Nightmare or opportunity — Corona turns the business world upside down. Every company that still tried to dodge the digital transformation is now being forced to act. „Adapt, or die!“, as Darwin put it. About time for brands to radically reorganize their marketing approaches.
Sure, many companies reacted unusually fast in recent weeks. Established remote work, re-cut tv spots, shifted media budgets, started cost-saving programs till the crisis is over, etc.
So, all good, isn’t it?
Unfortunately: No, not at all. All those measures make sense in the short run, no doubt. However, their primary aim is to return to the old status quo as quickly as possible. Maybe with a few sales losses and profit warnings, but then basically carry on as before.
This scenario is possible, but for many companies as likely as the Avengers’ chance to defeat Thanos in Endgame (spoiler: 1:14 million).
Far more realistic are scenarios for other futures — in which NOTHING will be the same as before.
via GIPHY
This does not even require a global recession. Some markets like tourism are already collapsing completely. Competitive landscapes such as in aviation or the fashion industry are being cleaned up. Even after the end of the global lockdown, the buying and consumption behaviour of people will look completely different for at least 1–2 years.
So the good old “just grit your teeth and do it” approach is probably not going to cut it this time. Why not go for forced euphoria instead? The “crisis as an opportunity” is a hackneyed cliché, but also the beginning of every hero’s journey that ultimately leads to a happy end. In other words: No conflict, no change.
So why don’t we use Corona as an opportunity for a radical restart in marketing?
Of course, “restart” sounds annoying at first. Then again, it’s long overdue. If we are honest, many companies and industries were already in crisis way before Corona. Not only, but also quite often because people tried hard to sit out this damn digital revolution as long as possible. Unfortunately, this is also true for the advertising industry: For years, brands and agencies have been wrestling with the effects of digitalization in marketing. After initial denial and temporary euphoria, they are now kinda stuck between the pressure to perform and the urge for purpose, nitty-gritty asset fiddling and big brand stories. Not to mention consultancy takeovers and in-house agency trends. In addition, only very few have been willing and able to adapt their business models to the realities of the digital age. Despite constantly shrinking margins and steadily longer requirements lists, things apparently still went well enough for most. Until now. In the end, Corona feels like the return of digital disruption on speed. A virus that kills all companies that fail to adapt to the new reality fast enough — or find new approaches to marketing.
© Photo by Jongsun Lee, on Unsplash
“Adapt or Die.” A wake-up call for marketing in a post-Corona world.
To be fair: we don’t have a lack of proposals to solve the crisis. There is hardly any agency that has come up with statement articles, white papers and service offers. There is hardly a brand that hasn’t published its own ‘stayhome hashtag’, ‘thank you’ commercial or encouraging social media postings. The smartest minds in the industry develop sophisticated analyses, forecast phase developments, outline scenarios, formulate recommendations for action and invoke a “new normal”. All smart, catchy, elaborately produced. But one thing is striking: Nobody really wants to get to the core of the problem. Almost all approaches are based on the same understanding of marketing, brand management and business model that has brought many into a crisis even before Corona. Depending on who you ask, there are always the same old patent recipes for the future in different nuances.1. Creativity.
“Companies need to return to creativity and the power of the brand as the ultimate differentiator.” — Creative agencies, influencers and content producers.2. Empathy.
“Businesses need to focus on consumer experience and customer centricity.” — Consultancies, design and innovation agencies.3. Technology expertise.
Companies need a new openness to technology and a shift to data-driven, automated and personalized marketing.” — Digital and media agencies, platform providers and marketers.All kind of right. All equally important. But none of them goes far enough.
After all, creativity, empathy and technological competence are basic skills that all marketers in the 21st century should possess.
Not every agency has to master all 3 equally well. Not ever agency has to offer full service. But the ability for connected, holistic thinking should have been mandatory for a long time.
The one thing Corona makes painfully obvious now is that companies urgently need an important fourth capability at organizational level in order to survive the coming months of constant, ever faster change.
4. Adaptability
In an extremely dynamic world, companies need a high degree of adaptability to adapt quickly to new consumer, environmental and market needs.
In fact, this was already true before the digital revolution accelerated global change: In a complex, unpredictable world, only those companies will be successful in the long run that can deal flexibly with constantly changing conditions. Organizations with the resilience to overcome crises and use them as opportunity for further development.
Adaptability describes the ability of an organization to do exactly that. To make quick decisions. Carry out radical policy changes. Align value chains, resources and employee set-ups to constantly new environmental conditions.
Or, to put it with Bruce Lee: “Be water, my brand.“
© Photo by Fervent Jan, on Unsplash
© Photo by Fervent Jan, on Unsplash
“Be water, my brand.” How companies can build up adaptability.
First things first: There is no one-size-fits-all approach to adaptability. Because every company, every market is different and the environment is constantly changing. But here are 5 fields that can serve as starting point.- “Always Day One”-Mindset. Companies need openness to change and the will to learn new things quickly and evolve constantly. Historically grown structures, cherished traditions and established business models need to be questioned regularly and, when in doubt, adjusted mercilessly. Even sacred cows like brand essence or brand purpose should not be safe, before they become barriers to evolution. Also important: a healthy error culture and willingness to take risks — because this is the only way to learn.
- Adaptive organization. Companies need new forms of organization to be more adaptable to change. This can mean completely dissolving rigid structures and silo units — and instead building ecosystems of many closely connected internal and external specialists that can come together in new project communities and are organized around customer missions. A quick win are more flexible working models for permanent employees and simpler regulatory conditions for cooperation with freelancers, collectives or partners.
- Variable processes: Companies need new ways to solve problems. Instead of thinking in waterfall steps out of tradition or enforcing Agile at all costs, the process should be variably adapted to the respective problem (e.g. via Stacey matrix). Of course, this also requires commitment and the skills to work differently. This is especially true for creative processes that are often chaotic. With design sprint methods, for example, these processes can be much more structured and effective without increasing the necessary creative freedom — if you are willing to buy into it.
- Open collaboration: Companies need to reorganize collaboration and knowledge sharing. This can mean dissolving fixed team structures with hierarchical decision-making paths and restricted access to information. And relying on self-determined, project-related teams that can access all information at all times and exchange information with others instead — even outside the organization. A quickwin are more diverse and heterogeneous teams, in which, for example, strategists, design thinkers, tech experts and creative people are equally represented.
- Adaptive business models: Companies need new business models to survive in modern markets. One way would be to completely rethink existing services and pricing models. For example, offering sprint formats or fairly calculated “idea subscriptions” where customers only pay for clearly defined output — instead of standard retainers for lush teams and vague deliverables. Another way would be diversification through a broad customer portfolio and different revenue streams to reduce risk. For example to invest free team capacities as creative capital in start-ups & Co. or creating and directly marketing your own products and content such as industry-specific software, YouTube shows, streetwear collections — instead of just those of customers.
Conclusion: The future belongs to the adaptable.
Corona is like the second wave of the digital revolution and forces many companies to perform the necessary business transformation they have been sitting out for years. The way out of the crisis requires a radical restart of marketing towards new approaches that don’t rely on the old recipes alone. Creativity, empathy and technological competence remain essential skills. But in the future, companies will need one thing above all else: adaptability. Adaptability enables organizations to adapt quickly to new conditions. And thus creates the necessary resilience to survive in a constantly changing marketing landscape. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to adaptability. But many fields in which companies can quickly achieve success — if they only want to. As we have seen in many companies in recent weeks, courage, a necessary dose of pragmatism to make quick decisions and the willingness to change are already there. Why don’t we use the crisis as an opportunity to embrace our potential for change much more?
Please note: The german version of this article was published in the print edition of the New Business Magazine Nr. 22/2020 on 25th may 2020.
