HOW BRANDS HAVE ADAPTED TO CORONAVIRUS: Client Spotlight – Dr Beckmann
When lockdown struck, the outlook was bleak for many brands and businesses. Sad times indeed.
But for those with foresight and a willingness to switch focus, lockdown, while a unique and potentially treacherous challenge, was not insurmountable.
Our client, cleaning and laundry experts, Dr Beckmann (the company behind famous names like Carpet Stain Remover, Glowhite and Stain Devils) took early counsel from us here at Brazen and switched the focus of its marketing and PR drive and adapted its comms during coronavirus.
Here’s how we created a real, reassuring, trustworthy and compassionate voice to help the UK’s homeowners through these tough times. And how we responded to the spike in consumer demand for cleaning products as the nation hunkered down and self-isolated at home.
How we formed a reassuring PR strategy
First, Dr Beckmann adapted its entire working practice in order to survive through lockdown – office staff working from home and production staff working around the clock on socially distanced and staggered shifts with a raft of new safety measures introduced to ensure the production lines remained active but safe.
And while the world was locking down, we helped them devise a new PR strategy to build brand awareness and recognise the hard work of Dr Beckmann’s own key workers.
We focussed the brand’s authentic, knowledgeable and trustworthy voice at a time when a frightened nation was battening down the hatches.
We recognised Dr Beckmann’s own front-line staff, paying tribute to their fortitude and showing that the company was ensuring the high demand for cleaning products was being met in a safe environment.
We put Gareth Edwards, Dr Beckmann’s General Manager, on ITV News, talking sensitively about his team’s commitment and output – a story that won pages of coverage plus lots of brand love online.
We made a point of reassuring the public, as the experts in laundry cleaning, about the best way to make sure their clothes were properly clean – including issuing regular tips and advice and acting as a spokesperson for the industry. That reassuring, calm and authoritative voice won plaudits and much coverage.
How we launched helpful new products through lockdown
We also helped launch two new helpful products during lockdown – Power-Foaming Toilet Cleaner and Pet Stain & Odour Remover. Each a boon to clean-conscious Brits desperate to ensure their homes and clothes were cleaned properly to avoid the transmission of coronavirus.
We secured widespread radio interviews and media coverage, including LBC, talkRADIO, BBC Lancashire, the Daily Express, Daily Star and The Sun. And our Power-Foaming Toilet Cleaner is now the No1 favourite of the UK’s cleaning influencers, including Mrs Hinch and the Queen of Clean.
Our approach worked, with official data showing that sales of Dr Beckmann household cleaning products have increased by over 50% year-on-year.
Consumers have also had to adapt during lockdown. They have become even more accustomed to buying online – with visits to Dr Beckmann’s website seeing a 231% increase during lockdown.
And now, to the new normal
Our PR strategy has consolidated Dr Beckmann’s position as the UK’s household cleaning champion during this crisis and, thankfully, shows no sign of diminishing in the foreseeable future post-coronavirus lockdown.
But as well as being positioned as the helpful, go-to cleaning brand, we’ve also retained Dr Beckmann’s innate sense of humour and fun. Because the UK public has needed some light-hearted relief through the dark.
So, our latest creative PR campaign? Cleaning the Queen’s portrait out of a carpet drenched in red wine – with Dr Beckmann Carpet Stain Remover of course.
Pass the vino.
How to contact us
Please do get in touch with the Brazen team if you’d like to hear more or to talk about any marcomms or PR challenges you are facing right now. You can contact us on info@wearebrazenpr.com. We are donating 10% of any new client fees won through Covid-19 to charity during this difficult time.
Want more information? Contact us here
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