Classic Campaigns Are Dead. Don’t Blame the Virus.

Retailers aren’t the only ones this awful pandemic is taking out of business. Every single old model that has refused to move forward in the past decade is no longer relevant today.

These times have been a nightmare for many. And we all have different stories, trauma and observations based on our personal experiences.

I live in the world of solving business problems and connecting people with ideas that revolutionize their culture. Therefore, these are my personal observations and conclusions.

Filters are the future

What do I say this? Because in my experience, filters are simply better than campaigns.

I’ve been building brands for years by developing strategy and message filters. And out of all of the awfulness in this pandemic, one thing in my business world has been quite the uplifting observation — all of my clients were able to pivot automatically because they were creating to their filters, rather than campaigns.

Rather than going dark or trying to react with a clichéd “crisis reponse,” they measured the moment, leveraged the filters and pivoted immediately. I got to see in real time why strategy and message filters are superior to traditional ad campaigns. And, there was absolutely no extra production or cost in the process.

Example 1: The Computer ICU

My first observation came from a friend and owner of a small tech company in my hometown in Lakeland, Florida. As soon as the pandemic got real and the shutdowns started to happen, he decided to activate his strategy and message filters and pivoted right away to help the local community.

The strategy filter we developed is “Technology care with heart,” which is activated with the message filter, “Nurture your tech.” Leading up to the stay-at-home orders, he was able to reposition himself by helping small and medium size clients to set up their teams to work from home. Many of these clients had never had to work from home before, so they depended on The Computer ICU to guide them through each step, allowing them to keep running their businesses.

Example 2: Maribel Quezada Smith

Another client that inspired me with how she handled the pandemic chaos was my friend and producer, Maribel Quezada Smith. She took the uncertainty and fear of the moment and turned it into action.

She began a daily mindful meditation session for nearly a month. At the same time, she created a series called, On the Fly, to help small businesses and solopreneurs learn about crisis management, podcasting, photography, graphic design and community building. She turned these conversations into a podcast series coming out later this year.

Her strategic filter is “Want more. Give more.” and her message filter is “Choose to do good,” and it was incredibly inspiring to see her do just that. Good!

Maribel developed two series leveraging Instagram Live, before many celebrities began to inundate our feeds, to bring her community positive and actionable solutions during the peak COVID-19 times.

Now, let’s look at a former employer and client who leveraged their brand filters rather than shifting into a crisis campaigns.

I was incredibly inspired when I saw Alberto Perlman’s, Zumba’s CEO, response to COVID-19 and the stay-at-home orders. He lifted an existing “no live-streaming” regulation, which was designed to protect classes around the world, so they could still teach and earn from home. Not only did he change their business model, but they developed a platform from scratch to make it easier for people around the world to book these virtual classes. The response and community has been incredible, and they could have never been able to do this without their brand filters guiding their moves.

See a video response from one of their brand community members: https://www.instagram.com/p/B95RkW9lYGP/

Are you prepared to respond to this new world?

Brand filters are the future of communications because brands — now more than ever — have to behave like a human would. The expectation from people is for companies to have a heart, a mind and a soul.

I’m excited to be in the branding side of marketing, even if it took a pandemic to expose a truth many refused to acknowledge for too long.

Look into your plans. Let us know if we can help. Email us at alex@socialmosaic.us.

Originally published at http://sosaic.wordpress.com on June 15, 2020.