Brands, crisis, and our expectations

If you're not helping the effort, you're hurting the effort.

This edition was produced with Zach Peterson (@zachprague), who took this picture at Eagle River Nature Center in Alaska last summer.

Scroll down for Welcome Distractions, Watch Something, Listen to Something, and my Sunday NYT Readalong w/ Andrew Hacker - you don’t want to miss it.

The best way to know when I’m on the air, and see all my archived Covid19 shows, is to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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On society, brands, and crisis…

Over the course of a matter of weeks, what’s left of our functioning economy has moved online. The thing LinkedIn influencers and the world’s major consulting firms have been pushing for the last two decades - digital transformation - has now been forced upon a large portion of the global economy.

E-commerce, logistics, last-mile delivery, the food supply chain, and on and on and on. The crisis is, I hope, cementing in people’s consciousness that we need to rethink our concept of “essential” as it relates to the economy writ large, the people who truly keep our country running, and the fundamental basic needs of everyday life.

Forefront in all of this are the brands that employ these millions of people, and provide goods and services for hundreds of millions (billions, even) of others. The fact is that brands matter - and they matter a lot in the US, where our society, economy, and politics, are all intertwined with - and reliant on - the private sector to do most of the heavy lifting (and reap most of the reward for that, it should be said).

Now, we’re all in the same, uncertain boat. On one hand, I think everyone should, if they haven’t already, temper expectations for…most things. Delivery may take a bit. Kids are going to make noise on conference calls. Emails may come a few hours later than usual. Just take a breath, be empathetic, and understand everyone’s trying to get through this in their own way.

Brands need to think like this. People are going to be pretty understanding on the customer-facing, service side of things. But, rest assured, people are paying attention to how brands are treating people and helping however they can.

I had the privilege of interviewing Tonia Ries (@tonia_ries), Executive Director of Intellectual Property at Edelman, last week on my show. It was all about their new study, “Brand Trust and The Coronavirus Pandemic”, which is both free, and required reading for brand managers, marketers, advertisers, and other industry folks.

There are some fascinating insights in the study, but this page really stands out to me:

Think about that. It’s a pandemic, everyone’s on lockdown, and people are still finding time to put brands on blast.

When I discussed the study with Tonia this week, what struck me was how much the discussion sounded like it could have been about the public sector. As a society, we’re asking the same things of brands that we’re asking of our elected officials - or even more in a lot of cases.

I encourage you to watch the entire discussion here (and please subscribe!):

So far, it’s been a mixed bag for brands for sure, but it’s more than clear what they need to do - it’s all right there in the Edelman report. Take care of employees, provide any assistance possible to public health officials, and do everything you can as a company to help in every way possible.

Beyond the glaringly obvious moral duty here, it’s in every brand’s interest to put it all out there during this crisis. Have empty facilities? House people. Offer it for a testing site. Set up a social-distance-only market for local businesses. Do something.

The fact is that an unthinkable amount of businesses are taking on massive-to-catastrophic losses that are piling up daily. For those with the cash, assets, and/or the continued business to ride out a crisis like this, the good will of as many potential post-crisis customers as possible is really the only play to make.

- Sree

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Welcome Distractions

🚶🏽‍♂️There are so many good pieces of writing these days, but here’s one that caught my eye. Written by my friend and rabbi (lowercase R), Prof. Ari Goldman of Columbia Journalism School, this piece captures beautifully how hard it has become to do something simple and mundane: take a walk in the most walkable city on Earth.

🎮 The title of this piece is, “My disabled son’s amazing gaming life in the World of Warcraft” - which sort of says it all. It’s an incredible story of two parents, Robert and Trude Steen, and their son Mats. Mats had Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which claimed his life when he was 25. Unbeknownst to his parents, Mats had, in the last 10 years of his life, become something of an online gaming legend. An amazing story from the BBC via Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

👀 Honestly, I’m a sucker for inside-baseball, tick-tock pieces about major political and business events. I don’t always feel good about that, but it’s fascinating how multibillion dollar deals come together (or fall apart, as it were). This excerpt from Sarah Frier’s (@sarahfrier) new book, “No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram”, is a very interesting look at Facebook’s purchase of Instagram, and all that led to the eventual exit the latter’s founders. Read it @ Bloomberg.

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Watch Something

Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign for the Democratic nomination this week. It’s heartbreaking for Bernie fans, young people, progressives, and others who genuinely feel that he speaks to them - and for them - like no other politician. His detractors are great at flippantly casting aside his “socialist” beliefs without noting that he would be a very conventional liberal politician in almost any other Western democracy. This video captures exactly what I like about Bernie - when he discusses the basic tenets of his platform in plain terms, it’s tough not to just nod in agreement. Health care should not be a luxury - let’s keep this fight going. At the same time, a word to the bad elements in Bernie’s army, who come across as trolls willing to burn down the entire system if they don’t get their way: Please don’t make the election cycle any worse than Trump’s army and the Russians already will.

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Listen to Something

If ever there were a time to have a good laugh, it’s now. But, as you’ve no doubt seen, it’s tough to do comedy in the time of quarantine. The late night talk shows are doing their best, but comedy clubs are shuddered, studio productions are on hold, and there is a palpable nervousness in the air. This is an excellent interview by Jesse David Fox (@JesseDavidFox) - one of the best interviewers out there, really - with comedians Roy Wood Jr. (@roywoodjr) and Maria Bamford (@mariabamfoo) on how comedians are trying to cope like the rest of us - and make people laugh while doing it. Listen here or on all major podcast platforms.

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🗞 My Sunday #NYTReadalong, executive produced by Neil Parekh (@neilparekh): Every Sunday I read the print edition of the NYT live. This week, our guest is political scientist and author, Andrew Hacker. We'll talk about his book, “Downfall: The Demise of a President and His Party”; what it's like to do "online" teaching at Queens College; and life under lock-down during #COVID19. He is a professor of political science at Queens College and author of ten books.

Watch Live at 8:30am ET / 12:30pm GMT / 6pm IST or Later:
Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube | Twitter

SAVE THE DATE: Next week (April 19), our guest will be Rosemarie Aquilina, the judge who presided over the 2018 USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal and sentenced Larry Nassar to up to 175 years in prison. Neil Parekh will be guest hosting on Facebook,  LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter.

The Sunday #NYTReadalong is sponsored by Strategy Focused Group, Muck Rack, and Tweepsmap.

🎧 NEW! Every Saturday, I host a call-in show on WBAI 99.5FM (@wbai) - "Coping with Covid19" - focused on being helpful, hopeful, and focusing on the pandemic's effects on society’s most vulnerable - workers, the poor, the marginalized - and talk to ordinary citizens & experts on how we can emerge stronger.

Listen live from 12-2pm EST, or later. And, of course, call in or tweet questions for us using the #wbaisree hashtag! Listen to the April 11th episode here!

👀 Did we miss anything? Make a mistake? Do you have an idea for anything we’re up to? Let us know!