The State of Branding Report:COVID-19 Edition
Industry research on the impact, priorities, and future plans of brands in the midst of COVID-19
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Welcome to Bynder’s COVID 19 edition of the State of Branding Report. Following just two months after the release of our 2020 edition, we surveyed 301 creative, marketing and brand professionals—approximately a month after the WHO declared COVID 19 a global pandemic—to gain a better understanding of how organizations are approaching the radical changes to business-as-usual brought about by COVID 19.
Many of us are wondering how best to respond to such an unprecedented crisis, and what impact it will have going forward, asking ourselves:
What should be our number one priority as a brand right now?
How should COVID 19 influence our marketing strategy—now and in the future?
How do we prevent marketing missteps during such trying times?
By gathering industry-wide perspectives on how brand professionals are dealing with the new normal, this report shines a spotlight on our most common challenges and provides guidance on how to put our best foot forward in the COVID 19 era.
Lastly, we’d like to extend our gratitude to everyone who participated in the study. Your input will benefit not only the industry but also those hardest hit by the pandemic. Every study completed means an extra donation to one of our client’s corona relief funds: Spotify’s COVID 19 Music Relief Project.
If you’d like to make a personal donation, click the link above for more information.
One month into the COVID 19 pandemic, this snapshot finds the creative and branding community transitioning relatively smoothly to the radically different work environment, with a focus on updating messaging and campaigns for the new market reality rather than completely reinventing their brands. The professionalism, thoughtfulness and empathy we see makes me proud to be part of the marketing community.—Andrew Hally, Chief Marketing Officer at Bynder
Snapshot Summary
Our research found that most teams have transitioned to remote work with minimal disruptions to productivity, though team collaboration is an area that many found challenging when working as a distributed workforce.
As for the effects of COVID 19 on brand strategies going forward, most organizations are currently focused on tweaking and developing messaging that’s sensitive to the times, although radical marketing pivots are not quite so widespread yet. Before taking a deep dive into the results, here are our key takeaways:
- 57% of those surveyed believe COVID 19 will have a lasting impact on their brand/marketing efforts, but it won’t be transformative
- 36% of respondents have actually increased their output of marketing campaigns since the COVID 19 outbreak
- More than half of those surveyed feel that the need to work remotely has only had a “small impact” or “no impact at all” on team productivity
- The lack of knowledge sharing and content collaboration was rated as the biggest challenge for teams working remotely
- 1 in 2 brand professionals see the development of new messaging, content and campaigns in response to COVID 19 as their highest branding-related priority
The impact of COVID 19 on brand strategy
How has COVID 19 affected brand and marketing strategies?
Since the outbreak, one question on the minds of every brand professional has been:
How should we, as a brand, respond to the crisis?
Given the unusual nature of these times, there is no tried-and-tested brand strategy to follow. Our results imply most organizations are careful not to succumb to rash decisions, and instead are adopting a more cautious approach. 45% of those surveyed are “tweaking focus and messaging”, with just 18% believing that they have to “drastically change the way we do business”.
53% of respondents see the development of new messaging, content, and campaigns in direct response to COVID 19 as their highest branding related priority right now more important than ensuring existing messaging/content isn’t tone deaf to the times (19%). 52% of those surveyed feel “somewhat concerned” about making missteps that could affect their brand image, while 27% are “very concerned”.
When it comes to the long term impact of COVID 19 on brand/marketing efforts, 13% believe that the pandemic will have a permanent impact on branding, while 17% are more optimistic and feel that the effects are only short term. However, the majority of those surveyed (57%) take a more moderate approach, believing that COVID 19 will have a lasting impact on branding and marketing, but it won’t be transformative. This may point to a widespread belief that although the economic and social impact of COVID 19 on marketing will require brands to shift their strategies in the near future, the nature of brand building as we know it won’t drastically change.
During this time, it's more important than ever that brands present themselves with one unified voice and remain close to their brand values.
It's changing the dynamic of how our customers behave, which is making it important to pivot - but how much and for how long is more a guessing game than a science at the moment.
The organizational impact of COVID 19
How has COVID 19 affected day to day working for the average brand professional?
The sudden shift to remote working in response to COVID 19 has raised many questions about productivity, team collaboration, and company culture. Will the “new normal” of digital workplaces become a mainstream fixture of working life after the pandemic?
One thing’s for sure: the digital infrastructure of organizations has been put to the test like never before, with many teams coming to terms with just how technologically equipped they are to support the needs of an entirely remote workforce.
Our results suggest most teams have transitioned to remote working more smoothly than many would assume, with more than half of those surveyed feeling that the need to work remotely has only had a “small impact” (40%) or “no impact at all” (19%) on team productivity.
However, such a drastic change has prompted many to reassess their digital transformation efforts, with 42% of respondents seeing “room for improvement” when it comes to their tech stack. Interestingly, 46% feel “very prepared” for the challenges brought about by COVID 19, believing they have all the tools necessary to operate remotely.
But regardless of where teams are located, how has COVID 19 affected day to day working within organizations? 42% of those surveyed are spending more time communicating, fielding requests, and syncing up with colleagues; 38% are heavily investing their resources into updating messaging and pivoting their content strategy, and 30% are cutting back usual activities as they assess the new situation.
I believe that in the long run, remote working will be much more widely accepted and offered with less resistance.
Not having each other in the office to bounce off ideas to each other.
No real challenges. I’m seeing a bias for action on our marketing department. Better to just get it out there compared to waiting.
We were a remote team already, so no impact / challenge.
How prepared is your marketing tech stack to face the challenges brought about by COVID 19?
COVID 19 has been a huge driver for “digital transformation“ and has put our company in a place I didn’t expect to see for 3 5 years.
Methodology & Demographics
We conducted this survey to capture a quick pulse of the marketing community’s immediate response to the COVID 19 outbreak. The data included in this report was gathered between April 10, 2020 - April 24, 2020. We received 301 responses from marketing professionals including managers, directors, VPs, and CMOs across a variety of industries.
- Industry
- Technology 23%
- Creative/Marketing agency 18%
- Consumer goods 11%
- Healthcare 9%
- Industrial goods and manufacturing 9%
- Financial services 7%
- Travel and hospitality 6%
- Government and education 3%
- Other 14%
- Company size
- 1 - 249 43%
- 250 - 500 6%
- 501 - 1,000 11%
- 1,001 - 5,000 15%
- 5,001 - 10,000 7%
- More than 10,000 17%
- Job role
- Marketing manager 36%
- Marketing director/VP/CMO 21%
- Brand manager 9%
- Marketing operations 8%
- Creative services 10%
- Other 17%
About Bynder
Bynder’s digital asset management platform helps teams collaborate in the cloud, get content to market faster, and maximize the impact of their marketing assets.
From retail giants and financial multinationals to fashion boutiques and not for profits, Bynder helps streamline brand operations for 1800+ businesses across the globe.
We’re obsessed with “what’s next?” in branding, marketing, and technology, and our annual State of Branding Report aims to get to the heart of the biggest questions in branding today. You can check out the 2020 edition here.
We also host Europe’s leading branding conference, OnBrand, bringing together 1,900+ marketing and creative professionals in Amsterdam each year to hear from some of the brightest names in branding today.
Check out Bynder.com for more insights on how you can harness tech to accelerate brand operations and boost workplace creativity.