Good for business?

Brands and crises

“Is An Uncertain Future Good For Business?” was the latest in The Marketing Society series of Uncomfortable Conversations, held in London in July 2024. With expert facilitation by Alison Orsi, the panellists shared, with commendable openness, their respective experiences in handling the unprecedented market impacts of COVID-19 and its consequences, and the cost of living crisis.

Tom Sussman of Leo Burnett related his experience with McDonald’s, in particular emphasising a key insight that will surely enjoy a long shelf life: in crisis, customers don’t want care... they want help. 

Mark Sandys of Diageo focused on how Guinness pivoted to support thousands of pubs as they confronted a collapse in on-sales during lockdown.

Listening hard and responding with empathy to customers – prioritising “the job to be done” at particular times – emerge as especially important.

Balancing the discussion from the other side of the table, Victoria Fox of AAR summarised key impacts, implications and learnings for agencies and brands that her business works with. 

So, if we were looking for evidence that...