Advertisers adapting to our new reality
Firms aim to make people feel safe, secure as crisis uproots business
As the COVID-19 pandemic started to spread, Tim Hortons reviewed its advertising plans and decided they no longer made sense as store closings, wide-scale layoffs and physical distancing upended life in Canada.
Instead, the coffee chain went back to the drawing board for two new ads. One informs customers how to buy doughnuts, double doubles and other products without going inside a restaurant, while the other follows Tim Hortons trucks delivering free coffee and doughnuts to essential workers.
“When we looked at what media we had committed to, we said: ‘There’s a better way,’ ” said Hope Bagozzi, chief marketing officer at Tim Hortons.
Corporate spots acknowledging the pandemic have proliferated on TV breaks in recent weeks as companies grapple with how to fill previously purchased ad slots and what, if anything, they want to to say. How they proceed varies from brand to brand, but no one wants to risk appearing tone deaf during a national crisis.
“A lot of advertising — whether we want to admit it or not — is built on what has worked in the past,” said James Ansley, executive creative director at Grey Canada.
“It feels like right now, the rule book has been completely thrown out and we’re all trying to find our way through this.”
In the early days of the pandemic, Ansley saw companies do things that “felt a little bit … lacking in meaning,” such as spacing out their logos in a nod to physical distancing.
McDonald’s Brazil, for example, separated its golden arches mid-March, but later reversed the decision after facing criticism.
Companies are now trying to do something meaningful, Ansley said, by trying to help people feel safe and secure. Utilitarian ads are one such attempt.
Tim Hortons released one in late March with an employee explaining drive-thrus are open and that app and delivery partners are accepting orders.
That ad was designed as “an accessibility spot” to answer questions the company was receiving from customers, said Bagozzi. It’s notable that such ads aren’t geared toward selling products.
Ford Canada, for instance, created an ad thanking workers and closing with information on how customers leasing or financing vehicles through its credit program could receive help.
BMO ran an ad thanking “all the front-liners for keeping our lives moving” without mentioning any banking services. A&W created an ad with a similar message of gratitude to its restaurant staff, essential workers and everyday Canadians “staying home to help stop the spread” that doesn’t show anything more than the fast-food chain’s spokesman, presumably in his own home, with a partial logo visible on the wall behind him.
The company wanted the gratitude to be authentic, genuine and dominant, said CEO Susan Senecal.
“That’s how we felt at that moment in time and we just wanted to express that completely,” she said. “We didn’t think anything more was necessary.”