Brands in time of crisis: The challenge of evolution

Celina I. Matias

Perhaps no business could be considered spared from the disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. And while in good times, marketing spend is already often met with scrutiny, all the more it is expected to be the first to go in times of crisis such as the one we all find ourselves in now.

For marketing professionals, of course, this is a harmful notion. Companies should resist the instinct to forgo brand-building when finances run tight, which is based on the thinking that marketing is not an essential expense. The truth is that a brand’s resiliency should be put on full display precisely during times of crisis.

Consumers as well as the general public will remember brands that were with them in difficult times. When the dust settles, they will gravitate toward the familiar, the tried and tested, and the true. Sustaining and fortifying brand equity when the going gets tough is the mission that any company worth its salt should take to heart.

The story of Phoenix as today’s leading independent oil player and energy company is a testament to such power of brand-building, and how investing in brand equity undeniably contributes to the bottom line. Barely two decades ago, it was a fledgling enterprise established in Davao City in Mindanao.

Through dint of hard work and traditional Filipino values of patience and perseverance, Phoenix quietly worked its way up the cutthroat industry influenced by the hierarchy of the big players. Phoenix’s brand strategy was affirmed when it received the highest distinction of marketing company of the year at the prestigious 2019 Agora Awards.

Amid the coronarivus public health crisis, the challenge is how to sustain the momentum. This crisis serves as an eye-opener to the role of brand and marketing in business resiliency. While there seems to be no clear end in sight yet to the pandemic, companies can draw on brand equity to keep engaged with its publics and hopefully continue with business as usual in better times. —CONTRIBUTED

The author is the assistant vice president of Phoenix.