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Covid-19: No Frills song for socially distant shoppers

A Cart Apart by No Frills

Canada – No Frills has launched a song and music video, A Cart Apart, to encourage social distancing in its supermarkets.

Created to encourage shoppers to follow guidelines on physical distancing measures, as well as grocery etiquette, the trap-style song hopes to re-ignite some joy around food shopping and educate No Frills’ customers. Integrating essential messaging such as ‘be patient in line’ and ‘wash your hands’, the campaign is fun, creative and accessible.

The supermarket chain has chosen to donate £0.60 (C$1 or €0.65) to President’s Choice Children's Charity to a maximum of £29,000 (C$50,000 or €32,580) for every stream of the song on YouTube, No Frills social media, Spotify and iHeartRadio.

As we explore in Beyond Product Placement, music videos can be an engaging and unconventional way for brands to re-energise their messaging and connect with consumers in new ways.

Club Quarantäne is a virtual sanctuary for isolated clubbers

Club Quarantäne

Berlin – Club Quarantäne is a live-streamed virtual club experience delivered by Invisible Hand for Resident Advisor.

Featuring a cloakroom where guests can buy merchandise, a toilet enabling serendipitous socialising and a dance floor which also functions as a chatroom, Club Quarantäne creates connections and compassion between its visitors. Available for 36 hours at a time, the club features a diverse and international range of electronic music.

Hosted by various industry players, including booking agencies, audio companies and YouTube, Club Quarantäne has been brought to life as part of the #SaveOurScene campaign. Its goal is to offer continued support to nightclubs and music venues that are suffering due to Covid-19. Featuring a donation ‘bar’ and the option to send money via ticket sales, the club provides a virtual site for community-building and self-expression.

With the future of Nightlife now uncertain amid lockdown measures, such new initiatives are appearing to re-imagine the industry and to give music fans an outlet for their cultural passions.

Covid-19: Emily Crisps turns bad timing into social media gold

UK – Emily Crisps has released a satirical range of outdoor billboard adverts that mock its marketing misfortune.

Marking the vegan brand’s first move into advertising, the advertising space had been booked pre-Covid-19 and forced Emily Crisps to change its tone of voice to better reflect the reality of the lockdown period. One billboard, for example, reads: ‘Our first ever poster, seen by a runner and one pigeon. Typical.’

‘We booked the outdoor media for Emily back in 2019, so this was not something we could simply cancel at late notice. Luckily, the Emily brand is all about being bold, so we decided to be totally transparent and use this as an opportunity to poke fun at ourselves,’ explained Ben Arbib, founder of Nurture Brands, which owns Emily Crisps.

The self-deprecating nature of the ads is likely to resonate with consumers during this time, who will also be able to view the billboards on social media. Like many brands, Emily Crisps is having to engage in Sacrificial Advertising techniques to remain connected to customers.

Misfortune billboards by Emily Crisps

Stat: People consider age as an employability barrier

Senior Spaces by Studio LONK and Ditt in collaboration with Brightpensioen for TSH Collab

In a recent global poll of more than 20,000 respondents across 28 countries, Ipsos reports that people, on average, said they need to work until age 59 before they could retire. That’s not far off 57, the age until which people said they want to work.

In terms of the average age at which a person deems themselves employable, across all countries the average was 49, outlining a notable difference between how long people would like or expect to work – and how long they see themselves as desirable to businesses and employers.

With many citizens finding age to be a diversity barrier in work, businesses need to ensure they are not only seeing the value in older employees in the workplace, but that they are catering for the physical and mental wellbeing needs of all generations at work.