Before you buy out B&Q’s greenhouses for your sweat-box-social-distance pods, order 10,000 branded masks or rush and bung a few dishes on Deliveroo for your restaurant ask yourself - do you want to relaunch with a wave or a ripple?

With energy, time and budget being finite things do you want to make a big, but short-lived, splash with your relaunch comms or do you want to drop something carefully that induces cumulative term growth? In these uncharted waters for the hospitality industry, you have to pick-up your brand building oar and paddle for the long run rather than choosing a quick accelerated sales driver which will run out of energy before you get to dry land. It’s a hard one to weigh up especially in such choppy financial waters.

If you have any agency or colleague suggesting a relaunch stunt where you create an anti-bac-welcome-back gimmick, dress your teams in hazmat suits, have a new social distancing version of your logo or suggest a big welcome back discount- I’d keep 10*∞ meters distance from them, not just two! At this stage, you need to be priming trust and value - not fireworks and glitter bombs.

What you need to do is get back to the roots and value of your brand’s offerings and communications. Simplify everything and push it out to those already listening with ears pricked eager to hear your news. Focus on winning back the clients you had before making a mad grab for new customers. Safe bets, not big risks. For example, with home cooking kits there is a huge trust for effort exchange at play here. People are only going to really splash out and let the brands they really love into their kitchens. They’re not going to have a one-night stand with someone they barely know in the current context.

It’s important to not get disheartened and know that every concept has a post-COVID counterpart that will work. You just need to do the groundwork to find it rather than winging it or rushing in with a hard-on for short term sales. Sam Robert, (Boston Tea Party Boss Man) speaking to Propel sums it up perfectly: “When it is about survival and there is fear about people’s jobs, ultimately and understandably people will start to focus on short-termism and short-term profits above everything else and I think that would be a mistake. We believe if you look after people and the planet then profit looks after itself.” In these new changing tides work out how best you stay afloat comfortably.

Think of building something sturdy, something to last the journey. Opt to take the time to craft robust fisherman boat over a Tom Hank’s style castaway raft. Build something to last the storm and that will look after your Wilsons (far-fetch loyal customers metaphor right here). If Hanks had only taken an extra hour to build Wilson a little safety rope or secure seat he would be a happier man today.

I think this is imperative to accept the context of our situation. We cannot deny that things have changed. Look at the current emerging consumer and industry trends - it’s gonna be a different kettle of fish moving forward. Consumer and employee habits, behaviours and confidences have and will be irrevocably altered by this pandemic. However, though the context has changed the way you talk to your customers and their core desires hasn’t.

“It took millions of years for man’s instincts to develop. It will take millions more for them to even vary. It is fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with unchanging man, with his obsessive drive to survive, to be admired, to succeed, to love, to take care of his own.” (Bill Bernbach).

Tempt, identify and communicate the real ‘why’ that brings your customers through your door and lead with that. Safety procedures and priming trust is a given, reassure your guests, but don’t get fixated on it as your primary comms. (A must-read: Mark Ritson on “The New Normal, another bullshit line marketers have to swallow.”)

You need to approach your lockdown relaunch like your starting out a new, baby faced brand. And hey lucky for you, you already have a boatload of past-diners, sales data, followers and fans that you can tap into. You need to get dirty fingernails.

Get under the surface of your business, your marketplace, your category, your budgets, your team, the trends, mood and spending powers projections and form a plan to reposition your model, service and price accordingly to the context. As for marketing, all your energy should be focused on identifying every past customer, follower and local to re-introduce yourself to them. Remind them why it’s awesome dining out with you in a creative way. Then, when they’re in, maximize and make every cover count both in the sense of brand experience and sales. Invest in those little personal brand touches/actions, as they will turn the experience into fond memories.

And hey, double, double lucky for us all, a badass bunch of sector-leading agencies have put together a 100-page playbook. Hey, you have a plan! Download it and activate it and above all, ask for help. Help from them, from your employees, your designer to scope your sites, your suppliers to do a Zoom training session, from industry buddies to sense check things and above all from your customers. “What do you want to see when we reopen?” “What do you need from your friendly-neighbourhood-operator?” These are questions, we should all should be asking as the more collaborative, connected, collective your comeback approach is, the bigger and more positive those ripples are going to be that you generate.

To finish, let two data wizards Les Binet and Peter Field put some positive wind in those sails to opt for long term brand growth over short terms sale activations when your Finance Director or CEO is breathing down your neck demanding flashmob covers and sales. They analyzed over 9000+ IPA Marketing Effectiveness award submission for campaigns spanning over 50 years and found when it comes to long term profitability prioritized brand-building strategy balance with sensible sales activations is the best path to longevity.

Do you want to make a wave or start a ripple of growth?

What Do You Want To Start a Wave or a Ripple?