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Charles Dickens was famous for this opening line in A Tale of Two Cities – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.

Thinking about marketing these days, it does feel like marketers are enjoying “the best of times,” in that messages can be tailored and targeted to very niche audiences, return on investment can be precisely measured and consumers can be reached on-line and off-line.

Yet, some days it also seems like “the worst of times” in that there is so much fragmentation of audiences across multiple platforms that it makes it difficult to promote a brand’s message and map the consumer journey…

Marketing has always been a challenging profession, but no more so than now. During this unprecedented time, marketers face greater downward pressure on budgets and an increased demand for immediate returns-on-investment. How can marketers balance the concerns of the boardroom with the reality of building and maintaining a strong brand? To answer that question – and a few more – thinktv welcomed a stellar line-up of marketing experts at our third annual Media, Marketing & Effectiveness event.

If you missed it, be sure to check out the videos. In the meantime, here are some highlights…

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a disruptive force like no other, fundamentally changing the world as we know it – and how we interact with it. People are living, thinking and buying differently. Brand marketers must recognize that consumers’ new habits will endure beyond the crisis and permanently reshape their behaviours, values and confidence levels.

Considering the effects of the virus, some people feel anxious and worried – contributing to panic-buying of household staples – while others remain indifferent and even resistant to new health and safety requirements, especially those now mandated by certain cities and shops. Targeting the “consumer in crisis” requires moving from the days of one-size-fits-all marketing to customized and personalized messaging strategies. Brands need to know their customers better than ever before, and how their priorities may shift in the long term.

It’s a challenge to define the core DNA of your brand, let alone do it during a pandemic or extreme social unrest. In the current market environment, a spotlight is shining in dark places, making customers more aware of a company’s values and how it’s interfacing with the world around it. COVID-19 and the fight for civil rights have magnified and amplified the need for businesses to have a purpose beyond just the financial. Now, consumers are making purchase decisions based on your core DNA – what you stand for and how you behave.

Given this, it is necessary to both understand and respond to the evolving marketplace as well as to ensure that your organization has a clearly stated raison d’être to meet the demands of changing customer mindsets. But how?

As the world grapples with the growing COVID-19 pandemic, many marketers have hit the pause button on new campaigns and product launches. However, that doesn’t mean they’ve gone completely dark.

Across sectors, brands are putting their talents and resources into the fight against COVID-19. Brewers and distillers are retooling their manufacturing facilities to make hand sanitizer; global fashion brands are making masks and gowns for healthcare workers; and grocery stores are feeding kids who are out of school—to name just a few.

While lending a hand in this crisis is unequivocally the right thing for brands to do, consumers also increasingly expect companies to make a positive difference in the world. Numerous studies show…

Increasing brand value is a key objective for most marketers. While the exact metrics used can vary, the ultimate objective does not – strengthening the brand to make it more likely that your product or service is selected by shoppers over available alternatives. Do that successfully, ideally including an increase in brand trust and advocacy, and business success will typically come.  

New technologies and platforms are continually evolving that change the way shoppers evaluate brands, and how marketers can influence them – thus impacting brand value. Of these, at BrandSpark we believe online ratings and reviews are among the most important, and often don’t get the attention they deserve.  

The reason they are so important is that they’ve fundamentally altered the brand value calculation – particularly by eroding the functional product and service quality cues that brands used to convey, and in turn taking much of the brand trust calculation out of marketers hands. Both online, and thanks to smartphones at the store shelf as well.