Using Branded Video as a Force for Good

Stuart STubbs

FOUNDER | NAVIGATE VIDEO

Navigate Video - COVID-19 - Coronavirus - Branded Video As A Force For Good

First published on LinkedIn.

There’s more to life than marketing right now, and rightly so. In light of all that is going on, the current consensus is that brands should forget about selling and concentrate on helping not just their customers, but their staff and the wider community as well. At a time of huge anxiety and human endeavour, it’s heartening to see brands move to ease worries that people are having and/or muck in with wider efforts to help people get through this crisis.

Great examples of brands doing good include: Tesco et al opening stores early for older people and NHS workers; Home Bargains donating millions to a staff fund to support people unable to work; Heinz offering free breakfasts to kids affected by the closure of school breakfast club programmes as well as Joe Wicks recently donating £80,000 to the NHS from the ad revenue he has amassed from his PE lessons on YouTube.

In all of this, there are some great examples of customer communications too.

I sat through a brilliant webinar from Kantar recently, which advocated brands using customer communications during the ‘anxiety’ phase of this crisis to:

  • Provide information, advice and ideas

  • Support mental wellbeing with moments of calmness and joy

  • Help customers stay active by helping them learn new skills, make and create things

  • Help people to continue to pursue their passions

Along these lines, here are a few brands who really caught my eye these past couple of weeks by using video to tick these boxes:

LEON

Leon producing live ‘cook-alongs’ that were initially streamed live on Instagram (all that pasta being put to good use).

REEBOK

Reebok’s guide to staying fit whilst working from home.

M&S

M&S’s ‘Can I Freeze It’ videos to help people make their food go further.

There’s no selling during any of these videos, but the brands above will undoubtedly receive plenty of positive sentiment from viewers. If there's a lesson for us to take away from these efforts, it's this: get it right during this difficult time, as they have, and people will remember your brand when all of this is over.

If you are interested in hearing our thoughts and take on how we think video will support brand communications now, during and after this crisis, as well as our ideas on how you can use video to support your customers, your community and your employees, then we'd be happy to offer a free 1-2-1 session with me over the phone or video call. Please drop me a line at stuart@navigatevideo.com and we can sort out a date.