Marketing and communication 2020: what COVID-19 has changed

The crisis caused by the new coronavirus has been hitting marketing and communications companies hard since March 2020, and this latest one is even more devastating for companies whose activities were predominantly focused on the events sectors.

But let’s face it, the entire sector has been going through an unprecedented crisis for the past 2 years. And a closer look reveals that this downturn and the ensuing reshuffling of the cards cannot be attributed solely to the COVID effect.

Since 2018 and 2019, large companies and SMEs alike have been at a loss as to what strategy to adopt, and it’s hard not to give in to the siren calls of the all-digital world, with promises from the GAFA giants in their sights, ever more tempting with constantly renewed offers, sometimes at a speed that beggars belief. Google revises and rethinks its algorithms, Facebook regularly changes its management system, Instagram constantly offers new functions and TikTok, the Chinese player everyone distrusted, is coming to dethrone more than one.

And what about communication? In France, major media companies invest several million euros every year in Google, Facebook and Instagram, with the sole aim of converting new subscribers, but what about traditional communication? Whether it’s urban billboards, TV commercials or even personalized mailings, advertisers’ needs and desires are not always the same, and even today, a letter addressed to a well-defined core target can still have an impact, especially when accompanied by a brochure or personalized object, for example.

The coronavirus crisis now invites us to think even more empathetically about the advertiser who is prepared to invest one franc in advertising in order to get two back.

Markets have become more complex, and the recipes that some agencies used to apply no longer work. Instead, it’s a question of taking into account changes in consumer behavior and the predicted decline, to work as quickly as possible on well-defined target segments that are sometimes even resistant to any type of advertising, because everyone is inevitably sensitive to an image style that conveys messages, values or emotions. A 360-degree marketing-communication model needs to be reinvented, that’s for sure. With courage, audacity and a good dose of hindsight. And, more than ever, we passionate advertisers need to roll up our sleeves. Only authenticity and relevant thinking coupled with increased efficiency will survive.

Samuel F. Blunier, Directeur de SABINA Advertising