As lifestyles shift due to the holy month, so should the focus of brands. Ramadan is a great time to be more spiritual, engaged and helpful as both people and a brand. It is also a time where consumers are more skeptical and critical of brands and their actions.
With increases in viewership, both online and offline, and increased free time to roam the internet, brands are able to reach more for less effort, but it comes with high expectations for brands to add value to consumer’s lives or day.
Here are 6 things we expect from brands this Ramadan.
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Engage with the community more with videos content, not ads:
According to Hubspot, people watch an average of 1.5 hours a day of video content online. 97% of marketers said video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service, while 81% of people stated they were convinced to buy or try something by watching a video.
While Ramadan ads rule the overall holy month landscape, it is about time that brands try to focus more on engaging the community through other types of video content.
It is a great time for brands to increase their awareness and likability, through Ramadan themed video content. Ramadan themes are not only a great way to connect with consumers at a deeper level, but they can easily continue throughout the year, making it easy to be consistent.
A better balance of CSR and advertising budgets:
As the trend of celebrity endorsements continue to jump new heights with each new Ramadan, so have the expectations of consumers for companies to do better with their larger than life ad budgets.
In 2016, Vodafone faced backlash for their Ramadan ad, El Leila El Kebira, due to its budget.
Many spoke on social media about how the budget could have easily done better things during the holy month. In 2017, Vodafone released their Vodafone Foundation ad for helping the blind days before its usual celebrity-filled annual anthem.
This helped them avoid most of the criticism they received the year before.
With rising expectations on brands to focus on giving back, especially during the holy month, it is important for brands to start thinking about how to better balance their budgets, before social media attacks.
Mixed-campaigns for both Ramadan and the World Cup:
FIFA dived into their insights and listened to the requests most likely made by the various national teams with Muslim members, to ensure that the World Cup started right after the holy month.
It also provides brands with a unique opportunity to create a long-term campaign that will focus on both Ramadan and the national team’s journey to the World Cup.
A mixed-use campaign will be able to continue pushing forward any message you choose from Ramadan to the football pitch in Russia. Both seasons are highly anticipated and will have immense impact on brands that are able to capitalize on both at the same time.
Support your employees, and brand, to be better:
Your brand’s image isn’t the only thing you should be watching throughout Ramadan. Don’t forget that your stakeholders are just as important as your consumers.
Employees are your company’s faces and your company’s moving parts, they make your company work as well as are the front line of your brand.
Combine the two and help your team members follow through with being better people throughout the month, helping them give out charity or help out at the local Ramadan charity tent.
This will increase your members’ satisfaction and how they appreciate your company, but sharing their time online will also boost your brand’s image.
Advertising evolution:
For a long time now, many brands are able to have their Ramadan campaigns or advertising guessed by consumers. A certain white goods company will have a musical anthem and dancers again this year, and etc.
It is time for advertisers to allow their creatives more freedom to express the brand’s message through different styles.
Last year we saw Nestle’s Mega ice cream, and Lamar Juice, break out with a bright and colorful modern take with their ads. It’s time for brands to take the plunge and have more fun with their brands’ ads.
Mega and Lamar made it to our trends of Ramadan 2017 list, read more here > Reading between the lines of Ramadan 2017’s advertising trends
Multi-stories that allow brands to continuously engage throughout the month
With video and visual content easier to make and upload, it’s a wonder that more brands haven’t focused on longer content marketing strategies.
Prolong engaging your consumers by creating a multi-part series of content that can be uploaded throughout the month. This will enable you to keep consumers coming back for more, and promote engagement for longer.
Create to impact, not only to be viewed:
Viewership isn’t what your brand should be focused on during the holy month.
Views can be forgotten but creating actual impact with value-added content will lead to an increase in interest and brand loyalty. Use your brand to impact the lives of your consumers for more than your 30 second ad this year.
What are you expecting of brands this year? Let us know in the comments.