Brand’s neutral position means brand’s defeat. MRKTNG speakers on wartime marketing building

Marketing, digital and communication professionals of large companies shared the main tools of wartime interaction with audiences during MRKTNG MRTH webcast held on 27 October. More than 8,000 participants learned how to integrate social component into the strategy, create cool joint projects with the state and charitable foundations.

Changes in the digital area

Anastasiia Verba and Maksim Kot, PR Manager and Head of Sales Infinite, convinced the participants that Live Commerce (a new kind of online shopping that allows to sell and broadcast simultaneously) is effective. The main advantage of this tool is that all necessary information is placed in one window: video explanations, product presentation with the option of purchase, live chat where you can ask questions.

This format has already gained popularity in the world: it is used by Sephora, Samsung, Douglas, Carrefour, and every second viewer of Douglas broadcast makes a purchase. In Ukraine, it is only gaining momentum, but hundreds of thousands dollars are now transferred to the Armed Forces due to live broadcasts.

Vlad Bolsun, Creative Director at Mozgi Group, spoke about advantages of influence marketing in current realities. This is primarily speed of campaigns: content is created on a day-to-day basis or a few days before publication. Given the dynamic agenda, this ensures closer interaction with audience and increased engagement. Influence marketing also enables interaction with different audiences. In addition, it has lower production costs.

Dmytro Biletskyi, Head of Business Development and Sales at Lanet Click, shared the main changes to digital tools and provided companies with practical advice on how to achieve better results even with a limited budget.

Yes, the main thing in targeting now is not to be afraid of testing new advertising tools. E.g., as for B2B segment, Linkedin has helped many companies to enter the international market since the beginning of the war. Dmytro advised to add information about contribution made by your company into the future victory of Ukraine in SMM strategy, share stories about courage of employees, and communicate about changes in the company. He also advised to advertise online, with a limited budget, only the most essential products, and monitor products promoted by competitors. Advertising creative should be less sharp and intrusive than before the war, but with national themes.

“The war changed e-sommerce even more than COVID did. It brought online those people who hadn’t used to go online. 14% of Ukrainians made their first online purchase after the war”, said Oleksandr Kolb, CEO of Promodo marketing agency, who told about popularity of digital marketing tools changed during the war. The most popular is search engine marketing, and media channels experienced a serious decline.

“When choosing what brand to be, be ‘ours’”, confirmed Oleksandr Tarasov, Head of Brand Favbet, who told MRKTNG MRTH participants about wartime brand transformation and communication.

“Ukrainian brands cannot afford not to have a clear position on the war. Being ‘out of politics’ today means putting yourself in opposition to the Ukrainian audience, which interprets such flirting with neutrality unembiguosly: if you are not with Ukraine, you are against it. In our time, only the brands that understand the context and work for a common victory will survive.

During his speech, Oleksandr also shared some details of the project named Pimp a Car for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which connects fun and charity to attract thousands of Favbet customers for support of the AFU.

Iryna Shynkarenko, Advertising and Marketing Director at Epicenter chain, shared the formats of interaction between businesses and the state for getting closer to the future victory.

“This is not the first time in Ukrainian history when businesses and the state have united. Transition from collaboration, where each party acts for its own benefit, to synergy, where all parties work for the common result, is now observed in Ukraine. Businesses are taking a more active part in social life of cities, regions and the state”.

The speaker shared several cases of synergy between Epicenter chain and the state: vaccination points in Epicenter hypermarkets, where more than 500 thousand Ukrainians were vaccinated, major repairs at Strazhesko Institute of Cardiology, transfer of vehicles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, creation of humanitarian headquarters, etc.

Brand communications in new realities

Olena Plakhova, Reputation Management and Marketing Director at Nova Poshta, told about the importance of involving all communication channels in an open interview to Kateryna Mashevska, MMR project manager.

“Communication tools and channels have not changed significantly. You need to use all channels, but adapt their formats. Many people live in different contexts and conditions. Depending on what context you want to reach, choose the appropriate communication channel and format”.

Due to this principle, Nova Poshta received 397 million contacts in the first hundred days of the war, which is more than all contacts received in 2021.

Source: ligazakon.net