{"id":242,"date":"2020-04-23T19:35:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T19:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=242"},"modified":"2023-06-22T05:27:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T05:27:10","slug":"brand-game-plan-during-crisis-breakdown-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ap\/blog\/brand-game-plan-during-crisis-breakdown-breakthrough\/","title":{"rendered":"From Breakdown to Breakthrough: A Game Plan for Brands Through Crises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marc Mathieu is Senior Vice President, Strategic Customer Transformation & Innovation, at Salesforce.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s safe to say I\u2019ve encountered almost every kind of brand crisis during my career.\u00a0cris<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I worked for Coca-Cola in Asia during the late 1990s and early 2000s, we dealt with government regulations in Malaysia that threatened to ban our products. Later, I helped Coke make a comeback from a recall of 30 million bottles and cans in Belgium after a health scare turned into mass hysteria. And, when I was CMO of Samsung Electronics America, we had to recover from the Galaxy Note 7 phone being recalled twice due to defective batteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of those situations were big deals, but the current COVID-19 crisis is monumentally bigger. While most problems touch a small fraction of the population, this one affects just about every person on earth. It\u2019s a global crisis. It\u2019s the first time, aside from world wars, that a crisis touches our common humanity. And for the first time in a long time, all of us are trying to find our way through a scary situation that\u2019s impacting our families, our friends \u2026 our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From breakdown to breakthrough<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Albeit very different in nature, my experiences made me think about the role of brands during COVID-19. One thing I\u2019ve learned over the years is dealing with a crisis in the moment is often the \u201ceasy\u201d part. It\u2019s natural for brands to get tunnel vision during crises. They focus all their efforts on solving the problem right in front of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s crucial to think ahead, and I have learned you can\u2019t wait until you begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It needs to be built into your crisis response strategy upfront. Otherwise, you risk making short-term decisions that may hurt your brand later.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201c<\/span>I call this strategy ‘from breakdown to breakthrough.’ It\u2019s a plan to be better as brands, as businesses, as people, after a crisis is over. The vision is to be stronger 18 months later than you would have been if the crisis had not happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n