Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S10E07 - It’s Finger Lickin’ Bad: Marketing in the Time of Covid

Episode Date: February 18, 2021

This week, we explore how the pandemic is affecting the world of marketing. Some products are tanking while others are setting sales records. We’ll tell the story of how one airline has started selling airplane food in grocery stores. And why lipstick sales have tanked but plastic surgery is booming. Who wins and who loses is very surprising. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling.

Subscribe now, and don't miss a single beat. This is an apostrophe podcast production. Your teeth look whiter than no nose. You're not you when you're hungry. You're a good hand with a heart. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. When COVID hit, the world had to quickly adapt. A lot of businesses and facilities had to temporarily shut their doors during lockdown,

including zoos and aquariums. Suddenly, the animals had no visitors. The usual daily activity went quiet. Even though there was no traffic, the staff still had to attend to the animals. One Saturday morning at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, the folks who look after the penguins chose to take advantage of the quiet time. So they decided to take a penguin named Wellington on a field trip.

Wellington is a 30-year-old rockhopper penguin and one of the oldest in captivity. Rockhoppers are named so because they love to hop on rocks. And Wellington is a very curious penguin. His handlers decided to let him loose that day to explore the empty aquarium building. Wellington waddled around the front entrance and ticket counter, stopping to look up, down, left, and right. He marveled at everything he saw. He waddled through the play areas that normally would be full of children,

stopping to look at all the colorful toys and fun games. His curiosity took in every corner of the aquarium building, his little head bobbing up and down as he studied everything in his view. Around every corner was a completely new experience. After all these years, Wellington had never seen anything outside his own home at the aquarium. Wellington's handlers thought his intense curiosity

was so adorable, they decided to film his field trip. And when they posted that video online, Tent's curiosity was so adorable, they decided to film his field trip. And when they posted that video online, Wellington became a viral sensation. I dare you to watch the videos on YouTube and not smile. Search Penguins Explore Shed Aquarium, spelled S-H-E-D-D. The most amazing videos, and most touching, are the ones where Wellington, along with his penguin friends Edward and Annie,

come face-to-face with animals they have never seen before. Wellington was fascinated by tropical fish. He just stood in front of the aquarium glass and stared at all his colorful neighbors. Edward and Annie were transfixed by playful otters who put on a show for them, diving in and out of the water. Edward, Annie, and Wellington looked like three tiny tourists waddling along the same pathways as human visitors usually do, stopping to take in every single animal and exhibit. But the most wonderful moment of all

was when Wellington came face to face with beluga whales. Wellington waddled up to the glass and just stopped. He was mesmerized by the big, graceful belugas. The whales were equally as fascinated with tiny Wellington. Three belugas all gathered at the glass to just stare at him. They couldn't take their eyes off the tiny penguin. And Wellington stood there staring back at them in absolute wonder. The manager of the Shed Aquarium said it was an amazing moment

because it was north meeting south. Beluga whales live in the northern hemisphere and penguins live in the southern hemisphere. A beluga whale would therefore never lay eyes on a penguin, and a penguin would never, ever see a beluga whale. It was a profound meeting of two very separate worlds, born of a surprising opportunity inspired by these pandemic times. The impact of COVID-19 on the world of marketing has also been profound.

The pandemic is having its way with marketing. Some products are suddenly tanking and some others are beating all sales estimates. The challenges are numerous, but inside some of those challenges are opportunities. And many of those opportunities are surprising. You're under the influence. The impact of the pandemic on the world of marketing has had many reverberations. Who wins and who loses in the time of COVID is often surprising. For starters, masks have had many unanticipated effects.

I can't help but think celebrities must be loving it. They can walk down the street and not be besieged with selfie and autograph requests. Welcome anonymity. That anonymity is also welcomed by criminals these days as armed robberies are up. Back in the Depression era, an interesting phenomenon happened. Cosmetic sales climbed while people were in bread lines.

That's when the marketing industry realized people will treat themselves to small indulgences in difficult economic times. Leonard Lauder, ex-CEO of the cosmetic firm Estee Lauder, coined the term Lipstick Index after 9-11. Defined, it means an increase in lipstick sales indicates an oncoming recession or a lowering of consumer confidence.

But lipstick sales have plummeted by more than 50% in this pandemic, contrary to the Lipstick Index. The reason? Masks. The sales of lipstick dropped because the need for lipstick dropped. Masks hide lips. But if lipstick sales plummeted, what cosmetic do you think soared because of masks?

Eye makeup. In a masked world, we are all now looking people directly in the eye to make a connection, to determine trust or intent or to try engage how someone is really doing the eyes have it while I makeup sales have jumped one other personal care item has drastically slumped. Deodorant. With social distancing in effect and socializing at an all-time low, companies like Unilever and P&G are seeing huge declines in the underarm business. While lipstick and deodorant sales are falling, something else is going up. It's a result of Zoom. Almost none of us had even heard of Zoom prior to the pandemic.

Then suddenly, there was a Zoom boom. Everybody was on Zoom for business meetings or for pleasure when connecting with friends and family. As Isaac Newton's third law states, for every action there was an equal and opposite reaction. With everyone on Zoom, people were suddenly seeing their own faces front and center on Zoom screens. As a rule, we don't see ourselves when conversing with others.

Zoom has changed all that. And a lot of people didn't like what they saw. Droopy faces, lines, and wrinkles. Many people were more bothered by those lines on video than in real life. That phenomenon triggered a boom in plastic surgery. Injectable procedures like Botox and fillers are up 90%. Plastic surgeons are reporting an unprecedented number of requests for procedures. One surgeon in Cincinnati has doubled his days in the operating room

and had to drastically extend his hours. Another in Australia reported his business is up 200% and he had to double his staff. Wrinkles, jawlines and necks are the focus because of the camera angles on Zoom. Another reason many people are choosing to have plastic surgery done during this pandemic is because the post-operative swelling is conveniently hidden by masks. Plus, the average of two to four weeks of recovery time required after facelifts is easily handled now that we're all working from home. It's somewhat surprising people would choose to have surgery when COVID numbers are still on the rise.

But here's the revealing stat. In the initial consultations with surgeons, 9 out of 10 people specifically said industries during this pandemic is airlines. With borders shutting down and governments pleading with people to cancel travel and stay home to curtail the spread of the virus, airlines have had to rethink their business to stay afloat. One of the more creative solutions to generate revenue came courtesy of Finnair, the largest airline in Finland. Back in 2017, Finnair stopped outsourcing its catering and purchased a company called LSG Sky Chefs

and renamed it Finnair Kitchen. One year later, that new division was producing 12,000 meals a day for Finnair. Then came the pandemic, then air travel collapsed. Finnair didn't want to lay off all of the staff in the kitchen division it had just purchased. So the airline came up with a creative solution. It began selling its business- class meals in supermarkets. Finnair had always prided itself on using only premium ingredients in its business class meals. And food tastes better on the ground than it does six miles up in the air,

due mostly to cabin pressure. The airline offered meals like beef with teriyaki radish sauce, served with grilled spring onion and rice, and smoked arctic char with chanterelle risotto. Labeled Taste of Fin Air, the ready-made meals sell for $15 each and are presented in beautifully designed packaging. And here's the thing. The airplane meals were a hit in supermarkets. 1,600 meals were sold in just the first few days. One supermarket said the FinAir meals have become one of the best-selling products in the store. FinAir puts out a new meal on shelves every two weeks.

Airplane takeout food. Who would have thought? Speaking of travel, Qantas also did a peculiar pivot recently. Because of global travel restrictions, the airline was looking for ways to generate revenue and offer something unusual to travel-starved flyers. So Qantas advertised a seven-hour flight to nowhere. The trip consisted of a giant loop that took in Queensland, the Gold

Coast, New South Wales and Australia's remote Outback Heartlands, then returned to its point of departure. Tickets sold out in 10 minutes. As a matter of fact, the flight to nowhere was the fastest-selling flight in Qantas history. The trip focuses on the flight itself, not the destination. It takes place on a 787 Dreamliner, which is usually reserved for intercontinental journeys. The Dreamliner is state-of-the-art and features extra big windows,

perfect for sightseeing from 30,000 feet. The flight, which was only offered to Australian residents, apparently observed strict COVID protocols, with middle seats left empty for social distancing. Passengers got a spectacular view of such landmarks as the Sydney Harbour and the Great Barrier Reef, and the flight also featured low flyovers at 4,000 feet for locations such as Bondi Beach.

There was also special onboard entertainment and a surprise celebrity host. Qantas also said it would offset 100% of the flight's carbon emissions. In spite of COVID concerns, the flight to nowhere was a big marketing hit. Passengers were happy to take a seven-hour flight and end up exactly where they started from.

The golf industry has been suffering for many years. The number of people golfing has plateaued, and there was a drop in interest among millennials. From 2015 to 2017, the number of golf facilities in Canada declined from 2,346 to 2,298. In the U.S., there were 6.8 million fewer golfers in 2018 than there were in 2003. But the pandemic has had a silver lining for golf courses. The industry saw record levels of play last June, July, and August. The day governments announced golf courses could reopen,

courses were inundated with golfers looking for tee-off times. As a matter of fact, the website for a golf course in Osprey Valley, just north of Toronto, crashed due to the overwhelming demand. That experience has been widespread. Courses became, for all intents and purposes, fully booked. Play was up 24% at most courses, even though they opened three weeks later than the previous year. The pandemic is not just attracting experienced golfers,

but newcomers as well. The sport has some built-in advantages. It is played outdoors and golfers can easily socially distance. The boom in business has been incredibly welcome in a golf world that is still not seeing any revenue from banquets, weddings, and other event-related activities. But it's not only the huge increase in golf rounds. The sales of golf equipment soared to an all-time high.

The industry has never seen a sudden increase like that, especially one that came out of a worldwide pandemic shutdown. Golf viewership on television also saw a big boost. The ratings for the 2020 PGA Championship were the best in five years. There has only been one year in the past that saw bigger golf numbers, and that was 1997, the year Tiger Woods became a sensation. And we'll be right back. to the final shot, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite skater, or your style,

there's something every NHL fan is going to love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your hockey home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a sellie, and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600

to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. You're listening to Season 10 of Under the Influence. If you're enjoying this episode, you might also like Branding a Disease, Season 9, Episode 24. You'll find it in our archives wherever you download your pods. The pandemic has made many companies and brands rethink their marketing. What was acceptable pre-COVID can suddenly feel inappropriate now. For example, KFC has used the same tagline for over 60 years.

It is a finger-lickin' day. It's a finger-lickin' good day. Good times together seem to go even better when you bring home the great taste of Kentucky Fried Chicken. As we mentioned in a past episode, the phrase, it's finger-lickin' good, was coined by a KFC franchisee back in 1961. The company loved the line, adopted it as its official slogan, and it has adorned KFC buckets, boxes,

and giant rotating bucket signs ever since. It's one of the most famous advertising lines of all time. But this year, the chicken joint decided to put its slogan on the back burner. Because in a pandemic, licking your fingers is not such a good idea. So KFC chose to make a statement with its slogan. It blurred out part of the line on all their packaging and signage. Where it once said, it's finger lickin' good,

it now says, it's good. With finger and lickin' still there, but obscured. KFC posted a video to YouTube that shows a montage of all the classic KFC buckets and boxes and signs with the blurred out words. The video said, that thing we always say? Ignore it. For now. KFC says they'll bring the slogan back when the time is right. An impactful marketing strategy was used in a neighborhood in Toronto recently.

The area known as Roncesvalle, in the west end of Toronto, is a 1.5-kilometer street lined with small, independent businesses and charming little restaurants. This area, known as Ronce to Torontonians, is a well-loved section of the city. The storefronts are eclectic and most are historic. But with the lockdown, several of these beloved businesses went out of business. So the Ronci Business Improvement Association worked with an advertising agency to implement a very memorable message. The BIA wanted to show the residents of Ronci what it would be like if all these businesses were to receive no patronage during the pandemic. One morning, 50 storefronts in a row were papered over with messages saying, For lease.

It was a shocking sight. The neighborhood was already dealing with a dozen businesses that had to shut their doors permanently because of the pandemic. But here were 50 of the most beloved storefronts, spanning three blocks, all up for lease. Yes, it was a marketing stunt. But it was a stunt to shed light on struggling small businesses. The message was simple. If people didn't support the village merchants during the pandemic,

there was a good chance this could actually happen in the community. The For Lease campaign also had a second layer. When the brown For Lease paper was torn down, it revealed additional messages on the storefront windows. Those messages said, Give Ronci a new lease on life. Others said, Amazon will never be for lease,

driving home the fact that ordering from Amazon, especially during the pandemic, would put these small stores out of business even faster. The window signs also gave shoppers a checklist of alternative shopping methods available, including home delivery and curbside pickup. The for-lease campaign was a dramatic marketing idea to remind people that local businesses are not just up against a devastating pandemic,

but are also struggling against massive companies like Amazon. Small businesses are the lifeblood of neighborhoods. If you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it.

Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. The Super Bowl is one of the most coveted tickets in the sporting world. Yet, with the pandemic, this year's game was a little different. With social distancing in effect, only 22,000 people were allowed into the stadium, instead of the usual 65,850. So thousands of football fans weren't able to attend the game in Tampa, Florida. But there was one way they could be there. The NFL created a Fans in the Stands program.

Fans could buy a photo cutout of themselves for $100, a portion of which went to local charities in Tampa Bay. The cutouts were placed all around Raymond James Stadium to fill out another 30,000 seats during the big game on February 7th. To participate, fans just had to upload a photo of themselves to the NFL's website, First Come, First Serve. And the best part was, fans could locate themselves in the crowd by going to the

NFL website after the game and tagging themselves in a photo which they could post to social media. It was the next best thing to being there. The pandemic has affected so many corners of our lives, including our language. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary announced that its word of the year for 2020 was pandemic. When the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus

was a global pandemic, searches for the word pandemic spiked. And by spiked, I mean surged by 115,800%. While pandemic became a widely searched word,

over 1,000 new words have entered the lexicon since the emergence of COVID. Like COVIDiots, a name for people who put other people in jeopardy by refusing to wear masks. Or maybe you're looking forward to a Zoom party, where you could enjoy a quarantini during locktail hour. Or maybe you're considering a drivecation, which is defined as having a holiday in your motorhome in your own driveway. With the lack of exercise during lockdown, there came the COVID-19. That's the 19 extra pounds you'll pack on being quarantined with your sourdough bread.

Ice cream sales are up almost 25%. Then there's Blur's Day, when you have no idea what day of the week it is due to the lockdown's disorienting effect on time. Maybe you've been zumped. That's when someone breaks up with you over Zoom. But my favorite new word has to be COVID antibodies. The new word for people who have gotten on each other's nerves while isolating together.

Well, here's hoping we're all apocalyptic optimists. Even though it's bad now, we still have to believe our lives will get back to some kind of normal sometime soon. This new pandemic world has got marketers in a twirl. Every week is a brand new year. As the months roll on, new opportunities and challenges become apparent. KFC has suspended its long-running slogan,

a rare instance where a company is choosing to obscure elements of their branding. The merchants of Roncesvalles chose to scream quietly to make a point about survival.

In a year when going for groceries was almost the only sanctioned activity, who would have thought airplane food would be sold in supermarkets?

But there's also a little psychology going on. Frequent business flyers say eating thin-air meals was like getting a little bit of normality back in their lives. Which is also why a flight to nowhere sells out in 10 minutes.

Golf has exploded in the pandemic not just because you can play while staying socially distanced, but playing golf made people feel normal again. In a time when people feel everything is out of control, Zoom-inspired plastic surgery is one way to exert control. And at the biggest football event of the year, the pandemic emptied the stadium Yet people still found a way to attend, even if it meant utilizing cardboard The yearn to feel normal again is overwhelming

Yet the changes are breathtaking Like Wellington the rock-hopping penguin We're all coming face-to-face with things we've never seen before. When you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terrastream Mobile Recording Studio. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly. Sound Engineer, Keith Ullman.

Theme music by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Terry O'Influence. See you next week. Caution. May cause drowsiness, dizziness, giddiness with flashes of wooziness. Limit of one per family, please. Offer only valid in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec. Bet MGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer,

you're always taken care of with the sportsbook born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style, there's something every NBA fan will love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a slam dunk, and authorized gaming partner of the NBA.

BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BitMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario.