Introduction The COVID-19 crisis has presented a series of closely monitoring customer sentiment, challenges for marketing and sales leaders, marketers can future proof their businesses and from radical changes in consumer sentiment ensure relevance for the future, in a world that to unpredictable behavior to threats to brand is likely to look a lot different to before the crisis. relevance. As a Chief Marketing Officer, you have multiple issues to deal with at once. It’s no With this in mind, you need a tangible and surprise that, in a climate of great uncertainty, actionable set of tools and tactics alongside consumers are limiting their spending in certain an adaptive, dynamic outlook to manage your categories. BCG sentiment analysis found that brands, allocate resources, and speak and consumers expect to decrease their spending engage with customers. Equipped with this across multiple categories, with retail in toolset, you’ll be prepared to manage through particular heavily impacted, as can be seen in the initial period of upheaval, and ready your the graph on the following page from the most company to rebound. acute phase of the crisis. At the core of any new approach should be a Aside from the consumer squeeze, emotions focus on MarTech and other digital solutions are heightened. There are suddenly many more and the possibilities they offer. Getting through sensitivities and pitfalls that brands need to be the crisis and coming out stronger on the other aware of, some of which require radical pivots of side will require an agile, data-focused, and fluid planned campaigns or drastic changes in tone. approach. In order to keep this pace, you need On top of this, the lifestyle changes that have to be aware of the advantages new MarTech resulted from the crisis are sure to lead to both and digital capabilities can provide. An effective short- and long-term attitude shifts. Brands marketing operation in less challenging times are suddenly being challenged for relevance by should be underpinned by a strong deployment a new set of metrics and values. The landscape of the latest tools, but during a period of is changing and, as a CMO, you can’t afford upheaval these capabilities become central to for your team to be left behind. Understanding any strategy. these changes as they happen will be integral to protecting market share and laying the foundation for future success; new technologies that give marketing teams the ability to detect and respond to changes as they arise and adapt plans accordingly should be deployed. Beyond the initial crisis response, it’s also vital that you don’t lose perspective on the long term. The first priority for many companies has been to manage their day-to-day operations and protect revenue, but the crisis is also disrupting business models and altering market landscapes, causing changes that will be felt for years to come. By keeping an open mind to investment and innovation opportunities, reviewing and adapting their offerings, and