How Will Market Research Emerge from the C Crisis?
Coronavirus – it’s hit us all like a whirlwind. Professionally, personally, socially.
LinkedIn is full of people’s stories, some of them salesy, but lots of words of encouragement – and tips for how to cope with circumstances of working from home, managing digital projects with bored kids running around in the background. And illness of course.
Lots has been said in the last few days – and I struggle with business blogging in a time of human crisis.
I’ll still chip in; hopefully there’s something that adds to a conversation, touches a nerve.
Business needs to go on - for life to go on.
Yes, health comes first. No question. But if whole industries go into shut down mode, cancelling and pushing-out projects indefinitely, then the knock-on effect will be severe.
So to budget and project owners: move projects on, keep business flowing and afloat. Please.
Digital really does offer a good solution for many market research briefs.
Experience Marketing – on Sabbatical, back soon
Digital helps without question in a time of needing to reduce infection risks.
But the underlying urge for tactile stuff, sensory experiences and enrichment, including reaching out and meeting people, isn’t going to go away – finding creative ways of integrating live elements into our digital communications is key, keeping it human, engaging.
Mainstream tools are at hand - Skype of course helps, Zoom meetings, WhatsApp group chats and videos too. More are likely to emerge.
Lots of people on LinkedIn have extended open invitations – random strangers included – to ping them for a virtual screen-to-screen chat.
However we emerge from this – in months or weeks, hopefully not later than Q3 – digital will have got a whole lot more human, and no doubt the leading digital and experience agencies are working on this as I write.
Navigating for Extreme Behaviours.
It seems like times of crisis bring out the best in us. I’ve never experienced more empathy and warmth whilst going about my coronavirus-informed shopping and interactions in Berlin.
But also the worst – SM videos of people making money out of selling loo rolls off the back of a lorry at inflated prices don’t reinforce one’s belief in human nature. Same for fights in supermarkets, looting, EU countries looking after themselves rather than countries with greater shortages.
Do we rise to the occasion – or sink to the level of our best training to cope with tough times?
Maybe both. It’s always easy to laugh and shake one’s head at how stupid other people are, whilst correcting one’s hair in the mirror. Let’s hope the positive outliers outshine the rest.
For brands and companies, it’s a new situation – can they position themselves as companions through difficult times in a way that doesn’t appear cheesy or patronizing? Something research can help on maybe.
Re-Thinking Stuff
Much of what we take for granted is disappearing fast – forcing many of us to rethink stuff, behaviours, routines, rituals.
No more meetings, chats at the water-cooler, travel planning – lots of us are right now in the middle of getting used to this. Boredom beckons for some, worry for others.
Will any of this life-before-coronavirus mode ever come back – once we’ve learned to do without office space, and the costs involved for example?
Likely lots will be re-thought. Some companies will disappear or have different ownership, be forced to restructure.
Even if the new normal isn’t clear, it’s likely emerging: present trends are accelerating. For example: the disappearance of shops and businesses that maybe were struggling anyway, a re-think (in the MR space) on how to do co-creation exercises digitally, learning to communicate more crisply in a digital format.
On the up-side, we’ll likely make new contacts, e-meeting at first, which will likely lead to new relationships, however unpredictable.
I’d certainly bet that things won’t go back to the way they were. Time for a bit of scenario planning, re-imagining stuff - before other people do it for us.
Just as our world has changed quickly, it could equally well only be a matter of months before the new future is with us.
Curious, as ever, as to others’ views.
Stay healthy.