Consumer-Needs Crisis Pivot
Replace short-term selling with rapid responses to changing customer needs
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 94%
This framework begins by monitoring how customers are reacting to a disruption, including whether they are making harmful or confusing associations with the brand. The company then pauses communications that no longer fit and temporarily sets aside its short-term sales agenda. Teams identify what people now need, determine whether each brand has a credible role, and build experiences around that role. AB InBev applied the mechanism through home workouts, streamed concerts, and redesigned sports experiences. The output is not merely revised advertising; it is a useful brand action grounded in changed behavior. Engagement data and continuing social listening then show whether the action is helping customers and strengthening the relationship.
Origin
Extracted from Masters in Business through Pedro Earp's account of AB InBev's global marketing response to the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Core principles
- 01Listen before communicating
- 02Treat changed behavior as the starting point
- 03Pause messages that could create confusion
- 04Prioritize useful experiences over immediate sales
- 05Match each brand's role to a real customer need
How to run it
- 1
Listen for changed associations
Use social listening and behavioral data to understand what customers are saying, feeling, and doing. Look specifically for confusion or new risks involving the brand.
Pro tip Separate widespread customer sentiment from isolated jokes or noise.
Watch out Do not react to a few posts as though they represent the whole market.
- 2
Pause incompatible communication
Stop campaigns whose tone, message, or brand associations no longer fit the situation. Silence can be safer than adding confusion.
Pro tip Review every scheduled campaign rather than only the most visible one.
Watch out Continuing business-as-usual messaging can make the brand appear detached.
- 3
Identify immediate needs
Study how routines, constraints, and sources of enjoyment have changed. Define the practical or emotional need customers are trying to satisfy now.
Pro tip Look at behavior, not only stated preferences.
Watch out Do not assume the customer's priority is buying your product.
- 4
Assign a credible brand role
Determine which brands can authentically help with each need. Connect the response to an existing brand position, audience, or relationship.
Pro tip Use established sponsorships and communities to move faster.
Watch out Avoid forcing a brand into a need it cannot credibly serve.
- 5
Deliver a useful experience
Create content, services, or experiences that address the need, then monitor participation and engagement. Adapt as behavior continues to change.
Pro tip Favor formats customers can access under their current constraints.
Watch out Do not judge the response only by immediate product sales.
In the wild
When lockdowns moved exercise into the home, AB InBev connected Michelob Ultra's balanced-lifestyle positioning to weekly home workout sessions featuring headline performers such as Steve Aoki.
→ The campaign reportedly generated more engagement and views during the period than sports brands and fitness applications.
With live country-music shows canceled, the company used its existing artist relationships and sponsorships to replace physical concerts with branded live streams for people stuck at home.
→ The streams attracted large audiences, with five reportedly entering YouTube's ten most-watched videos at the time.
Common mistakes
Selling through the disruption
Keeping short-term sales at the center prevents the company from seeing what customers actually need in the new environment.
Inventing an unrelated brand role
A response feels opportunistic when it is not supported by the brand's positioning, capabilities, or existing relationships.
Treating the first response as final
Customer behavior continues to evolve during a crisis, so the brand must keep listening and adapting.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for consumer brands responding to sudden behavioral, cultural, or economic disruption.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when customer behavior is stable and existing campaigns remain appropriate.
From the transcript
“the first thing of course that we paid a lot of attention, right is through social listening what people are talking about and if you're…”
“the treat here was too to stop thinking a little bit about selling beer because that was out of the forefront of people's priorities, and…”
“it was more about understanding how what people needed and how our brands could create a meaningful relationship with them by providing what they needed…”
From the episode
Pedro Earp on the Business of Beer (Podcast)
Pedro Earp