The current Coronavirus ( COVID-19 ) pandemic crisis has held Thailand and the whole world captive. The overall impact of the pandemic continues to evolve across a range of health consequences, economic effects, political exposure, and personal concerns reflecting social impact and family concerns. […]

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The current COVID-19 pandemic has launched huge humanitarian waves across the globe, uniting the general public, healthcare providers, governments and industry around one common goal – to beat the virus. Even as countries begin easing the restrictive containment measures that govern our daily lives, we can be certain that the post-COVID-19 world will look radically different from the one we have left behind. Global leaders will be at the forefront of the assessment, tackling key questions: could this have been prevented, should finding a treatment have happened sooner and would there have been a more efficient way to limit the disease’s spread?

Research and innovation, led by the pharmaceutical industry, will be at the forefront of these conversations. However, it will bust the debate on the sustainability of our existing innovation eco-system wide open. We need to ask if we can afford for science and innovation to be undermined by an ever-changing public opinion and by policymakers who are compelled to follow it.

In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has developed a somewhat unsavoury reputation. Exponential media coverage of both pricing debates and the opioid crisis has created a distrust of the industry, at a time when we are living in an overall era of suspicion towards large corporations, big institutions and above all, facts. We just have to look at the rapid rise in the anti-vaccination movement to understand how these dynamics can come together in a dangerous cocktail of scientific disregard.

The industry’s negative public perception and criticism from NGOs have triggered the current political atmosphere in the European arena which has made intellectual property (IP) incentives a legislative target in recent years. Reducing IP rights is viewed as a move that undermines innovation by the pharmaceutical industry. On the other hand, it’s praised as an attempt to lower prices by NGOs – albeit a short-sighted one. The introduction of the EU’s Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) Manufacturing waiver for both exports and stockpiling was therefore highly criticised by the industry, but welcomed by many NGOs as a move towards equality.

Fast-forward a couple of years after the ‘lost’ SPC debate, the pharmaceutical industry is now being criticised for its lack of innovation by the same society that formerly considered innovation a dirty word for profit-driven. A FleishmanHillard TRUE Global Intelligence COVID-19 study, released on April 8, 2020, revealed that 67% of respondents believe that pharmaceutical companies are ‘very important’ in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. This ranks the role of the industry second only to that of national governments in the crisis response. Facing an unprecedented pandemic, we need diagnostics, treatment and above all, a vaccine. Innovation is difficult in the best of circumstances, with regulatory burdens and the tedious nature of clinical trials, including for vaccine development. We need an environment that empowers industry to provide solutions for society in the best and worst of times.

We can expect draconian style measures to continue in some form for as long as we can’t control transmission and treatment. We will have a long and difficult wait, losing many loved ones along the way, if our best solution to the crisis at hand is herd immunity. Even this approach remains a huge bet given that at present there is no proof we become immune to the virus once we have been infected and recovered.

The debate around innovation in the context of a pandemic puts forward a very important question – can innovation be turned on and off by demand or should we as a society consistently foster a stronger European research and innovation eco-system to protect our European way of life, and most importantly, our citizens? Can we afford to allow our opinions to fluctuate between the need for a robust innovation framework and the pressure to keep prices down? Such a mindset switch might be best demonstrated by President Donald Trump, who has started calling Pharma bosses ‘geniuses’ (reference to innovation amidst COVID-19), when previously he’d accused the same groups of ‘getting away with murder’ (reference to price).

To conclude, COVID-19 is demonstrating the value of innovation to society in tangible terms. A global pandemic puts everyone’s health and livelihoods at risk, demonstrating the absolute necessity of honing our ability to innovate. In the post-COVID-19 era, private and public sectors will need to come together and evaluate their responses to the crisis in order to understand how Europe’s innovation framework provides an environment where science can thrive. With multiple public commitments to fight the virus being made by almost every single pharmaceutical company, this is a huge opportunity for the industry to demonstrate its value to society and look to change the path of the research and innovation debate.

Most of us are rightly focused on some of the larger and more pressing elements of the COVID-19 response in terms of staying healthy and helping those who aren’t. That said, there are others amongst us taking advantage of the confusion caused by the rapidly changing situation, and we all need to be extra vigilant with data security at this time. Here are some of the actions that should be taken to prevent threats specifically related to COVID-19:

Secure the home office. Some companies were ready to go with this and had no issues transitioning to a remote workforce, while others are scrambling to put tools and infrastructure in place. Those areas of vulnerability will increase as networks and resources get spread thin due to everything from lack of VPN or proper firewalls to employees feeling more empowered to visit sites or view content they otherwise may not in the office. Tips for curtailing some of the risks of remote work include:

• Try not to mix work and leisure activity on the same device
• Be suspicious of any email asking to check or renew your password
• As always, be wary of emails that come from unfamiliar or untrusted sources
• Be sure all software is up to date with privacy tools; add-ons for browsers and patches should be checked regularly
• Be sure all important files are regularly backed-up to help protect against a potential ransomware attack that might restrict access to data
• Check that home Wi-Fi connections are secure, ensuring people in the vicinity can’t snoop

Only get news and video from trusted sources. This ensures the information you’re getting is accurate and the content or applications you’re downloading aren’t malicious. Influential security blogger Brian Krebs and Business Insider described specific instances where hackers were using an accurate COVID-19 map as a cover to infect devices with malware.

Be wary of “too good to be true.” The U.S. Department of Justice already cracked down on an organization that was promising a bogus “vaccine” to COVID-19. It goes beyond that, however. Sometimes it’s a simple email link that’s the threat, as the Wall Street Journal recently detailed in the way criminals are using COVID-19 to lure people into clicking or engaging with a  malicious link – and with governments around the world quickly initiating large stimulus packages among other fast-evolving elements of the situation, there will be many ways bad guys attempt to lure people into clicking.

Take an extra step to verify email requests. With so much changing all around us recently, many of us are becoming more accustomed to steps or requests many businesses are needing to take to work around our current circumstances that would have seemed uniquely odd just a few weeks ago. Business email compromises – more or less when you get a request via email for sensitive or valuable information – are rising as bad actors begin to take advantage of the many changes that are taking place in how people do business and how accommodating many of us have become to those changes. The FBI recently listed some useful detail to help stay aware and safe, but generally speaking – taking the extra step to verify requests for sensitive data even if the need is seemingly urgent is important right now.

Ransomware and operational issues. Though there are reports that certain groups known to use ransomware are vowing to “stay away” from hospitals and healthcare providers – at least one specifically said they were not including pharmaceutical companies in that “stay away” proclamation – it’s obvious criminals will likely not adhere to this. All organizations, particularly those on the healthcare provider side, need to be ready to find communications contingencies to help people stay informed and connected.

Helping Consumers Cope After COVID-19

Like a therapist might, I often turn to an exercise that explores the emotions consumers experience with a brand and how the brand makes them feel. I ask questions like: Overall, how would you describe your consumers’ mood? How are they feeling? What are they expecting to feel? What’s bothering them? What would it take to make them feel more content, happier, satisfied?

I bring this up as in recent days there has been a lot of discussion about the 5 Rs of Recovery and how organizations need to think and act. But that’s just one side of the coin, so to speak. By failing to consider the emotional psyche of the consumer, we risk missing the mark in our eventual branded recovery efforts.

To be successful, we need to be mindful of the post-traumatic emotions that will be fueling consumer decisions moving forward. In keeping with the model, let’s consider the 5 Rs of Post-Traumatic Marketing:

1. Resent – Consumers resent the #NewNormal. Use the phrase and they will stop listening. Instead, show how your brand can be disruptive without causing disruption.
2. Rebound – Like any rebound relationship, this one is no different. Rational transactions will be clouded by emotion, fueled by personal trauma and a mental ‘score-board’ of how brands acted during the crisis. Which leads to the next ‘R’…
3. Revenge – Expect consumers to make revenge purchases, fueled by anger at the brands who did not step up in a meaningful way during this crisis.
4. Reject – When the clouds lift, consumers will reject ‘old’ ways. Continued fluidity in commerce and transparency into corporate policies will be less of a competitive advantage and more of a must-have.
5. Recall – We can all point to something we’ve been upset about recently. A postponed vacation, a missed wedding, a canceled graduation. And, these feelings won’t pass overnight. Customers want to know that brands get them. Lead with empathy and recall for consumers that your brand has been there for them, feels their challenges and will continue to be alongside them to celebrate the little victories moving forward.

Emotional intimacy is not just for therapy. As marketers moving forward it’s no longer our job to simply serve a consumer need, but to help consumers cope with and recover from this trauma through the comfort and consolation of our brands.

Might COVID-19 change perceptions of Tech for the long term? It’s up to Tech to decide

In the past couple of weeks, a new conversation within the tech sector has started to emerge. The overall theme is that the Coronavirus pandemic might be a cure to the so-called techlash. This leaves Tech at a crossroads. There is now a real opportunity for it to rebuild reputation on the back of the world’s new appreciation of the vital role technology plays in society. But to do that, tech companies as a cohort must think about their impact on the world. They need to behave in ethical, socially responsible ways to address the sometimes unintended negative consequences of the technology which has become so critical to our lives in lock-down.

Less than a year ago, in June 2019, we looked at the very real reputational challenges technology companies were facing in our Darlings to Damaged report. The findings combined original research with insights from some of the world’s leading thinkers in this space, including the CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, the CIO of Canada, a Harvard Fellow and many more. In that report, we also pierced the gloom by considering how to ensure technology can continue to be a force for good in a world that increasingly needed drawing together, not pushing apart.

At the time, very few of us could have imagined a global pandemic of the kind we are now living through. All of us are dealing with worry about loved ones. The ongoing uncertainty about what each day will bring, personally, professionally and for the communities that we’re a part of. An unending news cycle. Having to work with children in the back (and sometimes fore) ground.

And in that environment, one of the things that is making a positive difference to our everyday lives is… technology.

Technology companies have become — in a way that they’ve only ever talked about and promised before now — the connective tissue helping hold both society and business together. From online shopping, to virtual meetings, to data science being used in the rush to get testing and drug discovery moving, Tech is playing a truly vital role in society.

And being seen to play that vital role too. This is thanks to two broad trends.

First is their ability to provide the technology and tools to keep the world connected and our homes functioning. From the fixed and mobile networks our virtual work and family calls are taking place over, to the platforms making us feel connected with friends around the world, to the ability to get groceries (except toilet paper, naturally) at the click of a button, tech has made life in the pandemic so much more manageable for people in the developed world.

Second has been their willingness to act fast and responsibly when it comes to doing the right thing: workforce pay, pledges around job security, executive pay and more. Tech companies have donated tens of millions of dollars to relief efforts. And Big Tech’s willingness to more proactively ‘police’ fake news in the wake of the pandemic has also been lauded around the world.

This is all in stark contrast to the ‘techlash’ the industry was undergoing just a year ago.

So will this pandemic change perceptions of Tech for good? Potentially some of the answers lie in the research we conducted last year.

Much of the public, even back then (82% to be exact), still said they embrace technology and trust its providers. That said, 7 in 10 said they would look more favorably on tech companies if they addressed the effects of their tech. Effects is a critical word here.

And within that context of effects, two core issues stood out: regulation and privacy.

31% said tech companies are regulated too little. Not surprisingly, this number skewed highest among Boomers (38%). And our 2018 Authentic Insights report showed that, when it comes to data security and protection, Americans think it’s more important than healthcare or freedom of speech (albeit, the focus on healthcare will almost certainly have skewed, rightfully, in the past few weeks).

What seems clear, then, is that tech has a significant opportunity in the wake of the coronavirus to change perceptions around Techlash and its role in society. But it needs to get it right.

Some pundits are saying that this pandemic will fundamentally change the way we live our lives – especially our working lives – for good. From a tech perspective, we’ve been forced into the social, digital use-cases around working flexibly and virtually that many technology companies have been promising for years. And with the power of 5G networks, Edge computing, AI and more just around the corner, there’s a good chance that change will truly continue apace.

But there’s a ‘but’. In what will hopefully (relatively) soon be a post-COVID-19 reality, it will be clearer which businesses, governments, institutions and industries emerge as the winners and losers of public perception. And for tech, it’s all about that word effect.

It’s become clear during COVID-19 that technology is critical. Some might even say a utility we can barely now imagine living without. So does that mean it should be regulated? That is a question that will surely come back once the pandemic is over.

We’ve also already started to see backlash against tech providers that have seen a massive spike in popularity but are not seen to be taking security and privacy seriously enough. Adjustments to platforms and solutions are having to be addressed in real-time.

And of course, 2020 is an election year in the US. This means that the Techlash narrative has a good chance of returning to the fore as a populist political issue. We must expect conversations around fake news and election interference to come back on the agenda in the next few months.

Back in 2019, we noted that tech companies are starting to recognize that their reputations and brand integrity are the best guarantees of long-term success. So during the pandemic and beyond, the best remedy to the so-called techlash will be companies’ internal and external commitments to working with government, regulators, academia, their internal audiences and each other; and to behave in ethical, socially responsible ways to address the sometimes unintended negative consequences of the technology which is so important to our lives today. Once we have returned to a (new) normal, they need to make sure they do the right thing, on behalf of all stakeholders. That means addressing concerns around privacy. Dealing with questions around anti-trust. Taking on board employee feedback. And taking seriously demands for greater regulation.

At the moment, we are dependent on technology. And frankly, we’re glad for that dependency. The critical thing will be to not go back to being seen to use and abuse that dependency for profit without consequences.

Many organizations are asking “What should we do to help in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis?” One of my most fundamental beliefs about the creative process is that a question is what an idea looks like just before it’s an idea. So, with input from my smart FleishmanHillard colleagues Bob Axelrod, Josh Rogers, Leela Stake, Paul Vosloo and Brian West, here are 10 prompts anyone from a small business to a global corporation can use to spark ideas that respond to the pandemic in a way that’s relevant to the need and authentic to the organization.

1) WHY ARE YOU HERE? — Start with your organization’s mission, vision, and values statements. What do they inherently guide you to do?

2) WHAT DO YOU HAVE? — What infrastructure does your organization have and does any of it lend itself to being of particular use to others right now? Warehousing? fleet/transportation/logistics? Sales force? Manufacturing? Office space? Parking lots? Communications platforms?

3) WHAT DO YOUR PEOPLE CARE ABOUT? — What is important to your employees right now? How/where do they want you to make a difference? What are they eager to do themselves?

4) WHO CAN YOU ENLIST? — Beyond employees, what relationships and stakeholders does your organization have that can be put to use? Supply chain? Business partners? Customers? Volunteers? Fans? How can you rally them to do something bigger than you can do on your own?

5) WHO CAN GUIDE YOU? — Conversely, what needs might those same stakeholders have of your organization? Ask your existing philanthropy partners in particular (grantees, volunteer organizations) how you can be a nimble and true partner at this time.

6) IS THE NEED INSIDE? — Now look at those same audiences and ask not only what can each do, but also what might each need? Is there a pain point in your own landscape that you can or should address?

7) WHERE DO YOU INTERSECT WITH HEALTHCARE RELIEF? — This is a healthcare crisis, so where is the most logical connection for your organization within the healthcare system? We’re all thinking about doctors and nurses right now. But hospitals have other workers keeping the doors open: security staff, maintenance and janitorial, cafeteria operations, etc. Is your organization in a position to be uniquely useful or relevant to one of those segments?

8) WHERE DO YOU INTERSECT WITH ECONOMIC RELIEF? — This is an economic crisis. So, the first idea people typically turn to is financial: Who can your organization give money to for emergency relief? It’s a good start, but look for other ways to frame financial need and opportunity to help:

• What can your organization buy to help right now?
• How can your organization invest in people to ensure they thrive when this is over?
• How can your organization help those out of work earn money right now?
• Are there debts your organization can forgive among suppliers or others who are hurting?
• Can your organization loan people funds to bridge temporary needs?

9) WHO IS HURTING BEYOND THE OBVIOUS? – First responders and patients are the most critical audiences right now, but what if your organization isn’t well suited to help them in particular? Who else is hurting but is being overlooked during the crisis that may be especially relevant to your organization?

10) WHERE ARE YOU IN THE HIERARCHY OF NEEDS? WHERE IS THE CRISIS IN ITS PROGRESSION? — Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Is your organization particularly well suited to help at one tier or another? Is your best role at the bottom immediately or somewhere higher over time? Today the most urgent needs are flattening the curve, protecting healthcare workers, and providing relief for basic needs. But right on the heels of that is economic survival for individuals and business continuity for all kinds of enterprises. Next will be recovery and rebuilding. Can your organization vary its response in tandem with the progression of the crisis itself?