During the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) and other social distancing activities, business players need to adapt and transform their business digitally. Taking lessons from China, businesses slowly rebound after making some digital transformation as their business survival strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. This digital activity at least could help business players to maintain their sustainable cash flow.

Digital activation combined with creative communication can bring advantages for brands, considering the fact that Indonesia is one of the countries with high penetration to internet connection. “Digital 2020”, a collaborative study from HootSuite and We Are Social, recorded that internet users in Indonesia increased up to 175,4 million users with over 64 percent level of penetration.

Creative execution through digital platforms has been implemented by some brands, one of them is from e-commerce sector. Understanding that stay-at-home concept does not necessarily influence people to actively go on online shopping, some e-commerce brands have come up with creative ideas to respond to the pandemic situation through shopentertainment concept as added value. This concept brings the potential buyers to feel the sensation of doing online shopping and being entertained at the same time. JD.com, for example are collaborating with one of the television shows, “Welcome Back To The Sound”, a variety show that engages famous influencers in China. The interesting part of this strategy is the location setting which uses products from JD.com with interesting, fresh, and cute design. This creative communication is expected to not only entertain the potential buyers, but also to give relevant description of products that they want to buy.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, Lazada airs almost a full 5.000-hour entertainment show that is informative through live streaming of Shoppertainment LazLive #BerkahAdadiRumah that can be enjoyed from home by using Ramadhan as its momentum. Moreover, Lazada cooperates with Telkomsel and XL, two big-mobile internet operators, to help visitors enjoying the live stream of shoppertainment in LazLive Lazada channel and charging them free of internet quota. .

Besides using a new concept, using social media can be a powerful strategy during this current situation. As a private company, Sarinah iinnovates with Siasad (Sarinah Shopping Assistant and Delivery) to outsmart the impact of store shut down and working from home regulation and to manage the sales during this COVID-19 situation. In contrast with Sarinah, other brands tend to optimise and focus more on video content in delivering brand message. Tokopedia for example, are publishing video ads in Youtube with the title “Bagi-bagi Semangat Ramadhan Bersama Tokopedia di 4 Mei 2020!” that succeeded to achieve 16.5 millions views within a week.

Google and Apple came up with a cutting-edge strategy that deserves an applause in responding to COVID-19 situation. As tech giants in business competition, the two brands decided to partner on establishing a COVID-19 contact tracing technology that reaches one third of the world’s population. This spirit of collaboration is a motivating reference for brands in Indonesia to collaborate more and to formulate the right response.

Regardless of how brands responding to COVID-19 crisis, communication still makes an important key to remain present in the middle of audience even in the worst condition. Furthermore, great creativity can support brands to deliver its message, so the relationship between brand and audience will be built and maintained harmoniously.

Once again, the pandemic has forced brands to embrace channels and tactics that are beyond their comfort zones and challenged the status quo in a positive way. Organisation and brand enthusiasts need to prioritise creative communication during this difficult time so that the the sense of brand attachment with the audience can be well maintained in this pandemic situation.

Written by: Margaretha Nazhesda

Every business owner surely has a rule of thumb when doing their daily operational business. Yet, having a go-to plan is not always work, especially when you are facing a great storm. As public relations agency, we are keen to promote flexible partnership with our clients as we are for sure understand how tough it is to build and sustain the ship. While you are enjoying our write-up, do let us know should you need further discussion on how to rejuvenate the communications strategy when the rainbow comes at last.