Communications in a pandemic: Brands, it’s time to find your voice
In our first wave of US Covid-19 research, published in PR Week, people were sharing their opinions as stay-at-home orders came into effect across most states in late March. In this latest wave, most consumers were several weeks into their lockdown routines and beginning to wonder: What comes next? We surveyed 2,000 US adults from April 9th-15th as governors started to weigh what it would take to reopen states and the public questioned what a slow return to ‘normal’ might entail.
Coronavirus fatigue is certainly setting in, with a 7-point increase in people saying that they miss talking about things that aren’t related to Coronavirus (now 70% of Americans). More Americans now feel brands are ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ with their coronavirus messaging, increasing from 57% to 64% in the span of a few weeks. Similarly, almost half (49%) now feel brands are trying to take advantage of the situation by pushing certain promotions, up from 42%.
So what is a brand to do? It’s not just what you say, but how you say it.
In this report, we will unpack what tone consumers think is appropriate in brand communications across a variety of sectors. We will re-examine the state of play and which companies, in the eyes of consumers, have responded best (and worst) to the pandemic.
Read the full report here:
