How brands become beacons in the crisis. 11 Theses on the New Normal.
The Corona crisis differs from other crises because it completely turns our everyday self-evidence upside down. The mindless hustle and bustle of the hamster wheel has been halted, and people are increasingly asking themselves the question of meaning. What role can brands play in this new era? What determines whether they are representatives of yesterday or beacons and pilots into a new era?
"It can't stay the way it is and it won't be the way it used to be!". With these words, a test person in the in-depth interview describes the strange in-between world in which we are currently living. Meaningful placebos and fake promises are rejected now more than ever; hope is for genuine renewal. Much of what was weighed in the crisis has been found to be too easy. Higher, faster, further is out. Instead of an unleashed arbitrariness, people are looking for stability, for a new honesty. The old world is dissolving, but the new world is not yet tangible - we are in an incubation period in which society is redefining itself.
For companies, too, this in-between world means a phase of reorientation, accompanied by a return to their purpose, the social mission of their brand. However, the brand purpose is more specific and more authentic than a pure sustainability promise, which is usually taken for granted by consumers today anyway.
But the personal everyday relevance of a brand is also changing. Customers accept neither a "business as usual" nor a submergence of brands, but rather demand a new constitutional promise for the new everyday life. How do I find connectedness without embrace? How intensity without excess and kicks? People want to be touched by their brand without going steep - without losing control.
In their pilot function, they can build on the trust they have developed over years and decades. Those who have accompanied their customers through the vicissitudes of life since childhood are seen as a reliable foothold even in times of crisis. But successful brands are not only reliable stabilizers, they also react sensitively to changing times and develop an idea of what the new era might look like.
Incidentally, the longing for beacons moves not only customers, but also company employees. We are in the midst of an evolutionary process. Whereas organization and control used to be the primary focus, the task now is to inspire and motivate employees. Purpose is therefore not only important externally, but also internally - and creates commitment and a shared identity in digital times, when more work is done in the home office.
11 trends as a result of Corona:
- Return to the tried and true (the comeback of the ravioli can)
- Revival/renaissance of DOIYS (baking, cooking, crafts, puzzles)
- New work-life balance or the deceleration virus
- Revision of personal relations
- Digitization of business traffic
- Home office or emancipation from the collective
- New leadership culture: role model replaces authority
- Revaluation of many values - new sense orientation instead of higher, faster, further
- Sustainability as a general hygiene factor - Purpose as a special diff factor
- New confidence in change: "We can also do things differently!
- Strengthening regionality and economic autonomy
