A research by Gartner ins. about The Impact of COVID-19 on Marketing worldwide, challenges & readiness

1. Gartner Call
The Impact of COVID-19 on Marketing
March 19, 2020

2. The “new normal” we keep
hearing about is…not new
at all. Consumers face on a
regular basis much of the
same emotion they are
facing now.
The same things we have
been trying to help our
clients’ audience overcome
(inertia, trepidation, too
much choice, decision
fatigue, uncertainty,
remorse) are the things we
will need to be addressing
in the coming days and
weeks.
(With, of course, a
mortality implication
heating it all up.)

3. This slide actually got
laughs…ironic laughs.
Because of course it is
100% of businesses who
now KNOW with great
certainty that the
disruption is going to be
significant.

4. The propensity in these
situations is to forget
everything the enterprise
has learned about CX, and
to hunker down. But
business as usual (BAU) is
not going to work...in fact
you must lean even more
into a consumer focus, to
understand that is
motivating (or
demotivating) them
relative to your brand, and
adjust with speed.

5. These next two slides were
in the context of a question
from a participant: “what
should a CMO do in a
situation like this?” The
answer was at once
encouraging (because it
was smart) and
discouraging (because it’s
seldom put into practice).
1. Stay strategic. At a time
like this it’s easy to
back into a tactical
mindset, but that’s
disaster. Focus on the
long-term and the big
picture.

6. 2. Stay close to your CFO,
who also must be
strategically focused.
Marketing budgets look
like a big easy soft target,
but if your CFO understand
the mission, he’ll be able
to defend dthat budget.
3. Think like a CEO. Build
the right team, ask the righ
questions, challenge lazy
thinking that will ultimately
create havoc or long-term
damage to company,
brand, or both. And help
your team not to get
paralyzed by data.

7. Brands that seemed to be
overreacting early on are
now the heroes. Sephora
was one, not just for the
closures but for taking on
the more difficult issues
like employee comp while
closed, etc.
The discussion around this
piece was very engaging,
people offering ideas
about how this will shift
the way brand do business.
Chevrolet has a campaign
now that specifically says
they will sell cars online
(via dealers, but all online).
Restaurants going to 100%
take out. Etc.