There’s no doubt that everyone’s consumer behaviour has changed since the COVID-19 outbreak. Daily routines have changed – no more school drop offs, lunch outs, or after-work drinks – at least for now. The abrupt change in a person’s daily routine means we’re less exposed to advertising and we’re all suddenly forced to only consume products essential for our survival.

First of all, isn’t it funny how the economy’s plummeted since we all started to only buy the things we need? A bit ironic, isn’t it? Second, self-isolation has caused us to have minimal to no exposure to traditional advertising such as billboards, signages, posters, etc. However, it’s not all paper and print anymore. We are in a digital era where Google and Facebook dominates in advertising, which calls for a question around the survival of the media and the advertising industry.

The pandemic has taken a toll on the media and advertising industry in more ways than one, however, as previously mentioned in an earlier blog, businesses should advertise now more than ever. Seizing opportunities to tell a story might be the best way to survive and recover from the impact the pandemic is causing. But with decreased advertising budgets and media companies shutting down left and right, is the media and advertising industry faced with a death sentence?

The fact is, everything’s changed. It will continue to change after we all realised that the human race is not prepared for a pandemic. Maybe we’ll do better next time, or maybe we’ll do so well that there won’t be a next time – but one thing’s for sure, we are now transitioning to the new normal. Handshakes will soon enough be a thing of the past and I doubt that people will start taking products and services that bring convenience to our lives for granted again. In saying that, it will always be the media and advertising that brings these products and services to people. As a whole, it will not die but survival for this industry means evolving to what the market needs in real time.

When I mentioned that businesses should advertise now, I meant to advertise wisely. Know where your market is, target an audience well, speak their language, don’t just think outside the box – get rid of the box entirely or acknowledge that the box wasn’t there to begin with. Currently, everyone’s online. I just saw the first “selfie” of a grandmother learning to use her smartphone for the first time. Adorable, but more importantly, necessary under the circumstances we’re all faced with.

We rely on media and advertising to release important information and draw our attention to essential products and services we personally need based on information they have on us, which sounds like a privacy issue but just think of it as a friend who looks out for you and says, “I think you’ll like this…” or “I think this is what you need”. These are information we willingly give them when we accept the terms and conditions of use in platforms such as Google and Facebook.

Perhaps the current reality is that media and advertising is losing the battle as to whether or not we are essential. Yes, there are more important things than media and advertising but it doesn’t remove its essentialness to a person. We need media and advertising to survive – it may be in a more subtle way than having a roof over our head or food on the table, but you most likely found your house from an ad listing, and your food preference is derived from how exposed you are to certain brands, cuisines, and cultures – all of which were brought to you through media and advertising.

So the answer is no. This isn’t the end for the media and advertising industry – but we do need to evolve to survive and recover. Moreover, we need the public to understand and be aware of just how important media and advertising really is. Right now, it’s as if our industry’s been positive with COVID-19 – but I am under the impression that we’ll recover.