As companies around the world make coronavirus preparations, they are making decisions that affect their business, their employees and their marketing strategy. Decisions that may change as the situation evolves. Jan-Eric Anderson, chief strategy officer at Callahan, offers some perspective and explains why you should not wait to take action within your company.
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Welcome to Callahan’s Uncovering Aha! podcast. We talk about a range of topics for marketing decision-makers, with a special focus on how to uncover insights in data to drive brand strategy and inspire creativity. Featuring Jan-Eric Anderson.
Jan-Eric:
Hi, this is Jan-Eric Anderson. I’m the Chief Strategy Officer at Callahan. And I wanted to share some perspective on these unprecedented times that we’re living in, and it’s very unique circumstances with the Coronavirus, COVID-19 and the unique challenges that this is creating for companies, not just from a marketing standpoint certainly, but for companies abroad.
Zack:
Good.
Jan-Eric:
It’s certainly unprecedented times, and in unprecedented times we’re lacking a playbook of what to do. We’re kind of figuring out, “Man, we should probably do something, but I don’t know exactly what it is we should do.” So I wanted to offer some observations of what I’ve seen, and maybe provide some guidance or perspective on what’s the right thing to do. I think that the first thing is to just embrace the fact that there isn’t a playbook and this is a very fluid situation. The health threat that this poses, despite any personal feelings you have about your own personal risk status or is this really that big of a deal, there’s a lot of discussion around that. I think that we’re past the point of debating whether or not it’s real and worth worrying about. And I think that we need to deal with this and be aware of the fact, not in a way of panicking but at least acknowledging that this is a real threat that’s here, and we’ve got to deal with it. But the situation is very fluid and things are changing daily.
Jan-Eric:
As of the time that I am recording this podcast, the NBA has just suspended games until further notice. The NCAA has announced that they’re not going to allow fans, a very limited number of people to attend the basketball games of the upcoming tournament. And who knows if that tournament will actually end up happening. Things are changing so quickly that what we know in two days could paint a very different picture than down the road. Then what we know today rather. So it’s a very fluid situation and things are changing daily, but that cannot prevent brands and companies from taking action.
Jan-Eric:
We’ve seen a number of companies, I have received countless emails, notes from the CEO of a company announcing what steps and actions their brand is taking in light of the coronavirus situation that we all face as a society, from airlines to restaurants to rental cars to major retailers, everybody is taking some form of action that they deem appropriate within their world of service or what they provide in order to create a safer environment for their customers and their employees. And again, the actions that they’re taking today are reflective of what we know about the situation today. They’re not being paralyzed by the fact that things are fluid and changing day-to-day. They’re taking action today and recognizing that they may change that action later, the more that we learn and as the situation evolves.
Jan-Eric:
But as we try to mitigate the risk of spreading the disease, every business has its own way of contributing to either the spread of the disease or mitigating the risk of the spread of the disease of the virus rather. It’s imperative that you take action now and recognize the fact that you may need to change it later, but don’t wait for fear that you might need to change later. And what I’ve really admired about the brands that have taken action so far is that the brands that are doing it right have a clear statement of putting community before commerce and recognizing that this isn’t a marketing opportunity to come in and do something that will make us more money. The time now is to stand up and do the right thing by way of society and put the needs of the community first, regardless of how you define community.
Jan-Eric:
Community could be defined as your customers. Community could be defined as your employees. Community could be defined as the city or town or neighborhood in which you operate. But putting the needs of the community first beyond commerce is critically important in these particular times. So many of the brands are actually taking action items, taking steps that are actually creating additional costs for the company with little opportunity to drive more bottom line, but it’s the right thing to do because really we’re all in this together and as businesses it’s their responsibility to play their part regardless of how inconvenient it may be for the bottom line and the performance of the company.
Jan-Eric:
So we’re certainly in unprecedented times and absent of a playbook, as we sit and observe what some of these other brands are doing. Again, the key things here are recognition and just accepting the fact that it’s a very fluid situation and changing daily, stay in tune with what the World Health organization is saying, what the CDC is saying and recognizing what are key drivers or situation of how the virus is spreading or not spreading or what’s happening and what we can be doing to mitigate risk. Understanding that and keeping on top of those changes daily. Don’t wait to take action within your company. Leaders in companies need to be proactively making decisions about what’s the best thing that we can do within our service model in light of what we’re hearing from the World Health Organization and the CDC.
Jan-Eric:
And then keep in mind that you need to be focused on helping the community and addressing the problem at large, not trying to drive business at the bottom line. Hopefully some of this perspective can help navigate some of these unprecedented times. These are crazy times that we’re living in for a number of reasons, but I think that we will pull through just fine. So hopefully this perspective is valuable.
You’ve been listening to the Uncovering Aha! podcast. Callahan provides data savvy strategy and inspired creativity for national consumer brands. Visit us at callahan.agency to learn more.