Before we cover how COVID-19 is impacting the industry below, we first want to take time this morning to celebrate some brilliant marketers.
Austin, Texas, is perceived as one of the hippest markets in the United States: BBQ, the music scene and, of course, South by Southwest. From global operations to evolving brands, Austin beats to its own drum, famously keeping it—whatever it is—weird. But there is no question that Adweek’s inaugural Austin Brand Stars are committed to a future that befits a community who works to rise together.
What Brands Can Do If the Coronavirus Crisis Drags On for Months
Much of the retail sector, along with many a popular food chain, has shut down stores and operations due to the spread of the coronavirus. Nobody knows how long this restrictive period will last, but the mere uncertainty of the pandemic’s duration calls into question just how well companies are equipped to manage a long-term disruption to their business. Taking it on the chin for the next quarter is one thing, but business may well be severely disrupted into the quarter after that—or longer.
Related: Distressed retailers, already struggling to attract shoppers and service debt, may find it difficult to remain solvent due to the spread of the coronavirus and measures taken by governments and companies to contain it.
Entertainment brands that have long used the festival as a launching pad for major shows, films and media projects, are now scrambling to shore up new strategies. The emerging plan, according to some of them: swallow the losses, salvage and recycle what they can and try to figure out when they can gain back impressions they were counting on.
Media is a people business built on relationships. Pressing the flesh wins deals in ways that spray-and-pray pitches don’t. But when the industry works from home, where meetings are done via Zoom and relationships are strained because we’re all being socially distant, ad sales teams have to quickly reinvent their processes, if not their whole way of operating.
Fox Corp. has taken the unprecedented step of offering Americans unlimited access to cable outlet Fox News Channel during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Many CEOs are giving up their salaries in a show of solidarity for the critical times we are all living in. But when the economic damage to industries is in the hundreds of millions, what’s the point of CEOs shedding their mere million-dollar salaries? Some say it's totally symbolic.
For the first time in more than four decades, Rite Aid is rebranding. The drugstore chain revealed a new logo during an analyst call this week, as well as announcing a new strategy and store layout that it’s dubbed the “store of the future.”
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With the goal of making holistic wellness more accessible, NYU pre-med graduate Trinity Mouzon Wofford founded superfood beauty brand Golde in 2017. Completely self-funding the business, Trinity leaned into community-building and organic marketing which helped her become the youngest black woman to launch a line at Sephora.
