Everything is Cancelled

Author’s Note: These essays are from the “unprecedented” year that was indeed like no other – 2020. The audience was marketers, but I think many of the lessons learned apply to many of us and will last far beyond the time that the word “unprecedented” (thankfully) no longer describes the times we live in. This one was about the familiar (and depressing) feeling of despair.

Volume 10: August 2021

Everything is cancelled.

Or at least it sure seems that way. Every time I turn on the news or check my social feed, there is another school district that has reversed course and opting for all remote learning. My Chicago Bears decided to play to an empty stadium. College football is pretty much cancelled, and dozens of other sports teams and leagues have opted to move their seasons to spring. Every day a new university that had planned to open is instead, in an abundance of caution, sending students home before they even had time to unpack all their cool new stuff from Bed, Bath & Beyond.

And then there is that feeling of impending doom — your kid’s school might be open for now, but none of us can shake that feeling that it’s all a house of cards — and houses of cards are rarely sturdy, so many are living in a perpetual state of needing a plan B and likely a plan C and D.

For some (especially for working parents) there is also stress when things are NOT cancelled, which means the go/no-go decision lies solely with the parents. I can only imagine that the anxiety associated with making that call can feel downright debilitating. And be ready … because if you do make the call to send young Jamal and Janie to school/sports/camps, you may be judged (and often quickly and harshly) by other parents. All in all, it is an experience wrought with anxiety.

Layer on top of that just how sad, disappointed and angry people are feeling about the inconvenience of it all. What is a fall weekend without football? What is my son’s senior year in college going to be like without going to parties? How on earth am I supposed to “work from home” and home school my kids? Plus, don’t think people haven’t realized the days are getting shorter and that before too long, many of us in the middle and northern parts of the country will have to forgo the relief we’ve felt from at least getting outside, whether to walk, bike ride or dine socially distant al fresco. Those days are numbered and before we know it, our quarantine life will be back inside.

And looking out even further, we certainly know Halloween will not be a “trick or treating” stroll through the neighborhood and we are starting to accept that how we celebrate the holidays will very likely be a very different scene altogether.

These things may feel trivial in light of significant health consequences (adding to the guilt) but they are not trivial. They are our life!

And it is all downright depressing.

You would think with all the practice we had getting used to cancellations last spring and quarantining at home, we would take it all in stride.

But we are not.

Morning Consult (the global research firm) started tracking consumer attitudes during lockdown in April. At that time, there was a sense of optimism, with the majority of adults feeling confident (and excited) about returning to engaging in leisure activities. That percentage held steady throughout May, June and July. Until now.

The most recent poll suggests that our positive attitude is waning — consumer optimism has dipped for the first time based on August polling and as Morning Consult’s Alyssa Meyers reports, this may be a “warning sign for many consumer-facing brands hoping that consumer habits would return to pre-pandemic normalcy over the summer.”

That explains a lot — at least for me. My depression is actually multi-layered. I am down about all of this “cancellation” (some for my own loss and some seeing so many people I care about suffer as they deal with all of this), but I am also mourning the loss of my optimism and excitement about getting closer to “back to normal.” It honestly feels like signing up to run a half-marathon and getting to mile 13 and being told, “you have to keep going … we have you down for the full marathon.” WHAAAAT?

My intention is not to thoroughly depress everyone. But on the other hand, I do think as marketers we need to remember that consumers (many of them) are likely feeling a little depressed. But I believe there is some silver lining for marketers. Certainly, at the beginning of the pandemic, consumers were also depressed then too, but much of what was driving that was legitimate fear of the unknown health consequences of the pandemic. My advice to marketers then was basically “be helpful or go home,” so companies repurposed their manufacturing to make sanitizer or face masks. Ads were repurposed to salute front-line workers. Consume-at-home programming was made available for free. Many brands made truly great strides in leading with purpose for the betterment of society.

Today, the advice to brands remains very much the same and it is still about being helpful. BUT … being helpful can now be much more brand-focused — meaning it can and should be about how your brand can provide some happiness and hope to consumers. I don’t mean we should abandon social purpose, but this is a good time to be very consumer-focused.

Those who know me know that for better or for worse, I often get inspiration from an unlikely place — my morning SoulCycle spin. Yesterday my instructor, acknowledging both the times we are in and the toughness of the workout, said, “Do hard things with a little bit of joy sprinkled on top.” That seems like darn good life advice, but it also seems like an incredible opportunity for brands.

How can your brand sprinkle some joy on top of all this hard stuff consumers are going through? We can and should expect more “cancelled” news scrolling across our news feed. Like our #client Molson Coors did not long ago by delivering Olive a dozen cases of Coors, how can your brand surprise and delight consumers with antidotes to that depressing feeling of loss?

Every marketer should already be thinking about how to reimagine the fall and winter holidays. How to rethink the holiday shopping experience or provide an experience to replace our Friday Night Football fun. How can we anticipate the next cancellation — or cancellations — and be there to make it less painful for consumers with a creative alternative?

Brands who do this will be the ones we all remember when things get back to the “next normal” (see, I haven’t lost all optimism and hope), so I think it is well worth investing some time, energy and budget into finding ways for your brand to be that “sprinkle of joy” that we so desperately all need.