Brands Handling Covid-19

COVID-19 has not only disrupted India’s economy but has taken a major toll on the performance of various brands throughout the country, thereby smothering the New Year optimism that started the year. India is among the top 15 economies that are worst affected by the pandemic and many businesses have already suffered a devastating blow with its spread. In a way, brands, not just in India, but around the world are potentially preparing for the worst. At the same time, several brands have tried to put their best feet forward to tackle this health emergency.

The efforts of the telecom brands in spreading awareness about the outbreak is well known. Subscribers of Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone and state-run BSNL are greeted with a pre-recorded warning message on COVID-19. The initiative is overseen by The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Telecommunications. At the same time, the production of major mobile phone companies has been severely impacted due to the disruption in its supply chains. The reason? Most of the components for manufacturing a phone comes from China, the origin of the deadly pandemic.

Perhaps, the aviation industry is the worst affected of the lot. The virus has rattled domestic and international bookings due to passengers being spooked out about contracting the virus. India’s fast-growing airline industry has witnessed a spurge of cancellations and a fall in the booking rates since February 2020. To combat these challenges, many of the airlines such as Indigo and Spicejet have announced free rescheduling of newly booked tickets. Sensing a palpable fear among the passengers, Emirates is working around the clock to ensure that their aircraft cabins are the cleanest using HEPA air filters.

The shivers of Corona Virus are also being felt by the hospitality and tourism industry. With a drop in
the number of travellers, hotel chains have witnessed a fall in its booking. However, companies like Marriott International have taken necessary steps to ensure a healthy stay for their guests. In addition to this, the company has also updated their cancellation policy to offer flexibility to the guests during these challenging times.

Lifebuoy, the personal hygiene brand is encouraging the use of hand sanitizers to promote precautionary practices. Hindustan Unilever has also released a public service print advertisement to urge people to wash hands with alcohol-based. Brands such as Dettol and Godrej have been running a series of awareness campaigns on various social media platforms to roll out information on COVID-19.

Many brands have looked at creativity to spread awareness. Zomato, for instance, has taken the lead to send out precautionary tweets, urging its followers to practice hand hygiene. Amul, famous for its creative artwork, urged to take precautions through wordplay: Better saaf than sorry; “Amul- Always Safe!”. Dabur Chawanprash, the healthcare brand, on the other hand, have been running informative campaigns to drive awareness, and organising Q&A sessions for mothers with Ayurvedic doctors on digital media to address their queries.

One of the unlucky victims of the Coronovirus is the Corona beer, one of world’s most popular beer brand. The purchase of Corona beer has drastically gone down, due to the unfortunate similarity in its name to the virus. The brand has been the subject of several memes and jokes online, and its sales has dipped the lowest since 2018.

In times such as these, brands are analysing their international supply chains The virus has exposed the growing cleavages and faults in the Indian economy, by creating the awareness about overdependence of India’s manufacturing units on China for raw materials and resources. The coronavirus is a lesson in risk management for all Indian companies.

Source: The New York Times