By Cyberclick Team, on 2 April 2020
It’s an understatement to say that we are currently living in very strange times. Due to the coronavirus, priorities and plans have completely shifted for the next few months. And this effect is also being felt in the marketing world.
During these difficult times, many brands have rolled up their sleeves to help flatten the curve, raise awareness, or simply make quarantine a little more bearable. We’ve seen a lot of great examples of how brands have adapted their marketing or operations during this global crisis.
In the article, we’ll take a look at our 18 favorite examples of crisis marketing from brands we admire.
Crisis Marketing Examples: 20 Examples of Campaigns During Coronavirus
At the start of this pandemic, many brands were left scratching their heads trying to understand what the right steps forward would be. While there still is no solid answer for all brands, we have begun to see wonderful examples of solidarity in this time of crisis. Many of these campaigns intend to amuse, entertain, raise awareness, and provide solidarity during this time.
If you’re a business trying to figure out what you can do during these times then these actions can serve as great examples. Or, if you’re marketing lovers like us, sit back and enjoy the ingenuity and solidarity of these great campaigns!
1. From TimeOut to TimeIn
Time Out magazine, a guide to the best food, drinks, and cultural events in Barcelona, has temporarily changed its name to Time In. Additionally, instead of talking about cultural events, it is offering content such as the best apps to play online with friends, new supermarket schedules, or movie recommendations.
2. Zara
Zara’s parent company, Inditex, has dedicated its efforts into creating masks and hospital gowns for first responders in Spain. The Spanish based fashion company has halted their production of other goods in order to focus on the fight within Spain.
3.Food Delivery Companies Delivering Food to Hospitals
Six Barcelona based restaurants (Pizza Market, Sushifresh, Timesburg, González&Co, L'Avocaterie, and Niji) have agreed to deliver meals to local hospitals. The initiative is called "Delivery for Heroes" and is driven to help healthcare professionals, who these days face great pressure and workload.
4. Netflix and YouTube
Netflix and YouTube have slightly reduced the quality of their videos for 30 days in order to ensure that all users can continue to enjoy their services to enjoy their time leisure, distract themselves, and decompress. This move was done in order to offset the increased numbers the services would encounter during global quarantine periods.
5. Starbucks is Expands Their Mental Health Benefits for Employees
Starbucks is offering its employees a mental health care package that includes 20 free in-person or digital sessions for the year. This package also includes the employee’s eligible family members. At a time when sales are sure to be impacted by the pandemic, Starbucks is showing that investing in your own employees is more important than ever.
6. BCN3D Technologies and Other Companies Launch To Manufacture 3D Respirators
Brands such as BCN3D Technologies, specialized in the manufacture of 3D printers, have offered the Spanish Government all their equipment to print parts to create artificial respirators in order to help affected patients. Since the healthcare system now needs these life-saving equipment more than ever, this is a huge opportunity.
7. Adobe Giving Free Access to Students
Since most schools are now remote for the rest of the school year, Adobe is now offering students and teachers free, in-home access to Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes the full suite of Adobe products. They are also offering free access to their portfolio website and PDF viewer until the end of May 2020.
8. Reebok Offers Workout Advice
As more and more people are staying home, some are starting to find new innovative ways to stay healthy and in shape without going to gym. Reebok understands this new challenge, so they offered personalized workouts to their Twitter followers who asked for advice. This is a great way for a brand to stay involved with their audience.
Stay healthy while working from home! Tell us what at-home equipment you have and we’ll customize a workout you can do from the comfort of your living room.💪
— Reebok (@Reebok) March 13, 2020
Warm-up
— Reebok (@Reebok) March 30, 2020
Walk at a brisk pace for 2:00
10 ground to overhead (reach to your toes and hold, reach to the sky and hold)
10 trunk rotations
10 knee pulls (pull knee to chest)
10 standing quad pulls (pull heel to butt)
9. Uber is Providing Sick Leave for Drivers
In an effort to support the drivers who keep their app running, Uber has decided to offer 14 days of sick leave to drivers or delivery workers who are sick or are required t be isolated. This is an especially big move considering Uber drivers are considered independent contractors, and thus often do not qualify for benefits.
10. UberEats Helping Restaurants and Healthcare Providers
Uber’s other branch, UberEats, is also providing solidarity to restaurants and healthcare workers. They are waving the delivery feed for independent restaurants so that the restaurants are able to keep a bit more of their profits.
They are also providing free meals to healthcare workers so that they don’t have to worry about their next meal on top of everything else they are dealing with.
11. The New York Times is Unlocking Their Paywall
In order to provide the public with accurate, reliable, and important information about the virus, the New York Times has decided to offer all of its Covid19 coverage for free. Typically, you must have a paid subscription to the New York Times in order to see their articles.
12. Free Ivy League Courses
All 8 of the American Ivy Leagues (Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania) are currently offering free online courses to the general public. With many people unable to work currently, this is a great way to pass time while still being productive. There are over 450 class options available.
13. Airbnb Offering Healthcare Workers Free Stays
Airbnb is working with over 100,000 hosts to offer healthcare workers a free place to stay during the pandemic. Since many workers are unable to go home without risking exposing their own families to the virus, this solution will be a huge help to the workers who are doing so much. This effort from Airbnb is a worldwide initiative.
14. Anheuser-Busch Halts Production to Make Hand Sanitizer
Anheuser-Busch, the producers of many major popular American beers, has stopped some of their production in order to produce hand sanitizer that the Red Cross will then distribute. Along with donating over $5 million dollars to the Red Cross, this production will help alleviate the crisis of low supplies in the United States.
We have a long history of supporting our communities and employees - this time is no different. That’s why we are using our supply and logistics network to begin producing and distributing bottles of hand sanitizer to accommodate the growing needs across the United States. pic.twitter.com/nqImcE5WJP
— Anheuser-Busch (@AnheuserBusch) March 22, 2020
15. Microsoft Teams is offering 6 months of service for free
Microsoft is offering its communication and collaboration platform, Microsoft Teams, for free to all companies and organizations that don't already have it. In principle, the offer lasts for 6 months and is aimed at making the transition to telework as easy as possible.
16. Facebook wants to provide reliable information about coronavirus
Facebook has included an information center on coronavirus to disseminate reliable news, information and recommendations around coronavirus and combat the spread of hoaxes and fake news.
17. Italy Against Coronavirus: Give A Tough Campaign To Raise Awareness
The Italian government has launched a tough crisis marketing campaign to raise public awareness of the need to stay at home. The posters show patients intubated in hospital beds with questions like "How was the appetizer?" or "Did you like Milan?"
18. Social Distancing Logos: Audi, McDonald’s, and Coca-Cola
Some of the world's leading brands, such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Audi, have changed their logo to raise awareness of the importance of social distancing.
Audi hoops, McDonald's golden arches, and Coca-Cola letters are now separated from each other. The message: Staying apart is the best way to be united.
