The Shark Beauty Flex launch campaign that was supposed to be released in October was postponed due to the war./Shark
Since the outbreak of the war, leading companies in the Israeli economy have had to deal with a complex reality that produces completely different priorities.
One of the most pressing issues facing marketing managers today is dealing with advertising campaigns that were expected to come out before the war but were postponed after it.
A delay in campaigns creates challenges, which require a delicate balance between understanding the event, and meeting the marketing tasks with empathy and proper planning.
As a marketing manager who navigates the turbulent waters of everyday events in the State of Israel, I found myself helpless, everything seemed casual and meaningless, in the face of the harsh reality that was imposed on us.
stage of astonishment
Gai Kimchi/Geva Talmor
I guess most marketers felt the same way I did on the morning of October 7th.
All the projects and campaigns that were in the pipeline suddenly seemed casual and unimportant.
All we wanted was to understand what was happening, to help where possible and to harness all the organization's resources for the benefit of the Israeli community: residents, soldiers, evacuees, Uni-It.
After a few days, the realization dawned on me that the annual plans we closed just a few days before the war became irrelevant, and that the campaign invested in Shark vacuum cleaners and the launch of the new Shark Beauty brand probably won't see the light of day soon.
Honestly, I didn't care that much, because who cares about campaigns at a time like this?
And another campaign like this where they sing and dance?
The tactical strategy phase
What was interesting was to build a dynamic marketing action plan, act quickly and contribute our part to the economy to help it recover.
The situation reminded me a lot of the first days of the corona, even then we had to do marketing in the reality of uncertainty.
These days, the role of marketing expands beyond the sale of products or services.
Quick understanding of the situation, revealing a high sensitivity and adjusting the strategy according to the situation.
We had to redesign the marketing landscape overnight to deal with the changes in consumer behavior, priorities and perceptions.
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In order to contribute our part to the national effort, we took a number of quick actions such as the "Together we Shave" campaign, in which Sharig's hairdressing van went to bases across the country with books and network stars to tell soldiers, make them have a good time, and give them haircutting machines as a gift.
In another activity, we went to kibbutzim in the Gaza Envelope and distributed Ninja Grill appliances to the residents as a welcome gift to their new homes.
In a dynamic reality like ours, you have to act and react quickly and that's what we did.
We met with each of our partners and adjusted the tasks and activities for the period.
These were meetings with a lot of question marks and less exclamation marks, because no one really knew what was right or wrong and therefore, everything was done with maximum sensitivity.
One of the sweeping decisions I made is not to plan too far, and to move from an annual work plan to a quarterly work plan.
The application phase
As the days went by, we were faced with the issue I was afraid of: what do we do with the Shark campaigns that we shot a few days before Black Sabbath?
Every day we watched TV and tried to understand, is this the time?
Is the target audience ready for us?
Are we even ready or want to go up?
The answer is complex and of course subjective.
So regarding Shark FlexStyle, we decided to launch a campaign and launch the Shark Beauty category, with a purely informative campaign that manages to demonstrate in 20 seconds the many uses and benefits of the Shark FlexStyle device.
On the other hand, the film we made in honor of Passover for Shark Vacuum Cleaners was too happy and energetic for the time, and we decided to wait with it.
This is a challenge for us because the cleaning holiday is the strongest period in the category, but we deal with it in other ways with a variety of operations in digital and at the points of sale.
The journey continues
Navigating advertising campaigns in the midst of war requires sensitivity, empathy and a quick understanding of the situation.
It sometimes forces us to make rapid changes and advertising strategies have to evolve accordingly.
If we act intelligently and sensitively, we can ensure that marketing efforts will resonate and penetrate among consumers, even in the most challenging times.
Guy Kimchi is the VP of Marketing for Sherig, the official importer of Shark, Ninja, Murphy Richards, Remington and Russell Hobbs.
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