By: Bassem Abdul Ghani, Marketing Director Chocolate & Biscuits, Middle East North Africa and Pakistan MENAP, Mondelez International

Ever tried a bungee jump, the anticipation you get for those few seconds before you’re pushed, the adrenaline that travels into your blood, the sweat, the heartbeat, what will happen, will I die, will I have a heart attack, will I crash, or will I simply enjoy and experience a life changing few seconds.

Bassem Abdul Ghani, Marketing Director Chocolate & Biscuits, Middle East North Africa and Pakistan MENAP, Mondelez International

This is what COVID has done to the marketing industry, it has taken us by storm, we have been pushed off the bungee bridge and falling.  No brand has yet gotten to a formula of success and we are all still learning through testing new tactics and abiding to the “new” norm.  Our consumers have realized that there are other ways to live during lockdowns.  Marketers discovered new ways to reach consumers and market their products/services … 

Majority of consumers have socially distanced themselves and are craving contact as a side effect.  Where do they satiate their new need?  Well, the Internet of course…

Consumers have adopted new ways to enjoy and navigate their lives.  But let’s see what the numbers says and what trends have affected the industry, never to look back again… The one area that shifted the most was DIGITAL…

We have witnessed massive online spikes in various industries like delivery services, entertainment, ecommerce, cooking, home training, e-meetings, etc.  According to Spark Foundry, workout content increased 25%, while cooking content staggered 50% and chilling content jumped 30%.  Advertisers have increased their shy pre-Covid 8-10% digital spend to approximately 40-60% spend post-Covid, and in some case took a 100% leap of faith into digital based spend on some of their brands.

We have seen major shifts in media consumption across industries and as marketers, need to re-prioritize our focus to reach our consumers

  • Creating creative dynamic content that adapts to real life moments

Our products and services are the same, but how consumers engage with them has changed and so should our creative.  Instead of broadcasting the same message to every one like in the old days, marketers are finding ways to scale up personalized content to specific affinity groups.  Content needs to fit new arising platforms and thus marketers are finding new ways to enhance content creation and ways to evaluate success. Digital Content Optimization (DCO) helps content developers use different assets that fit consumer profiling based on true human insights. Take Spirable for example, they use data to create different video assets for capturing the attention of specific targets across different channels. 

  • Embrace digital transformation by maximizing ROI & creating an Ecommerce-based ecosystem

Digital platforms ala Facebook and Google are offering new tools like ABCD, CAT, Brand lift studies and RGB audience segmentation to help create the best fit assets to maximize ROIS.  The importance of identifying the right KPIs for your digital investments is critical.  Marketers are looking at new set of tracking campaign indicators, ranging from Click through rates, engagement rates, video through rates, cost per impressions and more… Branding is the high purpose destination, but in the new norm linking branding and activation to an ecommerce rollout is vital.  Shopify is an example of how new arising platforms are helping sellers aggregate and simplify to consumers the journey of getting best prices at a click of a second…

  • Transform brand storytelling to relevant and meaningful digital narratives

As humans, we will never stop listening and telling stories.  Marketers now more than ever need to shift gears to engage consumers to their brand story.  Unlike the old days, when consumers had limited screen options, marketers relied on TV to tell their story in 30-60 second beautifully shot advertising.  Well knock, knock, that is not how things are evolving.  Our GenZ and GenY are searching for meaning and purpose vs a polished vanilla style story to listen to…. They want to relate and be proud; they want to connect to strong brands…  We need to re-think our brand purpose and drive an omnichannel media strategy that connects to consumers and inspires them to our brand world.  We need to think of real and genuine tension points that allows the brand to stand up for a relatable goal in life, not just entertaining consumers.  Yes, times have changed post Covid, consumers and the industry has been pushed into new digitalized horizons and all are in their learning curves navigating.  But humans will still resonate to a good story told in a meaningful narrative, at the right moment on the best fit channel… 

So, marketers, keep learning and keep evolving for the journey has just begun…