Brands We Love: COVID Response in Our Communities

COVID-19 is affecting everything and everyone on a global scale, and in every way imaginable. Businesses are having to adapt and quickly pivot their business models. And with the promise of lockdown lifting, brand owners will now be defining and refining their strategies to thrive in this post-pandemic climate.

Brands that are able to keep a live pulse on what their customers want and need will be the ones that succeed. At this time, people are holding brands to a higher standard; their efforts in supporting the fight against the virus and their response to employees and the community at large are all under scrutiny.

In our offices across the world, we’re noticing brands that are attuned to people’s need and motivations at this time, and are stepping up to help others. Check out some of the great things that brands are doing in the places our employees call home:

Johannesburg

 Ed Slabbert, Developer

Vumatel, local fibre provider, announced that they would be upgrading the line speeds of their customers at no extra cost for April and May. With every non-essential company either closing or moving to remote working, internet performance was crucial to business’ survival.

Vumatel’s announcement prompted other fibre and service providers to offer similar benefits to their customers. I think this extraordinary act has significantly impacted the general population’s mood and productivity during this lockdown!

 Courtney Huddy, Business Analyst

Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) are most at risk during this economic downturn we’re experiencing. Especially in emerging markets like South Africa. It’s heartening and encouraging to see that a group of businesses, led by Willowton Group and Al Baraka Bank, have joined forces to set up the Giving for Hope Foundation. Through the Foundation, they’ll be providing interest-free loans to SMMEs to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on these businesses and their employees.


Philadelphia

Ethan Yudis, Sales Manager

Philly startup GoPuff is a delivery service that provides everything that you might find in an American pharmacy – toiletries, hygiene products, over-the-counter medicines, snacks, etc. Not only have they become a godsend for sourcing hard-to-find items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer, but they’re doing their part to help the Philadelphia community in several different ways.

Besides giving employees pay bumps and increasing jobs by hiring thousands of drivers across the country, they’ve also partnered with local companies like Federal Donuts and La Colombe for a quid pro quo to keep local business afloat. They’ve also donated $1 million in orders to employees at participating hospitals on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic through their Health Care Support Initiative. In the Philly area, that means employees at Thomas Jefferson University and University of Pennsylvania hospitals will each get $25 toward GoPuff orders — and free delivery. Way to go, GoPuff!

 Anne Johnson, Content Director

Philly has a lot of breweries and distilleries and many of them have pivoted to making hand sanitizer. New Liberty Distillery, for example, usually manufactures whiskey but owner Rob Cassell wanted to do something for the community. He wanted to distribute hand sanitizer to frontline workers and ensure that it met the standards of the World Health Organization.

He ended up recruiting a number of people, from stakeholders to the PA Distillers Guild, a number of state and federal elected officials, county health departments, relief agencies, private donors and plastics suppliers. The result? New Liberty ended up making 1.3 million bottles of hand sanitizer for frontline workers in Pennsylvania. Recipients include hospitals, law enforcement, first responders and post offices.


London

 Charlotte Walls, Sales Director

Doisy and Dam, a sustainable chocolate brand, is accepting donations to deliver to those in the National Health Service. Each donation costs a mere £5 and 100% of the cost goes towards the chocolate hampers, which go to hospitals across the country. I love that they’re giving back to NHS in a way that lets them have a little treat at the end of the day – they deserve it!

 Katie Wrightson, Head of Content

William Grant & Sons, who own the famous gin brand Hendrick’s, have shifted the production in three of its distilleries from gin to hand sanitizer. They’re aiming to supply over 5 million litres of ethanol over the next few weeks.

We’ve been keeping tabs on how people feel about Hendrick’s over the past few months. Since announcing this move, their Empathy score has shot up 79%, showing that people in the gin category feel they understand better than ever what people need right now. Their Clarity – how clear their role or purpose is – has seen double-digit growth of 109%!

Brands worldwide are pitching in to do what they can for their community and for critical members of the workforce. On our Brand Management platform, which captures what people feel and think about brands daily, these brands would score highly in Empathy, Integrity and Connection. And our platform is providing AI-powered guidance to help brands navigate their way through and beyond the pandemic.

Is your brand doing something good for COVID-19? Check out how your brand scores across our 16 Drivers and put yourself in position to win.