attracting thousands of online audience
while partnering with online delivery
platforms to offer discounts to those who
use their brand name as promo codes.
Other brands have rescue and cash relief
packages for SME suppliers through credit
and early payment programs. Facebook
and Google are also offering free ads and
assistance to SMEs especially those who
are current advertisers in many countries.
Hotels are opening up beds to house first
responders and medics or repurposing to
housing patients in isolation or people
in quarantine after long haul travel or
community exposure.
Unintended Consequences
of Lockdowns and Curfews
Lockdown and curfews are likely to have
some long-term unintended consequences
as witnessed in other crisis. There will be a
high birth rate a year from now as a result
of people staying at home and shortage of
condoms resulting from factory shutdowns
by key manufacturers reducing global
supply by half. Similar observations have
been made during prolonged black outs in
New York and earth quake crisis in Haiti.
This will result in an increase in demand
for baby products such as diapers.
Futurists and - strat-
egy experts tell us
that if you don’t
change, change will
change you. While
most changes are
gradual allowing for
slow adaptation, re-
cent changes have
been coming at a
very fast rate calling
for equally speedy re-
sponse. Black Swans
like the September
2011 terrorist attack
on Twin Towers and
Camp David happen
in a supersonic speed
with long-term im-
pact on several as-
pects of life.
The Opportunities and
Challenges Call For Out of
the Box Thinking
Any crisis presents challenges and
opportunities. Although marketing may
not be classified as an essential service we
have an important role to play in helping
brands to adjust to the new realities of
working from home, isolation and social
distancing.
We can also help shape policies adopted
by government and private sector in terms
of modeling behavior change based on our
understanding of consumers. All this calls
for out of the box thinking and hard work.
Let us keep our creative juice flowing
instead of despairing at these crisis times.
Boniface Ngahu is a seasoned marketing
research expert and runs the Talking
Point column in Marketing Africa
magazine. He is the Marketing Director
of SBO Research. You can commune
with him on this or related matters via
email at: BNgahu@sboresearch.co.ke, or
follow him on Twitter @bngahu
Sally and her
Mom have the same smile.
Sally and her Mom
share more than that smile.
Think love
has limits?
#ThinkAgain
www.thenairobihosp.org
A Kidney Transplant
can transform your life,
think about it
Call 020 2845000/6000 for
more information