For brands, strong communities are key to surviving hardship

Over the last few months we have seen how important communities have been to wellbeing

While people have become more distant to keep themselves safe from the coronavirus, maintaining relationships has been important in a number of ways. For those who aren’t able to leave the home, communities have helped them access food and medical supplies.

And for many who have found isolation taxing on their mental health, communities have supported them by socialising with them online. Across the world, people have pulled together and shown that there’s no need to tackle issues alone.

The very same thing is true in business; communities are key to surviving hardship. This is because, in reality, a brand is nothing if not a manifestation of the people who believe in it and create value within its umbrella. Many businesses have depended on their communities of loyal customers and friends to survive these last few months.

While times have been financially difficult, the continued support of community has provided income that allowed businesses’ doors to stay open (at least figuratively for those that moved online).

Brands Banding Together

But there is also a sense of community between brands that has proven just as pivotal. By sharing tips on how they’ve personally managed these last few months - what technologies they’ve implemented, how they’ve cut costs and increased profits - they can guide other businesses through these same challenges. Rather than letting rivalry come first, brands have collaborated to ensure that they all prosper.

Looking at the shared experiences of small businesses, we chose to focus on our buyer community for our latest global campaign. This new work aims to provide inspiration for other businesses out there who are struggling with the same issues.

Ultimately, we want these businesses to know that they are not alone and allow them to understand how other companies have tackled these same issues. There is so much innovation, drive, and optimism out there that all brands can benefit from if they work together. Every brand is made up of people who are making it work day after day, sometimes just seeing someone else do it can be all the push you need.

These ads focus on small businesses from across the USA - who all offer insight into the new ways of working they’ve explored through these challenging times.

These businesses are diverse: the campaign follows a hydroponic farm, a pizzeria chain (that also operates as a community center), and an antique store. But they all share so much with many businesses around the world.

And the thing we’ve found most inspiring is that these SMEs have been creating truly global connections in order to help each other out and find solutions to problems. These are the stories that make us want to start work in the morning - which is why we’re so keen to give them centre stage. We hope that people watching will find them as inspirational as we do.

We’ve felt the pull of our communities binding together through these hard times - but that’s because we’ve been fortunate that it’s always been a focus for us.

As in life, it’s important to foster community ties in good times - because you never know when tough times are going to strike.

Because now isn’t the time for brands to be the huge, shiny, impersonal objects of adoration they once were.

Instead, we believe, it is time to look at the people behind them; to see what they are doing and what we can learn from it. Behind every brand is a pool of talent that has stepped up to today’s challenges and allowed them to prosper, despite economic hardships. Communities have such power to uplift each other and now is the time to celebrate the amazing things they are doing in business, as well as in life.