The Corona Diaries: Is COVID Marketing Ethical? Just Ask These Brands

By now, practically every company you’ve ever remotely come into contact with has emailed you about how they are responding to COVID-19, from car sharing companies to private jet providers. The number one overused phrase?

“We’re working around the clock,” which in most cases, is highly doubtful.

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Pandemic marketing: Making lemonade out of one very big lemon.

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Nevertheless, while most companies spouted the expected empathetic message followed by, “we’re here for you,” others went a step further in slipping in a little revenue generation, making lemonade out of one very big lemon.

That’s certainly been the case for branding and marketing “experts” who have hired PR firms to promote them to the media. In just the past 24 hours we’ve received a half dozen “timely” pitches.

When a crisis happens there is usually an endless supply of opportunistic “experts” that are pushed onto the media — most come with a book or end up promoting a company or service.

How about Miri Rodriguez, a “brand storyteller” for Microsoft, who can talk about how at a time like this, companies need to be empathetic with their employees, and also promote her new book?

Or a company that has a “proprietary technology for discovering influencers” and offering “timely data on how COVID-19 is impacting influencer and brand partnerships” – with colorful downloadable graphics to help illustrate?

While subtlety is not their strong suit, other brands have been successful with being more on-brand.

Marriott Hotels was quick to react to the pandemic with hygiene protocols detailed on their website, in press releases, and via e-blast.

For the intrepid traveler, Marriott Hotels sent an e-blast detailing the hygiene protocols that are in place before you arrive at a property and upon arrival, from front door to lobby to rooms, and even back-of-house areas.

Home improvement stores like Ace and Lowes have managed to stay relevant and targeted those who have discovered that cleaning out the garage or weeding the front yard is strangely, some kind of fun.

From day one of the enforced stay-at-home Ace Hardware has blasted out numerous marketing pitches designed to keep people busy painting or gardening, with specials on virtually every department – especially barbeques.

 Ace and Lowes didn’t waste any time taking advantage of a captive audience  — one held captive at home — and promote the quarantine as an opportunity for home improvement and even crafting.

Meanwhile Lowes has launched a DIY crafting campaign called #BuildThanks to get people to make thank you signs for the doctors and nurses on the front lines of the pandemic. While one is supposed to use materials found around the house, Lowes was “crafty” in creating convenient hot links to Lowes.com for nearly every item you’ll need to make any of the six sign ideas.

The pandemic has also been an opportunity for social media giants to do some damage control with their public image.  Remember that not long ago,  facebook drew considerable ire for their data mining, lack of privacy and transparency, and not taking a stand against “fake news” and political propaganda.

Video conferencing apps like Zoom became invaluable during the pandemic, but Skype ended up getting lost in the shuffle.

But the big three — Facebook, Google, and twitter — each created highly detailed community pages dedicated to providing information on virus protection, transmission, and correcting the disinformation and out-and-out lies that are being broadcast by the Trump administration.

Meanwhile, with everyone needing to work from home, companies like Zoom, Webex, Loom, and Salesforce  relaxed their terms of service in an effort to “help” people during this time of need. But it was also a very obvious opportunity for new user acquisition.

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