The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken many businesses globally. Some brands have allocated their marketing budget to either helping in the efforts to beat the virus and/or shifted their focus on digital strategies. Here we tackle the statistics on the Coronavirus outbreak, how consumers are reacting, and how brands should respond to the situation. Passionation is a content and influencer marketing company that connects brands and influencers together to create projects that speak to different types of audiences and industries: Automotive, FMCG, Travel and Leisure, Health and Wellness, Banking and Finance, Fashion and Retail, and more. Learn more: https://passionation.co/ph/ For inquiries and consultations, reach out to us via email at ph.marketing@passionation.co

1. Consumer Behaviour Insights:
Coronavirus Pandemic

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• Agenda
Coronavirus outbreak statistics
How are consumers reacting?
How should brands respond to the situation?
1
2
3

3. Coronavirus
Outbreak Statistics

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• Coronavirus Outbreak Digital Trends
Based on Google search trends, the term “coronavirus” is one of the top recent searches. Based on `1 of our key publisher- China
Press’ statistic, their article that relates to Coronavirus has much higher PV as it’s one of most recent time’s topics of concern.
China Press’s Coronavirus’s related article’s PV
China Press’s non Coronavirus related article PV
Source: Google Trend

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• Coronavirus Outbreak Digital Trend- Innity Network
Based on Innity’s DMP data, we observed a daily active user spike after the outbreak of Coronavirus on 25th January 2020.
Hence we should leverage on the spike of traffic & target health conscious audiences.
*Innity internal DMP data (SEA Market)

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• Increase of Monthly Total Imp from Dec 2019 - Feb 2020
*Innity internal DMP data (SEA Market)

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A steady growth among Beauty & Health seekers after the announcement of the coronavirus outbreak was also observed.
*Innity internal DMP data (SEA Market)

8. How are consumers
reacting?

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• Consumers focus on bare necessities
Consumers focus on bare necessities and expect brands to reliably supply and deliver them
The COVID-19 situation has a lot of similarities with SARS in consumer buying behaviour. With the outbreak’s end still uncertain,
brands must find ways to reasonably sustain supply to meet consumer demand.
THEN
SARS
NOW
COVID-19
Shoppers making ‘panic
purchases’ was very
common behavior
Hand wash has
become more and more
popular during and post-
Sars
Food items with long
shelf life had also seen
a great uptake, such as
biscuits, instant noodles,
soup bouillons and soy
sauce
Consumers said they
buy more of
Consumers said they
buy less of
Personal hygiene
Health / nutrition
Home cleaning
Alcoholic beverages
Luxury items
Meat / seafood
Source: ”COVID-19 Impact on the Asian consumers’ perceptions and behaviors” by Kantar, Feb 2020

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• Consumer are more concerned on health & financial planning
Apart from thinking of their current safety, consumers also think about the future a great deal
Aware with the significant decrease in commercial activity in their surroundings, consumers worry about what possible health or
economic repercussions the outbreak might bring if it worsens further.
Top concerns from consumers about the COVID-19 situation
said they panic about running out of
essentials, ending up making ‘panic
purchases’
Believe this is going to be
worse than an economic recession
with the risk of people losing jobs
are worried about
falling sick
feel the situation demands them to
be even more proactive about
financial planning and security for
the future
30% 34%
46%
60%
Source: ”COVID-19 Impact on the Asian consumers’ perceptions and behaviors” by Kantar, Feb 2020

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• Consumers are shifting more towards online activities
+32%
Increase in online shopping
activities across all markets
+42%
Increase in home streaming
Source: ”COVID-19 Impact on the Asian consumers’ perceptions and behaviors” by Kantar, Feb 2020

12. How should brands
respond to the situation?

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Insight #1
People are looking to trusted brands to
provide them with safety and security in
testing times. They want to be assured that
the brands they choose are in control of
their supply chains, transparent and
trustworthy.
Insight #2
People expect brands to:
• Deliver real value
• Act responsibly
• Do right by the community, including
their employees
Brands that were able to deliver purpose in
an ethical way saw their value grow twice
as much as average brands.
Source: ”COVID-19: What do consumers expect from brands?” by Kantar, Feb 2020

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• Cross-functional efforts required for near term recovery
Brand Value ChainMarketing
Build value chain preparedness
for a bounce-back
• Extend credit to traditional offline
distributors to secure core channels and
quickly replenish after the epidemic
• Deploy resources to jumpstart social/O2O
strategic collaboration
• Build-in increase demand into production
planning as soon as end of epidemic is in
sight
Flexible, fast-response
marketing investment
• Avoid removing all ads, cautiously select
marketing channels during epidemic
• Plan “bounce-back/retaliatory consumption”
campaigns in advance, quickly pick up ad
spending post-epidemic
Adjust communication message to
track consumer sentiment
• Leverage PR to demonstrate a “reliable”
brand image
• Craft product story around “home &
healthy” and create new selling point
• Build on positive image and continue to
win customer support

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• Examples from China: Hershey’s accelerating
digital transformation during COVID-19
Multiple initiatives to alternate channel focus are
accelerated during the outbreak…
…with re-allocated marketing resources towards
eCom, O2O and new digital media
• Planned to increase digital marketing spend in
2020
• Shifted significant Q1 offline spend to online, likely
to increase in Q2 as well
• Planned to launch brand mini-program in before
Q2
• Initiative accelerated given the outbreak
• Planned to strengthen JBP with leading O2O
platforms
• Tightened collaborations during outbreak to
increase online exposure
Digital
Marketing
WeChat
Mini-Program
O2O
>

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• Enhanced Digital Marketing Capabilities
Shifting offline marketing resource to online in new
media forms
EG: Live streaming
Shifting offline market campaigns to digital marketing
(Tik Tok, OTT platforms- VIU or trusted news
platform)

17. Livestream with Passionation
Proposed space, layout and equipment for any Live Streaming sessions that will be held
in house to ease execution and monitoring.

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Passionation’s
Capabilities on
live streaming

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What we have
done
previously

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• Passionation Population
5,000+
NANO INFLUENCERS
1,000+
PREMIUM INFLUENCERS

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• Why work with us?
Script & Content
Preparation
Studio Preparation &
Production Crew
Talent Sourcing &
Talent Management

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• Reach wider audiences by extending
the livestream through our group of publishers

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Contact us to re-strategize your marketing
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