Indulgence today is more about emotional gratification: Shivam Puri, Cipla

The second edition of the e4m Health Communication Conference brought together the stalwarts and thought leaders of the health and wellness sector on Monday. At the virtual event, ShivamPuri, CEO, Cipla Health delivered a keynote on the theme - "Marketing, Communications & Brand Empathy In The Time of A Pandemic". 

Starting off the session, Puri spoke about the challenges of COVID-19 and how unlock phases saw revenge buying among many consumers. He noted that there was a lot of fatigue and despair among consumers and more importantly, a trust deficit. 

"Many consumers I've spoken to actually are not sure if they actually should go and get vaccinated, which is something so basic and so critical to take care of the COVID challenge. But that translates into a larger trust deficit that the consumers are seeing today. There is of course postponement and downtrading as any down wave in any challenging wave has shown in the past," he said. 

Speaking about revenge buying during the unlock of wave one, Puri noted that how the trend continues among the upper middle class and high net worth individuals even today. 

"Yes, there is indulgence. A different aspect of indulgence than what we used to see pre-pandemic when there was a lot of flaunting around indulgence. Today, the indulgence that we see is more about emotional gratification, it's more about life being short, saying 'I don't know what to expect tomorrow, so let me live the day to the fullest.' So these are some of the emotions that the consumers are seeing or have seen in the last 12 to 15 months. And this is what we can expect to see if the same scenario continues in future as well,” Puri pointed out. 

He also stated that healing empathy is a big theme that everyone can relate to. So brands helping consumers regain control over their lives is a big theme that's working really well today. “The feeling of gratitude, the feeling of little mercies of life and we had experienced these feelings of gratitude even before the pandemic and lots of marketers have started to talk about it, but I think the importance of this has grown exponentially now.” 

Highlighting a few characteristics of a successful brand, he shared, “Being nimble and adaptive again is a big characteristic of a successful brand. In times like these, things are changing very fast, so a brand should be very adaptive to how their consumers are feeling around them because the moment you are out of tune with what your consumers are feeling, not only do you risk alienating lots of consumers, but you actually risk alienating your core franchise as well," he said. 

He also warned marketers about the perils of seeming insincere to the consumers, who can discern who is faking it. "It's important for brands to be very sure and only when they feel that they have really made a difference to the consumers should they go out and talk about it.” 

Citing eBay's accelerator program, Puri explained: "The moment pandemic struck and small businesses were struggling to connect with their consumers. There came eBay with a free offer for all the small businesses. They helped them regain control of their businesses and made a real difference. And look at the fantastic adaptability of the business, they actually went live with this program very early into the game, which is when lots of other corporates were thinking about what to do in a time like this.” 

He further shared a few examples to explain employee branding and how brands like Tata supported their employees during the testing time. 

Puri pointed out that many employers have policies that give them a lot of good press externally. But during the pandemic, it's the minor things that get highlighted. "An employee or even a regular employee looking at these corporates forms a perfect image of what these corporates stand for in a time like this. People see through the real difference being made to their lives, and the lens to which these corporates have gone to take care of their employees," he signed off.