Marketing teams have been met with a tough challenge throughout the pandemic as consumers’ lives and behaviours change. Retail Week explores how best to reach customers right now.

  • Digital marketing is on the rise as retailers try to meet their customers wherever they are online
  • Fewer retailers are willing to invest in out-of-home marketing as social restrictions continue
  • Social media is crucial and retail tie-ups with influencers are pushing connections with consumers
  • Marketers are returning to TV ads as consumers spend more and more time on the sofa

Marketing budgets have been slashed as businesses try to cut costs to weather the coronavirus storm. Earlier this year marketing spend fell to its lowest levels in the 20-year history of the IPA Bellwether Report, which monitors marketing spend. 

Tiktok illustration

TikTok saw 315 million app downloads globally in the first quarter of 2020

Meanwhile, some tried-and-tested methods of advertising – think of tube stations and billboards plastered with fast-fashion adverts – are no longer viable as shoppers remain at home and avoid public spaces.

Some retailers have been exploring new routes to reach consumers – TikTok and Twitch for example – while others have been ramping up their digital marketing and television spots. 

“The enormous amount of uncertainty, with rapidly changing rules and attitudes, means marketers have had to become much more agile to adapt and respond,” says MediaCom chief strategy officer Geoff de Burca.

“Campaign-planning timelines have shortened. Campaigns have been started, stopped or moved at incredibly short notice.”

“The enormous amount of uncertainty, with rapidly changing rules and attitudes, means marketers have had to become much more agile to adapt and respond”

Geoff de Burca, MediaCom

Rapid changes to marketing plans have been made and in many cases budgets have had to be cut to counterbalance increased operational costs associated with the pandemic.  

While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, Retail Week explores where marketers should be spending their budget right now and what new methods are proving successful.

The digital shift

With more and more consumers avoiding stores and shopping from the comfort of their own homes, digital marketing has unsurprisingly been ramped up over the past few months as retailers try to meet their customers wherever they are online.

Dixons Carphone head of brand and advertising Corin Mills says it hasn’t even considered using out-of-home advertising like billboards and posters during the pandemic, as it pushes further into digital marketing, and is unlikely to invest in outdoor advertising in the future.

Currys Pc World

Retailers are introducing new and interactive digital ways to shop

The electricals retailer has also moved its press advertising online now that consumers are “digesting more press than ever before”, according to Mills.  

“For Carphone Warehouse we’ve very much been embracing digital. Where we were using press previously, we’re still working with them but on the digital side of things, seeing a load of traffic and benefit from people consuming news online,” Mills explains.

According to data from Ofcom, online news consumption surged by up to 30 minutes in the height of the pandemic. While these figures have now normalised to pre-pandemic levels, Ofcom has seen changes in the top sites chosen by readers. 

Mills adds: “We’ve been strong in digital advertising for a long time, but we’ve really accelerated what I’d call a foundation of digital – retargeting, and things like that.”

Localised marketing has also been crucial for marketers during the pandemic, with both Dixons and Marks & Spencer looking to build on this in the future.

The two retailers noted the importance of the local store in keeping loyal customers.

“During the pandemic we launched local Facebook pages, which are run by store teams, which helps us to provide agile messages to local customers on any changes, initiatives and opening hours”

Marks & Spencer spokesperson

“Localised comms are growing in importance,” says an M&S spokesperson. 

“During the pandemic we launched local Facebook pages, which are run by store teams, which helps us to provide agile messages to local customers on any changes, initiatives and opening hours. 

“These pages also reflect the growing importance for customers that brands are supporting their local communities. Through the pages our teams can share the work they’re doing on food distribution via Neighbourly and when our rainbow Sale was live they were posting fundraising totals.”

With email communication central to M&S’s marketing strategy and driving a quarter of the retailer’s traffic, customers receiving more localised content will only help.

Similarly Dixons wants to continue sending emails with a local feel, particularly post-sale, to remind customers what their local store can do for them.

Keeping it social

Online marketing channels such as social media have also been paramount for many retailers, which have sought to engage with their customers on a number of platforms. 

Fashion retailers including Asos, Boohoo and Farfetch have been using Instagram to connect with customers during the pandemic, with campaigns featuring models trying on clothes at home and social competitions to get followers to post their own outfits alongside brand hashtags.

Paid-for social, such as influencer marketing, has also been stepped up, with 79% of retail marketers spending more in this area this year, according to a new report by influencer marketing agency Takumi.

Brand ambassador Holly Willoughby has been promoting M&S on Instagram

Brand ambassador Holly Willoughby has been promoting M&S on Instagram

A spokesperson from M&S says: “Working with the right ambassadors remains a critical part of our marketing for both food and clothing.

“In clothing, we’re continuing to work with Holly Willoughby as our brand ambassador, with Instagram posts dropping from her throughout the season. 

“In food we’ve been really focused on content that’s both fun and helpful for our customers. For example, chef Chris Baber has been providing recipe inspiration for feeding the whole family and we’ve been sharing that content across multiple channels.”

With more families spending time cooking at home this has proven popular.

Nike has also made use of influencers to capitalise on the fitness craze during lockdown, with brand ambassadors and athletes sharing their fitness regimes using Nike’s #playfortheworld hashtag.

It’s not just fashion brands that are focusing on social influencers. Dixons Carphone is looking to build its influencer marketing programme with a particular focus on showcasing its new virtual shopping service ShopLive. 

It’s no surprise that social is such a focus. Over the past few months, more and more consumers have been turning online, creating new social accounts to interact with not only friends but brands when they couldn’t interact with them in stores.

“We have an incredible audience of Gen Z and millennials who make up a giant proportion of our customer base. We want to talk to them in the spaces in which they exist”

Holli Rogers, Farfetch

Facebook revealed that it saw a 10% spike year on year in average monthly active users on its platform in March, when lockdown began, and usage of Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp has almost doubled in the areas hardest hit by the virus.

TikTok meanwhile saw 315 million new downloads of the app globally in the first quarter of 2020.

As Farfetch brand officer Holli Rogers explains, social media is important to customers and should therefore be important to marketers.

“We have an incredible audience of Gen Z and millennials who make up a giant proportion of our customer base,” she says.

“We want to talk to them in the spaces in which they exist, for a better part of their day, so embracing social media has a lot of different components.”

TikTok and Twitch: making the most of new channels

While Instagram and Facebook are still popular, alternative social media channels have grown rapidly over the past few months. 

TikTok has taken consumers by storm during the pandemic. Originally focused at teens, the 20- to 30-something market has now embraced TikTok – a platform on which users post 15- to 60-second videos showcasing anything from dance routines to fashion to comedy – and marketers across the board have begun to catch on.

Tapping into trends, challenges and dances is key to engaging audiences on TikTok.

Love Island star Luke Trotman takes part in Asos' #AySauce challenge

Love Island star Luke Trotman takes part in Asos’ #AySauce challenge

Asos is one definite success story. The fashion etailer’s #AySauce – it sounds like Asos when said in an American accent, apparently – challenge invited people to show off three of their favourite looks in 15 seconds, using their own creative flair to bring them to life. 

Asos boss Nick Beighton says: “The #AySauce challenge … has reached 2 billion views. We’re the first European brand to get over a billion views so we’re really excited about that. Clearly it resonated well with our audience and to get that amount of views is simply staggering.”

Asos plans to launch a new challenge this month in the lead up to Halloween and Black Friday and is also focusing its marketing efforts on gaming platform Twitch to connect with a male audience.

Twitch is a video-streaming platform that is popular with the gaming community and uses live videos and chat functions to bring together like-minded users.

At the moment, retailers such as Asos largely use the platform for in-game advertising and have begun to work with influencers popular on the channel, however there is potential for live-streaming – where people shop via live video stream – on Twitch.

Burberry, for example, partnered with Twitch this year to live-stream its fashion show online.

Farfetch has also been looking to grow its audience through YouTube. Rogers says: “YouTube is fascinating as a highly searched and viewed website, even more so because of lockdown.”

Rogers sees YouTube as a channel to which young people gravitate for specialist content, such as fashion, much like specialist TV programmes of old.

“One of the things I remember from being a kid is watching this one programme that was fashion related. I had to religiously watch it every week at the age of 12. I was so young but it’s that connection that you have to it, and that’s how we want to connect with people, who maybe can’t afford our products right now, but we can still tap into that aspirational audience.”

According to MediaCom’s de Burca, video content is most effective at building brands and driving sales, meaning YouTube and TV are likely good for long-term ROI.

Return to TV

With more consumers sat on their sofas than ever before, marketing teams have begun to turn back to TV ads to appeal to consumers.

According to stats from Ofcom, UK adults spent more than 6.5 hours watching television and online streaming on average per day during lockdown, 

“As TV viewing has increased during lockdown, TV has the potential to be even more effective than usual, a factor enhanced by the fact that TV advertising is incredibly good value right now as reduced advertiser demand has made prices cheaper,” says de Burca.

Dixons Carphone, Farfetch and AO.com have taken advantage of the shorter booking times and better prices of TV spots, which is making the marketing channel relatively cheap and convenient. 

“We made the decision to return to TV earlier in the year after a two-year absence,” says AO director of ecommerce and marketing Steve Johnson. “We used our amazing AO-ers and in-house teams to bring these stories to life during the first few weeks of lockdown.”

“This also coincided with a brand refresh, which aimed to showcase AO’s incredible passion, high energy and personality, not only through our marketing but across the whole business.”

The shorter booking times have allowed retailers to be more reactive on TV to talk about things they are doing right now and many, like AO, are using staff members as the stars of their ads to enable quick turnarounds.

De Burca notes that Tesco’s advert, which showed how the grocer made its stores safer, was turned around within 72 hours.

“Research showed it was the most successful Covid-related advert, building trust with shoppers,” he says. “Since then, they’ve adapted their long-running ‘Food Love Stories’ campaign to help the nation celebrate Easter and Ramadan while separated from loved ones, and in their recent first-half results they reported a significant rise in profits.”

 

Find out what’s right for your business

Marketing in the era of Covid has been uncertain territory for many, with budgets strained and traditional methods impacted, and teams have had to pivot to reflect where consumers are – namely online and watching television. 

While some have taken the chance to step back from certain channels and conserve spend, other retailers have taken the opportunity to explore new methods such as TikTok, YouTube and Twitch.

De Burca reiterates that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to where to spend your marketing budget, but points to MediaCom’s online tool the Demand Generator, which allows advertisers to work out their ideal channel mix based on various parameters.

Using the tool with different retail inputs, one clear conclusion can be drawn – that TV appears to be the safest bet for return on investment for the foreseeable future, especially with prices at the current level.

However, marketers would be sensible not to put all their eggs in one basket, and explore new and exciting routes to keep campaigns fresh and customers excited.