How do you advertise in a volatile market ? What messages need to be communicated now and which channels are crisis-resistant ? A look beyond the end of your nose.
The experience of the past year has been crisis-ridden in terms of media use, communication and consumer behavior. And yet this year has opened up new opportunities and perspectives for all market players. This will lead to a changed use of media funds. Even though budgets are being shifted to the digital space in many cases, traditional mass media such as TV, radio and print will continue to be very popular, precisely because of their meticulous and investigative news work. This year, therefore, we will be encountering more cross-media advertising campaigns than ever before, in which analog and digital content merge.
The Corona experience has shown that advertisers and agencies need to be able to build up as much advertising pressure as possible in the shortest possible time – for example, to steer individuals from the street to the online store during a shutdown. To build up this advertising pressure, you need classic mass media, a channel with a strong reach, just like radio or television is. The current dogma of advertising is : it must also work in times of crisis and be resistant to cyclical developments. Marketers must therefore be able to activate target groups. In times like these, this can be crucial for companies to secure their existence.
Advertising not only has the task of promoting the sale of products or establishing the strongest possible brand. It is also a vehicle for connecting companies and people. In difficult times like now, it’s not just about sales and profits, but most importantly about assuming social responsibility as a company. This requires sensitivity and the highest degree of empathy, awareness in the words and tone of the message to be communicated.
Even if reach and thus mass media are once again gaining in importance in uncertain times like these, the industry will by no means regress. Quite the opposite : The aim is to value the strength of classic channels and the advantages of digital media in equal measure. While TV, radio and print act as engines, digital channels such as social media determine where and how the message gets across. With this dual strategy, marketers can get their brand talked about in mass media, and activate pointed target groups with specific messages via digital special interest formats such as podcasts.
In this way, the best of both worlds can be combined : the reach and activation power of mass media paired with the diverse and interactive playout channels in the digital environment. If we consistently use and implement these insights, advertising will be successful – both for individuals and companies.