South Africa might be the cradle of civilisation but we are a young country and with us celebrating June 16, we are excited to introduce the Pat on Brands Top 16 Brands by the Youth. This is a recognition of the amazing brands that are built by young people.
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African brands are not getting enough love from home and we need to resolve this. According to the annual Brand Africa survey for the 100 most admired brands in Africa, only 13% are homegrown while the rest of the list is dominated by European and North American brands.
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This past week, the Coronavirus aka Covid19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation. This means that the virus is now a matter of global concern and cannot be taken lightly. It affects every sector of the economy, from arts and culture to travel and tourism. And of course, some sectors are more affected than others.
We have seen stocks plummeting in the markets, with some of the world’s most richest people losing some of the wealth. Jeff Bezos (Amazon Founder) who is the world’s richest person has already lost about $14 billion since the beginning of the month due to the Coronavirus.
So what does this mean for the brands owned by these rich people?
Every brand irrespective of the sector in which it operates in is affected by this pandemic and should be concerned. Some brands have already become casualties of the Coronavirus. Corona (the beer brand) has been reported to have lost over R4.3 billion in revenue in China alone, due to the spread of the Coronavirus. In South Africa, Corona is a leading brand in the premium beer segment and we are yet to see the impact thereof.
Social distancing is said to be one of the best ways of curbing the spread of the Corona Virus. In actual fact transmissions can be reduced by 25% if social distancing is imposed. For brands, this means that brands can’t have activations and leverage from any events that they sponsor because people will be required to stay at home.
We have already seen some major events getting canceled such as the South by Southwest in the U.S – an annual media event got canceled due to the Coronavirus. Locally we’ve seen events such as the Heineken F1 Joburg, VIVO Nation, MTN Bushfire (in Swaziland) being postponed due to the outbreak. The brands behind these major events will miss out on the opportunity to showcase and give their consumers unforgettable experiences and increase brand love.
Social distancing does not only affect the brands but also the local people in the areas where the events will be hosted. The event organisers, drivers, the hospitality sector, vendors, etc lose revenue due to the cancellation/postponements of these events.
The perception of South Africa as a destination has been also affected by the outbreak. How the country is responding to the pandemic will determine how it is being perceived by its counterparts and the continent at large. The economy of SA is not growing and the tourism industry is earmarked as one of the sectors to contribute largely to the GDP growth. Tourism has dropped by 3% globally and this will have a ripple effect on South Africa.
This pandemic is also an opportunity for South Africa to be a shining example to the rest of the African continent, and to show the rest of the world that it is capable of managing a major crisis. There are also matters of international relations that South Africa has to consider when it comes to travel bans being issued.
It is also in times like these where we see which brands really care about its people and customers and which brands put profits before people. It is without a doubt that personal care and hygiene brands are going to profit a lot from this pandemic. Some retailers have already increased the prices of hand sanitisers by almost 100% because of the increased demand. On the other hand, Apple, for example, closed all of its stores in China and Italy indefinitely to reduce the spread of the virus and committed $15 million to help with world recovery. Gautrain made sanitisers available at their Sandton, Hatfield and OR Tambo stations, whilst other corporates disabled their biometrics systems.
To conclude, in the midst of any calamity there’s an opportunity. This is the time for brands to show us how much they care about the people they serve. The opportunities lie in educating and increasing awareness about the pandemic. Brands need to be empathetic to those are affected.
This is also time brands need to take their digital marketing efforts seriously as people are now glued to their digital devices. For retailers, e-commerce is the way to go.
Racism has become a hot topic on social media and brands are faced with the challenge of upholding non-racialism within their companies. It is just unfortunate that people work on brands and not the other way around. Sometimes people tend to do despicable things such as racist acts. The 12th of May could have been business as usual at the Starbucks in Philadelphia (in the USA), however a Starbucks employee who happened to be white saw it fit to call the police to arrest two black males; Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson for trespassing. It was after she asked the pair if they needed help which they declined by saying they were waiting for a business meeting. A few minutes later, the police came and arrested the pair.
As usual, social media went abuzz after a video of the incident emerged online and as “expected” Starbucks was accused of racially profiling and a call to boycott Starbucks was made. It is incidents such as this one that can damage a brand. H&M learned the hard way at the beginning of this year, when they showed a black boy wearing a sweater with the words “Coolest Monkey In Jungle”. The company has since experienced a massive decline in sales and of cause profit. H&M clothes to the value of $4.3 Billion remained unsold.
These are some of the consequences that brands will have to face for racially bias acts. The biggest mistake that brands make when accused of racism is assuming that after issuing a press release with the words “we are sorry, this is not who are as a brand” consumers will automatically forget. Consumers have heard such statements for the longest time. They want to see action i.e what the brand is doing to address such incidents and what the brand has done previously to deal similar situation.
Starbucks is doing something phenomenal in addressing the racial profiling incident that took place in Philadelphia. It is not a perfect solution however a step in the right direction that other brands can follow.
1. Take full responsibility- don’t play the blame game
Starbucks could have easily isolated themselves from the incident just like OUTsurance did when they blamed a juniour staff member for the “anti-black ad”. Starbucks, instead, took full responsibility of the actions by their employee and apologized. Brands need to learn that isolating themselves from issues of racism by their employees does not make them any better.
2. Talk is cheap
Brands can always talk themselves out of a situation, however that can only take them so far. Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson took the onus upon himself to meet with the victims and apologized profusely to them. According to the Communications Manager for Starbucks South Africa, Fareed Mohammed Starbucks will be closing its more than 8 000 company-owned stores in the US on the afternoon of May 29 to conduct racial-bias education geared toward preventing discrimination in Starbucks stores. Starbucks South Africa will also conduct similar training once the training kit has been completed. Starbucks is really putting their money where their mouth is. Dove still kept their “normal to dark” labelled body creams on the shelves even after consumers deemed the packing to be racist. Other brands should learn to invest money to address racism to ensure long term success.
3. Engage with the victims
Starbuck’s CEO took time from his busy schedule to meet with the pair to apologize. Others may argue and say he had to be because a lot is at stake. What he did is remarkable, more so that the two gentlemen will be involved in the policy development. The owner of The Bungalow Restaurant in Cape Town didn’t take even two minutes of his time to address his restaurant patrons who were labelled “2 Blacks” on a till slip, instead he blamed the billing system.
4. Provide regular updates
Communication is key in any crisis. A single press release can only go so far. Starbucks issued a series of statements about where they stand as brand regarding the incident and what are they doing to better the situation. Spur Steak Ranches only issued one press release after the a black lady was attacked at one of its outlets. Spur has since experienced a steady decline in sales and profits.
It for these reasons Starbucks gets a Pat. Please remember to share the article on all your social media platforms.
Mandela Day is a day that is set out to commemorate the birth of one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen, Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela. In his remembrance, ordinary people are required to dedicate at least 67 minutes of their time to doing something good for others, particularly those in need. Great concept right? However, brands have found the day opportune for them to push their brands and drive sales. One particular brand that really caught my attention was Pick n Pay, a leading retail company in South Africa. Pick n Pay had a “target” of donating 1 million meals to the less fortunate. In order for them to be able to do so, they invited the public to help them reach their target. How convenient, this is a company that makes an annual turnover of more than R75 billion, yet they are asking the public to make donation to fulfill their #MandelaDay ambitions. Here is my thing, if Pick n Pay wants to donate 1 million meals for #MandelaDay, they can easily do so solely from their pockets.
Pick n Pay, however was not the only brand that was opportunistic on #MandelaDay. Many other brands flooded our timelines with their “good deeds” for #MandelaDay, some brands asked their followers to Retweet and Share their content in exchange for donations; what a clever way of increasing followers and brand awareness? If you (as a brand) want to giveaway R67 000 to charity, why should we (the public) retweet the brand’s tweet 67 000 times? This also goes to show how businesses never give without gaining anything. Gary Vaynerchuk often speaks about how marketers ruin everything, in this instance brands are exploiting #MandelaDay with their desire for PR.
Some people would argue by saying that at the end of the day someone is getting assisted or fed, while others say #MandelaDay is for those who want to be seen helping other people. Therefore they would not partake in #MandelaDay initiatives and give a chance to those who have to tick boxes for their CSI projects. Here is my thing, if giving back is ingrained within a brand, days such as #MandelaDay should not be the highlight of the brand giving back. A huge slap on the brands that are using #MandelaDay to meet their business objectives.
I am interested in knowing your thoughts on #MandelaDay and how brands are capitalising on Mandela Day for their own benefit. Please leave your comment below, and Also doo remember to get in touch with @PatOnBrands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Racism is one of the most sensitive topics in the world, and more often than not, many people would prefer not to talk about it. According to Sipho Hlongwane, blogs editor at Huffington Post South Africa, racist acts occur daily in South Africa. When a racial incident involving a high-profile individual or a brand takes place; people are quick to take it to social media while brands, on the other hand, keep the distance.
For many years, brands have been accused of racism; whether through statements (online or offline) that were made by executives and/or producing “racist adverts”. For example in 2006, the MD of Cristal champagne Frederic Rouzaud made a statement that Hip Hop artists (mostly black) used the champagne in a way that could be detrimental to the brand. This statement saw Jay-Z calling for the brand to be boycotted. In South Africa, earlier this year (2016) Standard Bank’s economist Chris Hart was suspended by the bank after he tweeted that “25 years after apartheid ended, the victims are increasing, along with a sense of entitlement and hatred towards minorities ”. The tweet offended many people and some political parties marched to bank’s head offices. Standard Bank distanced itself from the statement by tweeting that they do not endorse such.
A classic example of a racist advert would be the TV commercial produced for a Chinese laundry detergent brand, Qioabi. The commercial shows a black man and a young Chinese woman are flirting, as he leans in for a kiss she thrusts a detergent capsule in his mouth and bundles him into a laundry machine. She sits atop the machine as the man spins and screams inside until, to her apparent delight, out pops a handsome Chinese man dressed in a clean, white t-shirt. The advert caused an outrage all over the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X27dvuBSyXE%20
Source: YouTube
Brands are driven by people and how a brand “behaves” is a result of the people who run it. If a brand is perceived to be racist, it means the people behind it are sadly racists. In most cases, when a brand is associated with racism, the executives of the brand are quick to put blame on the individuals working in the brand. Let’s take The Bungalow , Cape Town restaurant racial profiling incident, where two black patrons were labelled “2 Blacks” on their receipt . The patrons took offense of being labelled according their race and accused the restaurant of being racist. When they asked the restaurant manager why they were labelled according to their race and they were not satisfied with the response. They then took to social media and that caused a huge uproar on social media and most major news wrote articles about it. Some people who visited the restaurant vowed to never set their foot at the restaurant again. The owners of The Bungalow came out in their defence saying it was the waiter’s fault and they have a clear policy of non-discrimination on the basis of gender, race or religion or sexual orientation.
Here is the thing, as a brand owner you need to be aware of what your brand is associated with and what is on everything that carries your brand name even receipts. It is understandable that one cannot control who buys and uses your brand and in what way. However, brands need to make their stance on certain issues clear before they even occur. This can be done by having company core-values that every employee working for the brand will be familiar with and lives by. Some people would argue that a brand cannot be held accountable for how its employees behave. The main thing is that, the brand has influence over their employees and that matters.
According to Bruce Crutchfield, brands have a bigger role in fuelling democracy. This means that, brands have a moral obligation to stand up for basic human rights and the protection of the environment in which they operate. It is therefore important for brands to take a proactive stance when it comes to issues of race than being reactive because the impact can be very detrimental. As the adage goes, people are more likely to forget the things you say to them but they will never forget how you make them feel. If your clients feel that there are elements of racism in your establishment, they are more likely to avoid visiting it regardless of what you say because 80% of purchase decisions are influenced by emotions.
Please let us know about your thoughts on brands and racism and share your experiences around the topic by leaving a comment below.
Also do remember to share and to get in touch with @PatOnBrands on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and SnapChat.