, after all.

Through winter, spring, summer, and fall.

Advertising will always be around.

Whether it’s on your face or in the background.

So it’s probably best that you get something out of it.

Advertising that’s good and will create profit.

Most importantly, however, advertising creates change.

Advertising should cause action, or else it’s just useless and strange.

Advertising Trends in 2021

The advertising world is always changing, sometimes for better, often worse.

With emerging technologies, new marketing channels, and increasing competition in the space, it can be difficult to stay on top of all the latest trends. As a marketer or business owner looking to improve your advertising strategy for 2021, here are three trends you should be paying attention to:

1. Empathy

"Advertising is the only profession where you can inflict pain on people without having to be in their presence." David Ogilvy

I always knew I wanted to be a creative, working in the world of advertising and marketing, but it wasn't until the pandemic that I realised how important empathy is. In order to win new customers through advertising, you need to empathise with their needs and worries so that you can deliver services and products that show you care.

The virus has taken many lives and left a trail of destruction in its wake. In the face of such a crisis, businesses have to be aware that consumers need reassurance that they are cared for and valued even if their health is compromised. Empathy-based advertising campaigns can help provide this reassurance for customers who may feel scared or isolated from society.

2. No more pitch requests

In my experience as an advertising professional, I have seen that the most effective advertising agencies are not those with an extensive portfolio of clients. No, the best companies aren't flashy at all and they don't rely on commissioned work. Instead, they spend their time focusing on one client's company to ensure maximum ROI.

The reason for this is that there are many times when companies will send out pitches without any knowledge of what their potential customers want or need. They just take a shot in the dark and hope that something sticks. This results in wasted hours spent trying to divine what you want instead of actually working towards your goals. The pitch doesn’t work simply because it’s presented and measured in a boardroom and not on the salesroom floor.

Get to know the people who work for the potential agencies you’re interested in working with. After all, people do business with people. Get to know the agency heads first and then worry about their work.

3. Advertising is a privilege.

Many marketers don't realize that advertising is a privilege and not a right. Marketers have the responsibility to earn consumers’ trust. Consumers are bombarded with ads on TV, on mobiles, in stores, and online so they need to know that you're being transparent about your product or service. Advertising has changed over the years, but one thing remains constant - consumers have their guard up.

Preferences and Advertising

What if I told you that your preferences came from random choices?

New research from Johns Hopkins University confirms that we build unconscious biases all throughout our lives when we choose between things that are essentially the same.

The way I see it, this is where advertising comes into play. The research was undertaken with babies, and though the scientific data proves their behaviour is random (at first), the reality is the options these babies were presented with were out of their control. To put it simply, your preferences will be different if someone else raised you, or if you grew up at a different place, or if you were born during a different era.

I see it as an ongoing cycle that’s heavily influenced by advertising. Sure, natural progression and technological advances play a big role in these things, but little did you know, even those were advertised. Someone somewhere told another person thousands of years ago that they can use fire to cook meat – classic word of mouth.

Take grudge purchases for example – the fine line between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ is what separates your preferences from mine. However, preferring one thing over another when choosing between similar things, most of the time has everything to do with advertising. I recently got a car and sooner or later, I’m going to need my tyres replaced. The only tyre brand I’m really familiar with is Bridgestone. That makes my choice for this specific grudge purchase easy. However, if another tyre brand presents me (someone who doesn’t know the slightest thing about car tyres) with something I value more as a person (like durability since I don’t want to be constantly changing my tyres), I might just go with that other brand. If you advertise something that matters to me, it just might pique my interest.

Advertising is meant to draw attention. Most of the time however, it comes gradually and over a long period of time – like how it comes to children. Your exposure to brands dictates an unconscious, random choice and your behaviour towards them creates your personal preferences. If you are exposed to the same choices (advertising), these options are going to be what’s familiar to you. You know these options because you either see them all the time, you’ve seen people around you use them, or you resonate with their message.

The beauty of advertising is found in the unique story a product or service has over other options (competitors). The single, most important message you share when you advertise is what can change a potential customer’s pattern of behaviour and eventually lead to you being the brand of choice. When you share and advertise your story, you’ll find that like-minded people will be attracted to what you have to offer.

The COVID-19 Acceleration

One of the most common claims since the Novel Coronavirus kicked its way into our lives earlier this year is that COVID-19 is an accelerator.

Trends that were already slowly happening have been pushed into high gear far faster and more intensely than anyone could have expected, while other trends have been created out of nowhere.

The hugely increased power of Amazon? The rise of remote working and learning? The surge in social justice activity? Tens of thousands of Kiwi ex-pats returning home? The insidious effects of the COVID-19 crisis and the associated responses (or lack thereof) drove each of these developments.

Many millions of people have suffered immeasurably this year. The long-term effects of the pandemic will be with us for decades to come in ways we don’t yet understand. On the other hand, however, some people and organizations have made out like bandits. Take Jeff Bezos for example. He’s done pretty well. He added 13 billion US dollars to his net worth in one day earlier this year. Yes, that’s 13 thousand million US dollars! Or how about Eric Yuan, founder and CEO of Zoom? He’s made more than US$12 billion since March, with his net worth rocketing up a massive 400%. People in the right place at the right time with the right vision always do well even in troubled times.

New Zealand has fared better than many other countries, but we haven’t been unaffected by the COVID-19 crisis. The worst may be yet to come, as the local and global ramifications of the pandemic are felt. Right now, compared to many countries, we’re doing okay, but still, there are lessons to be learned from the current situation. For example, how individuals, businesses, and even governments respond to a crisis, or even just striving to have enough money to ride out the next storm.

But with the mindset that we’re living in “The Time of the Acceleration” (yeah I just made that up), there are some questions that business owners, C-Suite executives, advertisers, and marketers should be asking themselves:

“What’s coming next?”

“How could it affect my business?”

And “What else is going to be accelerated?”

The last question is an important one.

Regardless of our personal feelings and attitudes towards the pandemic and the way governments and people are reacting to it, no one person can control the big picture of what’s going to happen next. A simple case of human error could plunge New Zealand back into lockdown, and no business owner or marketing manager can do anything about that.

But it’s possible to predict the coming trends. Actually, it’s not just possible; it’s now critical because bad things will happen to the businesses that don’t get their predictions right. Remember Kodak? A once-mighty company that assumed film cameras would always be hot demand items. They were caught short by how quickly the digital revolution changed photography, and the result was bankruptcy. Things are moving far faster now, especially in the brave new world that is 2020.

Here’s an example: “Contactless” is a word that’s suddenly become a more significant part of our lives than anyone could have imagined. I’ve seen the Uber and Lyft pick-up lot at Los Angeles International Airport pre-pandemic and post, and the two aren’t even vaguely similar. The former was insanely busy, and the latter was a ghost town. Drivers are vulnerable to viruses, but automated vehicles aren’t. I’ve recently spent a fair amount of time with a Tesla Model 3. The autopilot was far better than I ever thought it could be, despite being driven on a small tropical island with mediocre roads and lousy mobile network coverage. This functionality can and will only get better.

Waymo has just launched a fleet of fully self-driving taxis in the American city of Phoenix. This is just the first phase – other companies will launch similar projects, and there’ll be lots of them. Don’t be in denial that self-driving cars and trucks are coming. If your business involves cars, drivers, deliveries etc. you’re in the firing line in one way or another.

If drivers are vulnerable to a virus, then so is everyone else from the people who stack shelves in a supermarket to the doctors doing surgery in a hospital. Corporations have long looked for ways to improve their bottom line. That often comes down to efficiency, which translates into “fewer people”.

This is obvious all over the retail sector. There are self-service tills at the supermarket, increasing numbers of customers order their fast food on terminals or Apps, and passengers check-in for flights using touchscreens and then drop off their bags. Where did humans go? Serious question - are these companies less likely to find ways to cut staff and replace them with automation now?

Global supply chains are shifting, politics is transforming, the climate change discussion is only getting started, and the ongoing social experiments known as social media and fake news continue unabated. And of course, AI and machine learning are the big change-makers looming over every industry.

What are the second-order effects of this acceleration? It’s easy to not worry about any of it unless it directly affects your business, but at some point, a newly sped-up or brand new trend is going to ripple (or rip) into your industry, and only the prescient ones ahead of the curve will thrive.

The mindset of predicting accelerated trends doesn’t magically end when the pandemic does. Whether “they” discover a vaccine, or we all get immune, or we decide to just deal with it, let’s assume that one day, COVID-19 won’t be the defining factor, and we’ll get back to what passes for normal.

So, what else is being accelerated?

Cities, states, and countries around the world are eyeing the old internal combustion engine and its associated tank of fossil fuels with a beady eye. Sooner or later, you won’t be able to buy (or more importantly, sell) a conventional motor vehicle. But are we talking sooner or later? California and the City of London are looking at 2035 as a cut off date, with other counties such as Austria and Norway aiming to go for it even sooner.

That’s going to affect car and truck manufacturers in a big way, but they’ve got the resources to pivot. What about the many industries that support the motor vehicle sector? If you own a small chain of petrol stations, well, you might want to be considering this, as I’m sure many are. What about suppliers of car parts? What’s their pivot in a world of vehicles with far less moving parts to wear out and break?

On the other side of this coin lies the fact that electric cars run on electricity (obviously). Less obvious is the fact that no power grid in the world is up to dealing with every vehicle being switched to electric power as fossil fuels get phased out. Massive investments in infrastructure and technology are needed. Can your business capitalize on this paradigm shift? If not, should you be starting one that can, or should you be finding a job in an industry that won’t be dead in 10 years?

I’ll go into all of this in more detail in future posts but to cut a long story short, enormous changes are coming at multiple levels, they’re coming fast, and they’ll affect us all. If you think your business or your job isn’t going to be affected, you’re probably wrong. And if your marketing team or advertising agency aren’t looking at these issues and bringing you the information you need to make better decisions, you’ll likely end up struggling somewhere down the track.

Advertising isn’t black magic.

The phrase “half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half” has been told and retold by advertisers so many times that its origin has become unclear. Some sources say it’s Lord Leverhulme who originally said it, while others give credit to John Wanamaker or Rance Crain for the phrase. Regardless of its origin, this phrase has been a quote that sticks to anyone who does any sort of advertising, whether you’re a business owner or a marketeer – mostly because advertising and money is at the forefront of the phrase.

Truth is, advertising is very difficult to measure but it’s easy to measure how much money you spend or gain. You can have as many statistics, survey methods, and analysis tools as you want, but who’s to say that they’re even completely accurate? You can pay specialists to analyse or even set up your ads for you but that means spending more money on advertising. Sometimes, companies aren’t willing to do this because they are not entirely sure what they’re paying for ­– especially when they’re asked to trust someone else to advertise for them. That’s when people start to think that there’s some black magic, voodoo-type thing involved in advertising and one of three things tend to happen:

1.  Advertisers willingly spend money on advertising because they want to see if it will work.

2. Advertisers question why they have to spend so much on advertising when they don’t even know if it will work.

3. Advertisers take the DIY route and do it themselves to “know” exactly where their money goes.

 The trouble here is not knowing exactly what you’re paying for. However, it’s not always the case. We willingly pay for a dentist to pull out a tooth for hundreds of dollars when in fact, anyone can do it. It just so happens that dentists are the only ones who can ask for money for it because it’s advertised that they are qualified to do so by all the certificates and degrees framed on their walls. They’ve studied for years, and invested in equipment and tools to make your visit more pleasant than if you’d just pull out your own tooth.

That analogy is rarely applied to those who make a career or a business out of advertising. Sometimes, people tend to overlook the years, experience, and practice it takes to make advertising effective simply because of the unwillingness to risk wasting money. Anyone can make/”DIY” a logo but it takes a good, well-seasoned designer and brand specialist to do it within an hour – but have you ever thought of how they’re able to do it in a short amount of time? To put it simply, you’re paying for the time and years they’ve spent honing their skills in design and branding. What you think you’re paying for (in this case, a logo), isn’t what you’re actually paying for. You’re paying for that expert’s time (both past and present) and skills. I think deep down, people know this up until they receive the invoice.

 It’s not black magic. Advertising experts and specialists don’t just rob you blind. There’s a lot of trust and faith involved especially when you willingly take a risk to see how your money will be good for advertising. There are unicorn-type products and businesses such as Apple and McDonald’s that no longer need to advertise but still do. So if it’s good enough for these brand giants, why can’t it be good enough for you?

Advertising and Decision-Making

You’re reading a blog from an advertising agency website but for a moment, can we set that aside and reflect a bit on how everything’s changed? By now, we can confirm that there is no singular path in life, there’s no method to the madness, and there’s no one way of doing things because sometimes – all it takes is one move, even by a stranger, and the world is changed forever. E.g. global pandemics or the discovery of electricity.

Now, may I ask you? What do you base your decisions on? Is it status? Is it fame? Money? Is it a goal? A dream? Is it because of your culture? Is it for survival?

Advertising has gained negative connotations for decades because of false promises and its old, unsolicited nature. However, wouldn’t you agree that advertising has evolved and continuously evolves especially when a person’s decision making processes are changed by the environment they’re in?

Our decisions are always influenced by something. During the lockdown, many companies resorted to communicating through online platforms which wouldn’t even be an option centuries back when the internet didn’t exist during a pandemic (e.g. The Black Death from 1346 to 1353).

Many launched DIY advertising campaigns – filming employees instead of actors, in their own backyards, using nothing but a smartphone. Advertising was primarily done online and digitally because the risk of holding advertising material such as a magazine was too risky. However, did you, the consumer, make this decision? Or was it made for you? Was it made to benefit you? Or was it made so you don’t forget that the companies advertising to you still exist?

There’s a very fine line that’s drawn here which revolves back to the question; what do you base your decisions out of?

As a consumer, do you decide based on a budget? Making ends meet while the uncertainties of the pandemic still loom over your shoulders?

As a business, do you decide based on your passion for what you do? Or has that changed because like everyone else in this economy, we’re forced to make decisions based on survival?

Advertising and marketing will always be there to influence our decisions. It’s there to inform and empower – it’s a powerful tool if you let it serve its purpose.

Advertising is complex. It is an artform. It’s persuasion. It evolves. It’s convenience. It’s permission.

Advertising is a lot of things.

What advertising is not: irrelevant.

Advertising is the ever-present concept of ‘drawing attention’, and on a base-level – we, human beings, can find advertising within us all the time. We want to be liked and we want to matter. And whether you’re a consumer or a business, there’s not a single doubt in my mind that you need advertising.

You need advertising to inform and be informed. We can mask it in different words but whatever your defining motivations are in making decisions, advertising has and always will be present in it.

This industry sustains the world whether we realise it or not. Besides, can you imagine a world without advertising? No branded anything – just generic stuff. No options, no colour, no consistency, no art? Advertising has made the world a colourful place. A place of choice and a place with options. If you pay enough attention – if you care enough, you’ll realise this.

Why McDonald’s doesn’t advertise during COVID-19.

Have you seen McDonald’s advertisements since the COVID-19 Alert Level’s been lowered to Level 3? Other fast food restaurants probably advertise their contactless pick up procedures but other than that, have you seen any ads from big fast food brands like Maccas, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Carl’s Junior?

It’s been over a week since Alert Level 3 was implemented in New Zealand. It’s basically Alert Level 4, but with drive-thrus and takeaways. That’s an oversimplification but plays an important role in relaunching the country’s economy as mentioned by the government. Retail and restaurant businesses are encouraged to conduct “business as usual” but not as they used to. Now, new safety measures are in place ie. contactless pick-ups and drive thru options – which is the key advertising message these companies communicate with their audiences. While everyone’s done a good job in keeping to themselves and staying in their bubbles in Alert Level 4, issues started to rise because of the minor liberty we’ve been given in Alert Level 3.

Time and again, the government reiterates the message about staying at home as much as possible and to only go out when it’s absolutely necessary. It just so happens that in Alert Level 3, people find it necessary to queue for hours in a McDonald’s drive thru or flock right outside a Burger Fuel branch. I’ve spoken about how the new normal is upon us – about how handshakes are going to be a thing of the past, about how people are more likely to see essential workers more sympathetically, and how advertisers should really speak to their audience with more empathy.

To my surprise, it seems like most people will just revert back to how it was. Unconsciously take up people’s personal space, breathe the same air, and being 2 metres away from others will only last until the alert levels are lowered, even though Level 2 has a 1 metre social distance rule. Perhaps convenience is the reason for all of this. In terms of advertising, McDonald’s is a brand that’s so big that they don’t even need to advertise to get people queuing in their drive thru for over 2 hours just to get junk food.

Remember during the start of the pandemic when toilet paper flew off the shelves? Is this like that? Is this panic buying part 2? What is it about the likes of McDonald’s and Burger Fuel that even the Prime Minister had to tell us off for not keeping our social distance with each other just to get a burger? Surely it wasn’t because of advertising – or at least not the advertising they do now. It’s the brand they’ve developed and established over the years that people resonate with, and this is something their products and services often can’t uphold. I can’t tell you how many times McDonald’s has given me the wrong order or how many times I felt sick after eating their food but I still come back for more. Sadly, I can’t say the same for sit-down restaurants because I’m the type of person who doesn’t come back to a restaurant, no matter how good the food was, if I’ve gotten food poisoning from them or if the host was rude.

Taking McDonald’s as a prime example – we all know how iconic this brand is. The Golden Arches is one of the most recognisable symbols in the world. It doesn’t matter that a documentary such as “Super Size Me” or multiple research about how their food never spoils, is out there. People all over the world still want it. Want it so bad that queuing for hours with other people and risking their health isn’t even an issue – yet we complain about queues in the groceries when we were in Level 4. They’re willing to wait for so long only to be able to post their Maccas selfies on social media for everyone else to see. As if they’re passive aggressively saying, “Look at me! I waited for a long time. I have Maccas again! Screw the Coronavirus!”

The question now is, do fast food brands like Maccas have immunity to the effects of COVID-19? The food and beverage industry is one of the biggest industries that took a great hit from the virus. Yet McDonald’s still stands tall after the lockdown, operating more smoothly than other restaurants (or those operating at all for that matter), as if nothing happened. Moreover, they also keep getting free, customer-generated content! Advertising through word of mouth is more powerful than ever especially when conversations are just a few clicks away and right in the palm of your hand.

Think about your local café or your favourite fine dining restaurant for a second. Perhaps you’re excited to visit them again or maybe you’re anxious to be surrounded by people again and have become entirely sceptical about being out of your bubble when it’s unnecessary. But think about catch ups over coffee, yarns over drinks, and meals with loved ones that didn’t only fill your stomach – they filled your heart, too. Cheesy as it sounds, these restaurants are more than just places to get food from. Restaurants are a source of community. It’s where bonds are made, people are celebrated, and a place to take the edge off even – or at least that’s what they used to be, pre-pandemic. These places continue to struggle because of the pandemic while big fast food companies are thriving just after the alert level was lowered to 3. Smaller restaurants can double down (if possible) on advertising once they’re advised that they can operate normally again, but the damage has been done.

They can’t compete with big fast food brands. Most of these restaurants have a very tight niche and rely on word of mouth and social media as their main form of marketing. The quality and overall experience is what differentiates them from fast food restaurants, especially expensive fine dining restaurants where you get quality food and top-notch service. The kind of food and service that we don’t expect any fast food restaurant to deliver – so you’re happy to pay for that premium! You most likely didn’t find your favourite restaurant through bus stop advertising. Perhaps you heard about them through your mate or through social media when someone you follow dined there and took photos that look nice and posh. Placement plays a huge role in advertising i.e. don’t expect fine dining restaurants to advertise in bus stops because people who can afford their food are more likely not on the bus.

I didn’t see a single ad for McDonald’s during the lockdown period and even when the lockdown was about to end. Nor have I seen any ads from them now because let’s face it, they don’t need to. Their consumers and the media do it for them. They’ve been ahead of their industry for years and perhaps they were even ahead of this pandemic. The big bosses at Maccas probably didn’t break a sweat when they found out their branches can’t operate because they always knew they’d be back. On the other hand, smaller, local restaurants are still trying to figure out how to, or if they can even, bounce back from the wreckage COVID-19 has done to their business.

All that said, perhaps the reason for what seems to be the sequel to panic buying is that people are simply giving into a sign of normality. People want things to go back to normal and since getting McDonald’s used to be such a normal thing to do, they took comfort in it, hoping that normality is just around the corner. Perhaps they don’t take those takeaway photos to brag, but to simply remind their friends that, “Hey! We’ll be out of all of these uncertainties soon enough.”

Big fast food brands have taken nudges here and there because of this pandemic but small local restaurants have taken a much larger blow. Branding is powerful but it’s also built over time, grown through gaining your customers’ trust, and made strong through the constant communication between the business and its audience. McDonald’s just happened to be a brand that listens well to its customers in terms of what products they should sell them. Maccas in different countries tailor their meals to suit what the locals eat while also incorporating their signature dishes such as the Big Mac. But we have to remember that this didn’t happen overnight. Saying they have immunity from the pandemic is not entirely correct since their stock price is down by 1.46% today.

So let’s just say it’s unfair to compare apples with broccolis. They might be in the same industry but they’re playing in different markets. But riddle me this; if your favourite restaurant were to become a big brand and franchise like McDonald’s, (lowered prices, quick service, and all that) would you still want to eat there? Or would you choose McDonald’s? Or are you more inclined to finding a new favourite restaurant when things go back to “normal”?

Who wants to hear from your business?

Social Media has been our go-to pastime for a while now but more so during this pandemic. Hours upon hours of mindless scrolling, sharing our life in quarantine, and interacting with people – even the ones we haven’t spoken to in a while, has been what life has become for the mass majority.

Before the pandemic, people said that social media was turning us into anti-social individuals who only ever interact on-screen but the circumstance we’re all in has changed that. More than ever, social media has become a great tool for keeping tabs with our friends and family and what used to be mindless scrolling, has turned into a more genuine, interactive experience simply because we’re aware that most people have nothing else to do – meaning we’re sure that real people are on the other side of a post.

Since people started to self-isolate, our social interactions become limited to those whom we can reach through a phone call, a text message, social media posts, and other platforms like Zoom. People have started to post more updates on their life in quarantine and engaging with these has become so easy since most of us are doing the same thing. Why is that? Why now?

The answer lies in one word: CONNECTION.

Now more than ever, people crave connection. We’re all stuck in our bubbles, with nothing else to do but stay safe and survive through this – and a huge part of survival is creating connections that keep us accountable for various things like sanity, health, and even productivity at times.

What does this mean for businesses? It means that now is not the time to give ridiculous discounts on offers to build a website for only $300 when it normally costs $3,000. Now is not the time to sell “how-to” guides on how your business can defeat Covid-19. And now is not the time to capitalise on fear because no amount of money in the world can ever get back the lives that are lost because of this virus.

This is a plea for businesses to start interacting with people – not consumers. People who are filled with anxiety about what the future holds or if there will even be a future to see, people who have to self-isolate far from their loved ones because they’re front liners, and people who are taking it one day at a time, craving for a deeper connection in a time where social media platforms are the only place they can “go” to.

Social media platforms are an avenue of advertising, yes. That’s how they remain free for the public. It’s funded by the advertising space businesses buy – but this doesn’t mean that your business is only there to interact with customers, consumers, and an audience. They are, first and foremost, people. People who need to be connected to, people who need interaction, people who need to bond with others, and people who are doing their best to keep it together.

Social media has been the main thing that brings people together these days. And after all of this blows over, social media might even be all we have. People are more likely to interact less physically from now on because of scepticism, fear, and trauma caused by the pandemic, so the best thing that your business can do right now is treat people as people.

You can do this by putting a face on your brand. People need to see someone they can relate with and these days, all you’ll get are clicks on the “Close Ad” button if the ads you have don’t have people in them. We can say this for certain because in a recent Facebook ad that we’ve done, we chose an image with a person in it. Not only is it the only Facebook post from that client’s account that didn’t receive any negative reactions, but it also created a space where people willingly chose to positively engage and interact with the company. By putting a person in the visual, we humanised the brand, making the tone friendlier and more approachable. Moreover, people got to empathise with the person, who’s an essential worker, and we believe that the world is kinder to these used-to-be unseen heroes.

When you become more human when you advertise, you’ll find that more people will start to engage with you because of the need for a sense of connection. Moreover, social media is one of the few platforms where your audience can respond to your ads directly. For example, it can be a space for people to express their gratitude to the hard-working individuals who keep our country going during these unprecedented times. This goes to show that people will, and are willing to, connect to brands when you have a person that serves as a vessel for connection.

You’re allowed to change your brand personality – especially right now. Be human and speak to humans because at the end of the day, behind any and all advertising are humans who think, feel, conceptualise, write, design, and create. This pandemic is presenting a perfect opportunity to motivate, inspire, and connect with others beyond the surface. People will remember how you make them feel – not the products and services you sell them. Perhaps even speak to your team about being the face and voice of your brand under these circumstances. They might even already be doing this on their social media – trying to uplift people in their close circles, bringing hope into people’s lives, and reassuring their loved ones that we can all get through this together. Use the very capable people in your team to speak to fellow human beings and see how the engagement in your ads changes.

Positive with COVID-19

There’s no doubt that everyone’s consumer behaviour has changed since the COVID-19 outbreak. Daily routines have changed – no more school drop offs, lunch outs, or after-work drinks – at least for now. The abrupt change in a person’s daily routine means we’re less exposed to advertising and we’re all suddenly forced to only consume products essential for our survival.

First of all, isn’t it funny how the economy’s plummeted since we all started to only buy the things we need? A bit ironic, isn’t it? Second, self-isolation has caused us to have minimal to no exposure to traditional advertising such as billboards, signages, posters, etc. However, it’s not all paper and print anymore. We are in a digital era where Google and Facebook dominates in advertising, which calls for a question around the survival of the media and the advertising industry.

The pandemic has taken a toll on the media and advertising industry in more ways than one, however, as previously mentioned in an earlier blog, businesses should advertise now more than ever. Seizing opportunities to tell a story might be the best way to survive and recover from the impact the pandemic is causing. But with decreased advertising budgets and media companies shutting down left and right, is the media and advertising industry faced with a death sentence?

The fact is, everything’s changed. It will continue to change after we all realised that the human race is not prepared for a pandemic. Maybe we’ll do better next time, or maybe we’ll do so well that there won’t be a next time – but one thing’s for sure, we are now transitioning to the new normal. Handshakes will soon enough be a thing of the past and I doubt that people will start taking products and services that bring convenience to our lives for granted again. In saying that, it will always be the media and advertising that brings these products and services to people. As a whole, it will not die but survival for this industry means evolving to what the market needs in real time.

When I mentioned that businesses should advertise now, I meant to advertise wisely. Know where your market is, target an audience well, speak their language, don’t just think outside the box – get rid of the box entirely or acknowledge that the box wasn’t there to begin with. Currently, everyone’s online. I just saw the first “selfie” of a grandmother learning to use her smartphone for the first time. Adorable, but more importantly, necessary under the circumstances we’re all faced with.

We rely on media and advertising to release important information and draw our attention to essential products and services we personally need based on information they have on us, which sounds like a privacy issue but just think of it as a friend who looks out for you and says, “I think you’ll like this…” or “I think this is what you need”. These are information we willingly give them when we accept the terms and conditions of use in platforms such as Google and Facebook.

Perhaps the current reality is that media and advertising is losing the battle as to whether or not we are essential. Yes, there are more important things than media and advertising but it doesn’t remove its essentialness to a person. We need media and advertising to survive – it may be in a more subtle way than having a roof over our head or food on the table, but you most likely found your house from an ad listing, and your food preference is derived from how exposed you are to certain brands, cuisines, and cultures – all of which were brought to you through media and advertising.

So the answer is no. This isn’t the end for the media and advertising industry – but we do need to evolve to survive and recover. Moreover, we need the public to understand and be aware of just how important media and advertising really is. Right now, it’s as if our industry’s been positive with COVID-19 – but I am under the impression that we’ll recover.

Do you care enough to advertise?

Should advertising be considered as non-essential?

Advertising and media companies are faced with countless issues and unforeseen circumstances just as much as most non-essential businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To advertise means “to draw attention” and it’s now more than ever that we need our attention drawn to certain things such as current events and how to stay healthy and safe, along with the products and services we need to survive. But survival isn’t what it used to be. Nowadays, it’s more than just having food, shelter, and clothing. The well-being of humanity is on the line – but where exactly do we draw the line?

Staying sane in self-isolation has been posing a challenge to many. On a personal scale, I’ve received more messages and Facetime calls from friends and family now more than ever. And on a more public scale, there are the likes of this “influencer” who had been struggling to find comfort in self-isolation although she’s quarantined in a luxury hotel. I know my friends are craving for a connection but I can’t say the same for that influencer. Could it just be a publicity stunt? We’ve heard it said before, “even bad publicity is good publicity” – but would advertisers want their brands to be endorsed by these influencers after they show their “true colours” through the COVID-19 crisis? I mean, come on – did she actually compare her hotel suite to being in a prison? And saying being in a prison would be better?

One thing’s for sure, the digital era has risen even further. Playing too many video games, which was once considered to be a mental illness (known as “gaming disorder”) by the World Health Organisation, is now considered (by the same organisation) to be a healthy and safe way to cope with self-isolation. Self-made means of entertainment through Apps such as TikTok and Instagram Stories are continuously growing but we’ve seen a decrease in product advertising – mostly because non-essential businesses aren’t operating. I guess it’s hard to share your skincare routine or what juice cleanse you’re on when the companies who sponsor you aren’t open for business?

The digital media is bombarded with COVID-19 updates, politics, what everyone’s been cooking, and bits and pieces of people’s real lives. There’s almost a missed opportunity to advertise. When the pandemic is over, people will remember those who cared enough to speak to them. The ones who reached out and checked how they were going. So wouldn’t it make sense for companies to splurge a little more on digital and social media advertising now so when the time comes – when people go out of their quarantine bubbles – they would head straight to products and services they’ve been exposed to the most?

Advertising is essential for businesses. You need to draw attention to your business’ story. Draw attention to the good things you can share because the world needs it right now. When the Coronavirus crisis is over, advertise and wish people well. It doesn’t have to be about products and services all the time – but what’s proven time and again is relationship is more valuable than revenue. So … does your business care enough to advertise?