Page 18 - WhitePaper_MC&I Benchmark in Covid19 Era

RESPONSE AND RELIEF: Communications shift to immediate crisis response or consumer
relief with a new tone refl ecting higher empathy, relevance, and brand purpose while recognizing
consumer/community hardships

Surprisingly, although MC&I segments are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, marketers
are 3.5 times more likely to have not implemented MC&I COVID Response and Relief efforts yet
in comparison to the general market.

This alarming fact is further broken out by segment in the graph below. Of note, as seen in the
graph, LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, and Asian segments are being extremely neglected in
marketing efforts. Alarmingly, 71 percent of marketers are not preparing any marketing efforts
specifi cally targeting Asians, 81 percent of marketers are not preparing any marketing efforts
specifi cally targeting LGBTQ+, and 84 percent of marketers are not preparing any marketing
efforts specifi cally targeting People with Disabilities.

CHART 1

RECOVERY: Communications shift to business in the “new normal” environment forging ahead
with messaging like softer branding and loyalty while avoiding being tone-deaf with hard-sell
promotions

The spend outlook for MC&I segments, which is detailed below in Charts 2 and 3 is largely
indicative of how marketers are planning to recover. Between 11 and 19 percent of MC&I
marketers were in a Recovery mode as of early April, which seemed at parity with the overall
market.

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