Consumer research and strategy company Magid works with brands and media companies and has been tracking media consumption and consumer attitudes for decades. Their April research shows significant opportunities for brands and publishers: 69% of consumers say they are trying new brands right now.
This represents an incredible opportunity for businesses to change perceptions and grow their brand. With the right moves, businesses have an opportunity to solidify their base and attract new consumers right now
Studies show that companies acting aggressively during crises and economic downturns made the largest gains. In fact, these gains didn’t come after things settled down, they occurred during the time of uncertainty.
As a study in the Harvard Business Review concluded “Many managers tolerate sub-par results during a recession, believing that their firms will accelerate past competitors once the economy recovers. This rarely happens. More than two-thirds of the companies that made major gains in our study period did so during a recession, not before or after.”
The companies that made strategic moves to grow market share during the last recession not only grew, but they sustained that growth after the crisis was over. 70% of the companies that grew share maintained it two years later. Companies that lost ground did not fare as well. Of those losing share, only a third were able to regain it.
As businesses start to open back up, it’s important you act now. As the folks at Bain & Company concluded about economic slowdown and crises: These are “intense crucibles of opportunity.”
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Economic Downturns Can Reshuffle the Deck
There are risks and rewards during economic downturns. There will be winners and losers.
In the 1920s, Kellogg’s and Post dominated cereal sales. The two companies had nearly identical market shares. During the downtown, Post cut back their marketing while Kellogg’s maintained. Kellogg’s dramatically overperformed Post during the depression and immediately thereafter. It reshuffled the deck. Kellogg’s has been the dominant cereal brand for more than 9 decades now.
How companies deal with crises, such as economic downturns, often sets up the competitive landscape for years to come.
Take Control of Your Brand Conversation – Or Someone Else Will
Brands that stop advertising and sending positive messages are seeing huge drops in brand sentiment because they only thing people hear about you is nothing or negative. Those that continued to market saw a drop (people are thinking about other things these days), but nowhere near as big as those that stopped.
We need to be talking to people now about the recovery. What happens when people get back closer to normal?
What is the World’s Largest Advertiser Doing Right Now?
Procter & Gamble is generally considered the world’s largest advertiser. They are certainly TV’s largest advertiser and it’s where they spend the bulk of their money. P&G spent more than $100 million in TV, digital, and print last year.
You would think if anyone could afford to take a little time off with the advertising it would be them.
So, what are they doing? They are INCREASING their TV ad buys. They’re up 1.9% so far this year.