A lot has been said repeatedly since years on the importance of slowly shifting focus from traditional to digital marketing and the disruption one could see in coming years. Not that a regular marketeer was not ready to embrace it but was unaware on how an unforeseen circumstance could force its implementation within no time. This shift isn’t a shift of marketing campaign execution/implementation but a complete shift in mindset, skills and business models. When else could you see a Pan India renowned fitness company helping with deliveries of your daily groceries.

A sudden sense of unity was established as well, where competition was replaced by collaboration. The long schedule of lockdown also urged the brands to reach out to their audiences via social and digital media marketing and mark their presence. Majority of the flagship events have seen their transformation from a physical on-ground event to the virtual one. This shift has surely not been comfortable, but necessary.

What this lockdown period also saw was a remarkable sense of nationalism being invoked in the marketing messages by the home-grown brands by being vocal about local and how there has been a sentiment shift of what could possibly be the Swadeshi movement 2.0. This defines, not just the change in the identification of the brand but gradually, how the business and the products will be perceived.

Marketing could be going through re-shaping, but this time the phase change is faster than ever, and the brands who do not embrace this change will either disrupt or be disrupted.