CREATING THROUGH CORONA

March 16, 2020 Team Soho Advertising, Creative  

What in hell is going on in the world right now?The Coronavirus has reaped havoc on a world scale that hasn’t been seen in a very long time, if ever. 

The markets have crashed, companies have had millions, if not hundreds of millions wiped off their value, and there has been multiple sporting events cancelled due to the pandemic. One of these has been the English Premier league, who on Friday gone cancelled all games until the 4th April after Arsenal’s head coach was diagnosed with the virus. This follows a shutdown from near enough all of the European leagues as well as the leagues in Asia, America and a few in South America. Not only football, other sports have suspended games and events until further notice. Absolutely crazy.

What we have been told is to wash our hands amongst other bits from Boris Johnson and the World Health Organisation, and those effected should place themselves in a 2 week in-house quarantine, isolating themselves from family and friends. This is all well and good but what about work? 

The creative industry has been deeply affected. Record labels have seen their artists live shows cancelled for the forthcoming months as festivals and organisers take precautions. TV and film have been disrupted just as much, as many productions have shut down temporarily as companies safeguard those employed on projects. A lot of these however are self-employed contractors. Even advertising and online content creators have been hit hard, with a number of them reporting jobs with big brands have been cancelled or postponed for weeks. 

How will the creative industry create its way through this turmoil? Well, social media and group chats are certainly giving it a go with many memes and informative jokes reporting on the state of society as we navigate through this. Only time will tell how the production companies, advertising agencies and content creators get back on their feet. In the meantime we urge all to be safe, responsible, please wash your hands, and ask yourself, how much loo roll do you seriously need?

Read More

CORONAVIRUS: WHEN A DISEASE SOUNDS LIKE YOUR BRAND NAME

February 3, 2020 Team Soho Advertising, Creative  

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.

Read More