COMPLACENT MARKETING
How Malleable Is Your
Brand
By Diana Obath
M
essaging and conferencing app
Microsoft Teams added 12
million new users in a week
thanks to people working from home to
slow the spread of Coronavirus. Microsoft
says there are now 44 million daily users
of the app. I would bet that this is the
reality of our current work situations.
Conference calls, Skype meetings and
Microsoft Teams meetings. We have all
quickly adapted into the online routine
as we make our contributions towards
keeping the economy afloat.
In the world of marketing however, the
true test of tangibility and interactions of
brands is being tested now more than ever.
Brands that dominated the online space
have shrunk into level playing field with
smaller brands for obvious reasons.
It appears two thirds of the online
conversation is occupied by #Corona
which trends all day and night and
rightly so. The depth of the worldwide
crisis deserves the attention it is getting
and access to right of information on the
issue from credible news and information
sources should in no way be underplayed.
The result of this has however been a
shrink in the shelf life of other trending
topics including digital marketing.
Brands are no longer in a fight for share
of audience but are now in a race for share
of voice. It is no longer about the strength
or might of the brands, it has become
about relevance. The most relevant brands
will gain attention for their marketing
messages and e-commerce platforms as
they struggle to find their breath above
entertainment, and social networking
sites and apps.
In this small shrinking space, the
malleability of brands has truly being
tested. The switch from attention for
audience to share of voice has pushed out
many brands and only the more digital
savvy and innovative ones remain active.
We cannot however assume that all have
been pushed out as some have chosen not
to participate due to their brand values
- such as choosing not to carry out any
marketing activities for profit in times of
We need to be able to roll-out digital cam-
paigns that can stand on their own and
deliver a full 360 experience for our cus-
tomers and not just support on-ground
activities, in-store experiences, experien-
tial activations and out of home activi-
ties.
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MAL35/20 ISSUE
crisis or voluntarily due to a reduction in
sales. However, other brands are outdoing
themselves by playing their cards in the
online space in a way we wouldn’t have
ever imagined.
MINI, the popular car model partnered
with Anomaly, a creative marketing and
advertising agency to take people who love
to travel out into a quarantined camping
trip in the cloud. This was an outdoor
mountainous drive through the scenic and
green mountains of Shaxi, Yunnan.
MINI and Anomaly put together a great
campaign for a 24hour live stream to bring
the beauty of the mountains of Shaxi,
Yunnan to everyone who was quarantined
at home via the cloud through their
phones and computers. On March 21st,
2020 at 9:30am, The Nomad Hotel by
Mini took viewers 3,000 metres above sea
level and broadcast the whole trip on two
streaming sites Bilibili.com and TMALL,
an ecommerce site. MINI took its fans,
many who are in quarantine on a tour
despite sanctions and limitations on travel
across the country.
The Nomad Hotel was launched
in 2019 and consists of six MINI
COUNTRYMAN vehicles with unique
roof tents tailor-made with dining tents,
a BBQ area, campfire, showers and toilets
and is designed for campers who want
to enjoy the outdoors without sacrificing
the comfort of urban living. The roof-
tops come fully equipped with modern
amenities like built-in reading lights and
comfortable bedding.
With ‘The Nomad Hotel in the Cloud,’