Sharmila Kayal, Author at Adamas University

#BrandCommPlus: Positive Brand Communication In The Present Scenario Of Covid-19

During this recent pandemic most organizations is dealing with an economic slowdown or trying to overcome the financial crisis happened during the shutdown. In regard to this, marketing strategy is need of the hour. A lot of creativity is also required for obligatory economic boost which should ensure the effective brand communication strategy that endures to the target audiences or consumers. This is probably the most testing time for most brands to connect with their audience. To cheer up the economic scenario, most brands have adapted the convergent media with effective communication which not only entails the business but to highlight the positive side of it. For this the strategy of brand communication has changed its phenomenon of ‘appeal’. The rational and emotional appeal has been blended together for effective communication.

Although COVID 19 has disrupted the way the world’s normalcy it has shown the power of communication especially in digital platform. One cannot go out but one can have all kind of services by sitting at home. The product list is endless and needless to mention here.

So the question comes how the different brands are building a connection with potential new customers and simultaneously maintaining its existing consumers.

Recent brands have adapted the following techniques:

By adapting sales model
Hash tag skills- engage in relevant hash tags
Supporting who are at major risk or are vulnerable
Digital communication to make your audience stick to
Entertainment quotient
Inform
Engagement
Compliments
Free trials
Communication Transparency
Coupons
Offers
Awareness

Attributes require for positive construction of messages-

Social Platform-

During this period, social media is the dominant channel of communication which is the main factor for people to engage in various things. They able to create distancing, their online activity has not only increased but has probably become the primary means of communication with others. With easy internet access especially Facebook, a number of different OTT platforms, and an estimated 380 million user in India are using social media. To increase the brand visibility through organic means and with each platform having a different style of content and catering to a different type of consumer, creativity will be required in creating content specific to the target platform.

Remote Customer Service-

Reaching to the potential customers with broader service facility should be adopted. The customer service at home is the new normal and need of the hour. Now a day various brands highlighting the aspect of home bound service with proper pre caution which eventually builds the trust among the audiences.

Redefine the as usual marketing approach-

The period of reassess the communication strategy is highly essential. The older method of connecting with the people through conventional marketing approach should be revamped and redesign the 360 degree convergent media techniques should be adopted to be at par with the digital communication integrated marketing phenomenon.

Empathetic approach-

In this uncertain time, the people are struggling with their own problem. In this time the best way to connect with the audience is to have empathetic approach. The brand could well connect with the people if the consumers feel that it cares for them. It could have rational approach by disseminating proper information which should be free of weasel claims or exaggerated content.

Deciphering Educational Content-

Now the brands are generally educating and informing the public. So by adapting new innovative approach with animation, humour it has become more focussing on educating the public.

Recent Example:

Brands	Newer Approach	Appeal
Lifebuoy	Spread Good Habits and Stay Protected	Rational
Dettol	Adapted Hash Tag (#covid19 wash your hand campaign)	Rational
Bajaj Anti Germ Fan	A fan which cleans germs!	Weasel Claim
Wipro	Hygienic Hand Sanitizer claims ‘our commitment to fight Covid-19’	Rational
‘Multani Kuka’- cough syrup	Get your immunity boosted with stay home stay safe campaign	Weasel Claim
Revital- Energy Tablet	Immunity booster that fights for Corona virus	Personal
Lizol- Disinfectent	Fights for viruses and makes healthy	Empathy
Dairy Milk from Cadbury	Empathy for ones service	Emotional
Zomato- home delivery	With all safety measures… that they work for you to be at home	Empathy
Urban Company	Safe Salon at home service	Personal

For any business in these times each and every action it will take could be have excellent or negative impact to the brand. However, by using empathy to dexterity an edifying social media campaign, it could reach its targeted audience eventually. The focus should not adapt the factual content rather it should entice the real pragmatic approach to deal with the audiences or consumers. There is an opportunity for reviving the image of the brand and to show that it genuinely cares about its potential consumers.

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO EXPERIENCE AND DESIGN OF BRANDING

While across the advertisements (in convergent medium) the magnitude of brand, the creation of pertinent, appealing, distinguish experiences, and gearing design: by identify needs and deliver them in the context of what the Ad agency can create. It’s holistic approach to have retention power in the minds of the public, in the sense of combining insight, strategy, design and technology.”

What is a brand?

A brand is the means in which a company, organization, or person is perceived by those who experience it. Merely a name, term, design, or symbol, a brand is the decipherable feeling a product or business bring to minds.

So what is all about?

For example, the broad experience design can be is of the hospital whose new website’s online services were designed to replace many branch services, and so what branches were for – and therefore their design and branding – had to change to reflect trade services replacing its allies.

The example which can be taken into consideration is the design of the ‘Apple’. The company’s brand and approach to customer experiences defines what products it develops and it makes us thinking why the logo has been given for this.

What is UX design mean?

It is software for designing or mixing the brand. It stands for User experience (UX) design and it use to make products that offer consequential and relevant experiences to users.

Customer’s satisfaction-

The important key reason, then, for taking an experience design approach is the increased interconnectedness of everything. Today the world of Omni channel and for convergent because “consumers don’t see variation between channels — mediums of interaction — and so jump from one to the other and expect the same seamless experience everywhere“. The unique branding allows individuals to think where, when and how an ad can interact with its target customers.”

Elements of Brand:

• As discernments, brands encompass a multitude of different elements.

• It helps to pursue further in the purview of the next concept to be explored in branding.

• The essential elements of a brand include the brand compass, company culture, name and tagline, identity, voice and messaging, website, and brand architecture.

Embracing the changes:

The ‘holistic’ nature of experience design, it can be performed on a brand by a creative agency, or must it be part of a company change for this one need to have access to part of the pie, so for a student the understanding of these must be done through in their education and Adamas University providing its agnostic platform for multimodal learning of Integrated Marketing Communication.

Ingredients in Branding:

The brand compasses the summary of the most essential truths about the brand.
It’s the outcome of the work done in the brand strategy phase, including research and positioning.
A brand compass shows the direction of brand is headed and why.
It is made up of five parts:
Purpose,
Vision,
Mission,
Values, and
Strategic Objectives.

Experience the future:

The on-growing complexity of in action in the Omni-channel world where the customer relationship is always foremost, makes understanding of the need of improvement the existing customer experience a challenge for all especially in Indian advertising scenario.

The voyage a customer has with his industry typically crosses multiple functions and managers and often experience with inefficient communication and too many competitions make the mistake of assuming that superficial design efforts can fix the problems.

It’s based on a simple design that everything should be based on the following assumptions:

An engaged consumer is worth more than a loyal consumer
Engagement comes from the expectation mapping, which means being relevant, and shall provide the value
It’s more expensive to allure the new one but wise is to intact with the existing ones.

Experience design doesn’t replace the core idea of innovation. It harmonizes the efforts. Innovation should augment and widen the current portfolio and brand. Innovation for existing products, services, and customer experiences is quite meaningless.

Branding is important because it makes a impressive impression on consumers but it also consent to the customers to know what to expect from the company they rely with or they have some interest.

There are many niche areas that are used to develop a brand including advertising, customer service, promotional merchandise, reputation, and logo.

So prospects of job are also more lucrative if one successfully understand the aspects of brand;

Designing of Brand
Learning required software’s
Brand positioning
Brand architecture
Brand value
Brand equity
Ethics/copyright
Convergent media approach
Last but not the least creativity

The above mentioned point enables the students to deal with to come up the idea of the creation of brand, the idea behind it, to connect with the real world in contemporary times. And yes, should have an impact on consumers mind for a longer period of time.

The department of Communication Management of School of Media, Communication & Fashion will guide you more about the concept of … BRANDING….

THE CHANGING NARRATIVES OF INDIAN ADVERTISEMENTS

Advertisements are such a way that it is able to hold the attention of the audiences on both ways; positive and negative. The advertisements are very powerful medium which is prevalent to us everywhere. The presence of advertisings are vary from electronic media to popular media, from print to digital, from personal to transit media.

The main of advertisements is to have some impact or effect on its audiences/readers/consumers. For simple understanding of advertising strategy for sales promotion, following AIDA model helps for having some perceptive:

Indian Advertisements:

Indian ads are very much lucid which equipped newer technology and embedded with contemporary scenario. The ongoing Covid-19 phase the narratives of advertisements has been changed and we will look how they skilfully incorporated the emotional appeal to reach out the intended sections of the society. It has also an art and good strategy to covenant with and now let’s see how these ads are dealing with the informative and emotional appeal in this pandemic situation and how they are trying to stand out with their USP’s (Unique Selling Proposition).

Let’s see the following analysis of the strategy and the narratives used for different products, goods and services which meant and redesigned for this Covid-19. The analysis has made in respect to the four variables: promotion strategy of pre-Covid period, promotion in Covid-19 period, USP’s and the types of appeal they have adopted:

Have a look!

The above mentioned analysis has given us the clear understanding of the changing narrative analysis strategy which can be put under the following criterions;

Brand Promotion & Communication in order to contemporary terms;
The product and service main motto in aspect of crisis;
An appeal in Newer Way;
Impression Management during Covid period- Another strategy;
Lucrative Web Advertisements;
Case Studies of past incidents;

This is an innovative approach used to attract the attention of audience (probable customers/consumers) to influence their feeling towards the specified product or service. The changing narratives of advertising in India seems to be both sympathetic and empathetic which not only trying to boost up their sales but also trying to disseminate the effective information very timely which is need of the hour. The innovative and creative marketing strategy gives us the message that in this situation ‘we are not alone’. These ads in both ways surely have some impact and the audience shall remember this for a longer period of time that how the Indian advertisements imparted necessary information or created awareness in the phase of global pandemic of Covid-19.

FACEBOOK- THE TALENT PODIUM DURING LOCK DOWN

The covid-19 made people home bound. Government has declared lockdown from March 24^th 2020 and it may be over from May 3^rd 2020 hopefully or can be extended if the situation won’t come under control. When the phase of ‘stays home stay safe’ was promoted and appealed to the people by the government, everyone was wandering how they can survive!

It is as simple as when it is best way to understand is ‘jo dar gaya, samjho bach gaya’ (a person who panics, stays alive). Here panic signifies with stay alert and should take effective measures not to go out and assimilate. The Heroism does not stand with the famous dialogue by the character Gabbar Singh in the illustrious Hindi potboiler ‘Sholay’ to disinject courage in all fields of competition to these days.
But, sorry Gabbar, you are wrong in today’s framework.

We can say ‘together we win’. No, not ‘together’ anymore. These days it is ‘alone I win’ or you will have desecrated social distancing, the only effective measure against the spread of the virus so far.

But again in the presence of Facebook why should one think about ‘alone’ or lonely????
Lockdown means ‘a situation in which people are being restricted not to roam in a social gathering nor they can roam freely in public because of the emergency pandemic situation on being affected. This situation has a seemingly inconsequential decision that can have a huge impact on someone’s life.

Then the proverb seems to be true ‘Necessity is the Mother of Invention’……

The above proverb is very much relatable in this present lockdown period. One can ask how?

Facebook proved to be the best platform to showcase your talent. In a recent study says that the usage of the all age group (18 to 60) has been increased to 85% than in January 2020. Facebook has been proved as the biggest network society where all human beings round the world connected through smart phone.

Personal Communication- It is like nano content or consumption of the messages. One need not have to contribute, create or share; rather they can only consume the ongoing trends of Facebook by giving many reactions to it. This is safest though!

Interpersonal Communication- One can chat or send messages to friend(s). It’s a two way process includes sharing, creating and contributing the liked things on Facebook.

Group Communication- Facebook gives the user to have separate groups of alike behaviours or same interest of people. It includes numerous categories to food, comic, horror, satire, memes and so on……

Mass Mediated Communication- Facebook has turned into global village where any person can contact with another with similar interest or have any particular perspectives.

Facebook as a new age of communication

The Talent is getting Explored ………

Recent lockdown in India is witnessing the various talents of individuals which are getting showcased through the platform of Facebook and it is eventually proved to be the stress buster and method of satisfaction. The following are the glimpse of these explored of talents.

Culinary Art
Music
Dance
Art
Photography
Memes
Jokes
Kitchen Gardening
Love for Pet
Elderly care
Time and amusement with kids
Self care
Craft
Reading habits
Consuming Movies
Gym at home
Exercise
Yoga
Planting
Etc, etc, and the list goes on………..

New Mode of Storytelling

Before Lockdown phase, people are likely hesitant to post their creations (yes the above mentioned activity is a tremendous way of the story telling method). But in amidst of these home bound state where you have to stay back and nothing to do…. generally the ideas, unique way of doing something and that to make people aware of it through effective narration is nothing but the newer mode of storytelling perhaps.

Lastly……

Here again we take up the proverb of ‘‘Necessity is the Mother of Invention’- why it is relevant in the context of Talent showcasing through Facebook? It is because when the necessity of the contemporary times to be at home, one needs to find out the way out to be happy and healthy (both physically and mentally).
The first phase of the lockdown sees people suffering and battling with their own self articulating how can one be at home not going out? Not assimilating with my distant friends or so. But eventually the virtual assimilation paves the way for not feeling isolated rather it’s a good time for showing others or showcase the talent of yours.

So let everyone showcase their talents more through Facebook and everyone should stays home…. stay safe is the mantra and remember ‘jo dar gaya, samjho bach gaya’ (a person who panics, stays alive).