TRACEY BENDINGER | Culture | Contact
“Quickly” shouts the managing director of an unnamed soft drink company.
“We need to completely change every single one of our communications so that customers think they need us to get through this crisis!”
“It doesn’t matter if every other brand is doing it, we need to show that we are there for our customers the mostest”
“People need to know that, as a soft drink company, we understand what they’re going through, and with our help they can get through it!”
This is the scene currently evolving at the headquarters of Betoota’s biggest soft drink company, which we are leaving nameless for legal reasons.
It is a scene that is all too familiar in boardrooms right across the world, with almost every single brand looking for ways to manipulate consumers into thinking they need their products in a time where they most definitely don’t.
The Advocate’s own chief strategy office says she can’t believe brands’ kneejerk reaction to the crisis, saying that everyone is drinking from the same short-sighted cup and that completely changing their brand’s communications calendar is definitely not what a cool, calm and collected team should be doing.
“Of course brands need to be sensitive to the current climate, but I’ve heard of brands who are pulling campaigns that aren’t due to run until 2021 – I mean, that is just unnecessary and dare I say, fearmongering.”
“But should consumers need a brand to be by their side during this crisis, literally every brand currently claims to be ready.”
More to come.
