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Budget marketing to a caring post-Covid community

Reduced budgets and the lasting impacts of the pandemic are changing brands’ approach to selling themselves.

Next ss20 womenswear

Next is among the high street retailers cutting marketing spend 

Fashion bosses are cost cutting as never before to try to alleviate the crushing impact of Covid-19 – and one place they are swinging the axe is in marketing.

Marks & Spencer will slash clothing and home marketing by £50m over the next financial year as part of a reduction in non-essential spending, CEO Steve Rowe said in May. Next hopes to save £40m from online and retail marketing, catalogues and photography as part of wider £120m cost savings over the next year.

The playing field between legacy brands and smaller independents is being levelled

Izzy Ashton, deputy editor of insight specialist Bite at marketing agency Creativebrief

Womenswear brand Sosandar cut marketing expenditure by 69% during lockdown and will also “substantially reduce” planned marketing spend in the short-to-medium term, opting to hunker down and focus on repeat orders from existing shoppers, rather than customer acquisition.

These multimillion-pound cost savings across fashion’s marketing departments could spell the end of high production-value campaigns shot in far-flung locations and blockbuster Christmas adverts.

Connecting with customers

Retailers face a conundrum: how to drive much-needed sales on a considerably smaller marketing budget. If that were not enough, the way brands communicate and connect with customers is also changing. Campaigns must be sensitive to how the pandemic has changed the mood of the nation, as well as the impact of social issues such as the Black Lives Matter movement. Misjudged or insensitive marketing activity risks alienating customers – possibly forever.


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Businesses will need to consider how to talk to customers amid the new normal

Justin Brookfield, co-founder of marketing agency Tomorrow TTH

“Marketing now is less about the hard sell, and more about pulling customers into a brand’s community,” argues Izzy Ashton, deputy editor of insight specialist Bite at marketing agency Creativebrief. “Media spend will likely be down for some time. Glossy campaigns no longer feel relevant.

“One of the things we’ve seen during the pandemic is the fall of celebrity culture – consumers no longer want to see someone who looks unattainable in a dress they can’t afford.

“The playing field between legacy brands and smaller independents is being levelled – you don’t need a big marketing budget to build a community on social channels. We’ve seen brands during the pandemic hosting art classes, or yoga, or asking followers to share their ‘working from home’ style.”

Justin Brookfield, co-founder of marketing agency Tomorrow TTH, which has worked with Amazon, Boux Avenue, Choice and Speedo, adds: “Brands have already had to react [to Covid-19] with sensitivity and develop creative campaigns that were empathetic to consumers’ situation in lockdown. That sensitivity will continue.

“Whether they’ve been furloughed or not, most consumers have had more time at home to reflect on their role in the world. They will be more sensitive and reflective going forward: Covid-19 has been the catalyst for that.


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“Brands who think they can go back to the marketing they were doing before without reflecting on what’s happened are naïve. Businesses will need to consider how to talk to customers amid the new normal.”

Greg Holland, PCC strategist at agency Impression, warns brands need to be careful about cutting marketing budgets.

“Companies who maintain marketing spend may see a short-term dip in profitability, but they are growing market share in their competitor’s absence, building long-term loyalty and causing consumers to subconsciously warm to the brand. Those who invest now will thrive when things get closer to normal’ because they’ll have more brand awareness and therefore a larger market share.”

He adds: “Brands have had a ‘we’re all in this together’ approach in their marketing throughout the pandemic and that’s something that will continue. We’ve seen big corporations trying to bring themselves down to consumer’s level and put a human face on the business, which works well for engagement.”

Social responsibility

To build effective relationships with consumers in the current climate, Aston and Brookfield agree that brands need to be taking action on social issues. Businesses who publicly supported the Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the globe on their social platforms but did not practice what they preach have been swiftly – and rightfully – called out.

yael aflalo

External messaging cannot conflict with internal behaviour – founder of womenswear brand Reformation has stepped down after the brand publicly supported the Black Lives Matter movement but was accused of having a racist corporate culture

Womenswear brand Reformation, for example, posted on Instagram about the donations it has made to charities supporting people of colour but was accused of having a racist corporate culture by former employees. Founder Yael Aflalo has since stepped down from her role as chief executive.

The brand has now assembled a diversity, equity and inclusion board and pledged to add a person of colour to its leadership team over the next six months. Reformation has also promised to work with a more diverse range of models and influencers across its marketing.

Brands cannot say one thing and do another and think they won’t be found out

Izzy Ashton, deputy editor of insight specialist Bite at marketing agency Creativebrief

Beauty giant L’Oréal was also criticised for sharing a post on Instagram saying it stood in solidarity with the protests after previously firing model and influencer Munroe Bergdorf when she spoke out against racism in 2017. She is now working with as a consultant on its UK diversity and inclusion advisory board.

“External messaging cannot conflict with internal behaviour,” Ashton argues. “Brands cannot say one thing and do another and think they won’t be found out. Where brands often go wrong is co-opting a movement into their marketing without engaging the communities at the heart of it and examining their own history – just look at what happened with L’Oréal.”

Brookfield agrees: “Consumers will quickly see through brands that try and latch on to the movement. It is not about a throwaway statement or comment but about making a wider commitment to changing and recognising the role brands can play.”

Frugi ss20 kidswear (3)

Frugi has experienced an all-time high in Facebook engagement 

Flexible and adaptable marketing strategies will become more important to brands, as the future remains uncertain. Kidswear label Frugi has found new ways to connect with customers over the past couple of months, which chief executive Hugo Adams says will continue.

“During the pandemic, like most retailers, our wholesale business collapsed almost overnight,” he tells Drapers. “We therefore immediately switched all our focus to our direct online business. We developed targeted promotions to offset some of the wholesale order cancellations and clear through the excess stock.

“We also increased brand activity to drive traffic and new customers to the website for full price sales – for example, investment into digital marketing, social media and a new cohort of influencers. We have  increased our communication with customers via social media, email, downloadable content and various online platforms, which will continue.

Social media will play an even more important role in marketing post-Covid-19 

Emily Salter, retail analyst at GlobalData

“We have also earmarked budget to actively partner with the right influencers who share our band ethos in sustainability and an organic lifestyle. It’s important that we have authenticity with those we partner with.”

He adds that for Frugi, as with many brands, adding a personal, human touch into marketing has been key.

“We found engagement in our Facebook community was at an all-time high, with parents searching for information or sharing pictures of their home-school triumphs and fails along the way. The entire Frugi team shared posts about how they were adapting to working from home.

“We also shared company-wide Zoom photos on social media, such as when we donned our best party outfits to celebrate our double Queens Award for Enterprise win, to wearing PJs for ‘Wear Your PJs To Work Day’, and we even had a virtual company picnic to celebrate Frugi’s 16th birthday.”

Turning off TV

As marketing budgets are reduced, how and where retailers choose to spend their remaining cash will change. Spend on TV advertising – traditionally the biggest media channel – will be down 33% globally across the first half of the year, predicts the World Federation of Advertisers Covid-19 tracker. Out-of-home spend will fall by 49% over the same period.

“Social media will play an even more important role in marketing post-Covid-19, as many retailers are slashing marketing budgets to preserve cash to cope with the crisis – especially those that previously relied on traditional forms of marketing such as television and billboard adverts,” argues Emily Salter, retail analyst at GlobalData.

We’re seeing C-suite leaders forcing marketers to become sharper about the outcomes of campaigns

Amber Venz Box, founder of affiliate marketing system and influencer platform RewardStyle

“Social media is a far cheaper method, especially if brands can leverage user-generated content and rely less on sponsored posts and collaborations. Retailers need to focus on aspects beyond products: elements of their brand identity that resonate with shoppers, the positive actions they have taken during the crisis, and building engagement to foster a sense of community, though this may prove easier for smaller independent brands.”

Influencers are a crucial tool when talking to customers on social channels. Brands are looking for cost effective ways to use influencers but are also hyper-focused on picking the right person, Mae Karwowski, founder and CEO of influencer marketing agency Obviously, tells Drapers.

“We’re seeing brands negotiating the right for videos or photos taken by influencers so they can use them across their own websites. Lots of brands are reducing creative budgets and it can be cost effective to get influencers to create content they can use as well, rather than working with another external creative agency.

“Brands are also focusing on longer-term relationships with influencers. In these uncertain times, brands have to make sure influencers are totally aligned to their values and are good at communicating difficult issues.

In these uncertain times, brands have to make sure influencers are totally aligned to their values

Mae Karwowski, founder and CEO of influencer marketing agency Obviously

“Brands don’t want to be caught by an influencer’s stance on a difficult issue or partner with someone who might spread misinformation. They’re asking a lot more questions about influencers’ opinions and the views they hold.”

Amber Venz Box, founder of affiliate marketing system and influencer platform RewardStyle, adds that senior figures are taking more of an interest in influencer outreach, and marketing activities more generally, to ensure return on investment: “We’re seeing C-suite leaders forcing marketers to become sharper about the outcomes of campaigns.

“CEOs and leaders are focused on what they can do right now to drive sales – they’re the ones talking to investors, either public or private. There’s definitely a bigger focus on a concrete return on investment in influencer marketing. For a lot of businesses during lockdown while stores were closed, influencers were their only sales team.”

Advertising campaigns shot on tropical islands, extravagant influencer trips and tear-jerking festive adverts may be on hold for now, but retailers still need to find ways to connect with customers. The current vogue for more sensitive campaigns that give brands a human face looks set to continue. 

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