Branded face masks is a strategy our industry and government should be exploring
With mask-wearing compulsory in some parts of Victoria, Roger Hogan suggests that marketers, and governments, should create branded face masks. It would help brands, but it might also just encourage the public to widely wear them.
On the weekend, the Victorian government made face masks compulsory in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire. As the pandemic develops, the same could happen in other states, perhaps across the whole country. But before other governments rush to follow Victoria’s example, it should consider an alternative, or at least complementary, strategy: branded face masks.
If the goal is to protect our health with as little cost as possible to our civil liberties, harnessing the power of marketing, business competition, and consumer choice is likely to be a better option than compulsion.
sigh
Seriously…?
This is mighty sensitive territory.. And what brand would want to appear to profiteer from a pandemic?
There are so many better ways to be visible and provide true value that supports people in a time of need. Not sure this is it.
Agreed – it’s sensitive territory. But profiteering happens when manufacturers take advantage of high demand and low supply to jack up their prices. We’re already seeing people rush to buy masks ahead of the enforcement deadline – an opportunity for profiteering, if ever there was one. What happens to those who are unable to buy masks but are still legally obliged to wear them? Introducing a profit (not profiteering) element might encourage more investment in mask manufacturing and hence more supply, and so actually reduce the opportunity for profiteering. Consumer choice and supplier competition would (ideally) help keep prices down and ensure adequate mask quality. As for the sensitivities involved, they can be managed through appropriate messaging (aka marketing).
Sure, but will the public see it that way?
If you then have to spend a heap on marketing to change the perception, seems like you’re making a rod for your own back then destroying the profits in the process.
Instead of selling them, give them away like Jimmy Brings is doing and reap the brand benefits that way:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jamiegag_from-midnight-melburnians-will-be-fined-activity-6691586857899311104-hQ1A
Riley, hard to believe that non-maskers will be persuaded to wear one based on ‘branded’ awareness, I’m certain a $200 fine for not wearing a mask makes more sense for something that last 4 hours (disposable mask).
Understandable if you are an essential service and clearly need to distinguish yourself for employment reasons i.e. Disability employment service worker or an aid.
Once this pandemic is over, people won’t remember that great brand they once saw on a mask, Face masks aren’t intended to be used as if we are walking billboards for companies to profiteer off. Common sense people and wear the friggin mask
Not sure what you mean by “non-maskers”. If you’re referring to people who are culturally or ideologically opposed to wearing masks, I agree – they won’t buy branded products and probably won’t submit to compulsion, either. If you mean people who won’t wear masks because they resent being compelled, they might feel differently about a branded option—not because a branded mask is “better” than a non-branded mask, but because the psychological appeal of a particular favoured brand might help to motivate them to buy a mask and wear it. That’s obviously a marginal purchasing decision for each individual; multiply it across the community, however, and it might result in more people wearing masks, which seems to be a desirable outcome.
As for people not remembering a brand once the pandemic is over, my understanding of a brand is that it constitutes part of the relationship between a consumer and a product—a relationship which extends beyond each individual purchasing decision and may apply to a range of products, not just one. If Nike, for example, were to offer branded face masks, that would be a natural extension of the health and fitness aspects of its brand. Sure, I might forget one day that I bought a Nike face mask, but my awareness of the brand and ability to recall it would hardly have been diminished by the experience and would probably have been enhanced by it.
Two more points: there’s no end in sight, yet, to this pandemic and there are likely to be others; compulsion makes absolute sense in the short term, but the challenge is to come up with a longer-term solution. Re profiteering, I addressed this earlier in the thread but, if brand owners are wary of being seen to be making money out of a crisis, they can donate part of the profits from branded masks to medical research. Win-win?
Why not just put Coke stickers on some ICU machines and be done with it.
https://adidas-cdn.revton.com/media/catalog/product/cache/0/image/500x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/H/0/H08837-1.jpg
I am (for once) lost for words. This is gutter level marketing at its worst.
As Oscar Wilde said, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Roger Good Story, just imagine a room full of marketing execs meeting a year ago trying to storm up a way to keep their brand on everyone’s lips while on their public transport commute. Keep cups have gone and now reusable fabric masks are hot property in the Brand space.
Everything in Marketing is cashing in on something.
Can’t wait to wear my Maccas mask.
How about instead, Australians receive a small Medicare subsidy to buy a mask from a a provider of their choice. I’ll be choosing a social enterprise who use decent materials to make masks in a variety of attractive fabrics.
Hordes in branded masks sounds like some sort of dystopia.
I’m not sure what’s worse:
A space that advertisers don’t want to cover?
A commentator thinking this is a good idea?
P.S You don’t need to brand something life saving to make it effective. I’m yet to see a condom with a Nike swoosh, or Coca Cola logo yet or any logo for that matter.
Although I’m not 100% convinced this is a good idea it’s definitely worth a conversation and is no doubt something that’s being / has been considered by marketers, particularly those managing retail fashion brands. I applaud Roger for coming back to the individual comments (those of merit anyway) in a such a measured and logical way. Also huge props for the Oscar Wilde quote. What a comeback.
Branded reusable face masks are already in massive demand https://www.smartcompany.com.au/partner-content/articles/branded-face-masks-popularity-surge/