With consumer buying habits changing dramatically in many categories, and production and retail supply chains in flux, it has become ever more important that marketers embrace agile media planning, scheduling and content selection, says MediaSense.

In an exclusive article for WARC, the global media adviser observes that the coronavirus’s impact on the global media ecosystem is now becoming clear, forcing a rethink of campaign planning and implementation, media processes and talent management across the industry.

“Brands will be taking decisions on which messages to communicate and in what tone of voice,” it says.

They will be considering “whether to shift investment in or out of short-term sales activation into or out of long-term branding activity, and thinking carefully about editorial environments and media choice.”

For some, faced with a lack of supply or a lack of stock, the choice may be whether to pause or continue media spending.

Within the media ecosystem, digital channels are the first and easiest to switch off, having the shortest lead times. Media which are used tactically such as print, radio and the TV ‘scatter market’, sold with a shorter lead-time, will also see declines.

“Media owners will be keen to encourage brands to defer rather than cancel bookings, a difficult sell given the limited visibility around the longevity of the virus,” says MediaSense.

“Brands which decide to continue spending will then face the choice of reducing advertising pressure to sustain brand awareness at a lower intensity, or to maintain advertising pressure in a falling market, both of which mean shaving budgets lower.”

With the UEFA Euro 2020 football championships being postponed and the Olympics under pressure to follow suit, “a more significant layer of brands will stop spending, which will lead to significant media deflation, enabling brands to scale back budgets further and still meet their communications objectives,” it suggests.

“This is a downward spiral that media vendors will be anxious to avoid.”

For more on the likely impact of changing consumer behaviours and changes in category spend on paid media, read the MediaSense article in full: The impact of COVID-19 on media strategy.

Sourced from WARC