Marketing in the time of adversity
The implications of the times we are in will be clear as more time goes by. For now, there are pressing, immediate concerns, especially around marketing. How can businesses, under pressure to arrest the free fall of revenues, get marketing right? Should marketers invest in innovation or conserve budgets? How can brands stay meaningful to audiences so that they emerge stronger after the pandemic?
Disney+ Hotstar has put together ‘Marketing in Times of Adversity’ – a guide for agency partners and marketers – on staying relevant to consumers in these challenging times.
Brands have never had such a captive audience before. Consumers are spending more time online wanting more entertainment options. What better opportunity can there be for brands’ campaigns and socially relevant messages?
The guide looks at the prospect through three lenses:
Platform and industry trends
As people consume content voraciously, VOD is emerging the winner. The average consumption is four hours a day on smartphones. Meanwhile, with people at home round the clock, there no longer seems to be prime time. As a result, consumption on Disney+ Hotstar has risen by 20% in the afternoons.
Disney+ Hotstar also seems to be the preferred choice, hosting 12 of the top 15 shows and eight out of the top 10 movies watched on OTT platforms. It is also the most searched OTT platform with 2.6x more searches than the next player, with time spent on it surging since March.
Among genres, mythology leads with a 75% rise. There’s greater interest in the news, too, with watch times and reach rising eight-fold and four-fold, respectively.
The lockdown may well be the inflection point for digital access to content; viewership on connected TVs has skyrocketed 85% since March.
All of this translates to a highly involved audience. 20%-25% of viewers are engaging with the platform’s social feed, which is 1.6x of live sports. Daily engagement for entertainment has risen by 18% to 47 minutes a day.
Learnings and guidelines
The engagement levels show that consumers are open to marketing communication and appreciate brands that understand these times. So, brands that are active now are seeing a direct correlation between marketing efforts and social chatter as well as search results.
These are the enlightened brands – they know that this is no time to step back from marketing efforts. It’s a time for brands to recalibrate strategies, modify messaging and make bold, relevant choices. This will define their relationship with audiences over the long term.
While being careful not to come across as opportunists, brands can focus messaging on compassion and positivity. Social relevance throughawareness, nostalgia through older ads that are relevant now. All-in-all, building association by going topical is working.awareness, nostalgia through older ads that are relevant now. All-in-all, building association by going topical is working.
Inspiration
With immunity being a hot topic, Red Label reintroduced an old ad that highlighted the immunity-building properties of its Natural Care range of teas – in line with the finding that nostalgia and context matter. Tide highlighted its social conscience by labelling health workers ‘angels in white’, striking a chord with consumers.
While this is a grim time, the study shows that smart brands will view this as an opportunity. With captive, interested and engaged audiences, perhaps this chance to make lasting connections is unique too. Seize it.
