Imagine setting out your strategies for the third and fourth quarter of the financial year and feeling very optimistic, then from nowhere a viral epidemic of global proportions breaks, and it sounds like the name of your brand. What do you do?
Sounds like the plot from a Netflix Original right? Wrong, as this is the scenario that Corona beer has faced since the start of 2020. Well the first thing is to get your PR team off their well paid derrière and start earning that retainer they’re on.
As the internet starts to hear more about the Coronavirus sweeping China and now spilling on to the rest of the world, Google analytics have shown that searches from around the world seem to be mistaking the virus with the popular Mexican beer. Ouch!
This has definitely got to be one of the worse things that can happen to a global brand as the financial and brand damage can be huge. So what now? Well, once the press release was sent out letting worried consumers know that the virus has nothing to do with drinking their product, Grupo Modelo, the owners of the beer, decided to have some fun with the branding. They definitely win banter of the year as they look to change the packaging from Corona Extra to Ebola Extra, a play on the 2014 virus that swept West Africa. Rumour also has it that they’re gearing up for a multimedia campaign too with the cheeky slogan, “I’m doing great. I’ve got Ebola.” LOL, you’ve got to love it.
