THE FUTURE OF MEDIA - THE PARADIGM SHIFT: A DIGITAL SUMMARY
CORONAVIRUS AS A RAGING BRAND MECHANISM BY PATRICK HANLON
The medical markers for coronavirus are simple: a CT scan spots abnormalities on the chest such as “bilateral groundglass opacities”. Other newsworthy icons include Li, the “heat” maps we spot online that register the spread of the disease, even the microscopic photographs of the virus itself, blue surgical masks and the Purell hand sanitiser alert.
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lerts and news reports about Covid-19, probably the most infectious disease in the world, have spread around the globe faster than the coronavirus itself. The social virality of this potentially lethal disease has been exponential. This is due not only to our human rubbernecking instinct and the pandemic morbidity of the disease, but also because the root code of the coronavirus narrative is essentially primal, attractive and collective. We know that brands are formed around products or services, but the new understanding of “brand” is that these are communities of people who gather around the same central idea. This time the central concept is not Just do it, Think different, or #MeToo. It is Covid-19. Coronavirus. Pandemic. Behind everything that we “believe in” exist a root code and narrative to create a “primal” brand. The strategic brand narrative includes a creation story, creed, icons, rituals, a specialised lexicon, nonbelievers and a leader. A close inspection of the Covid-19 storyline shows that it contains all seven of these elements, which not only helps this already newsworthy story make sense, but gives the virus added relevance, veracity and agency that also make it socially viral. These elements are a must, not just for a flu bug but for anyone who intends to build powerful public movements. Even if you haven’t been keeping up with the steady stream of coronavirus reports you’re likely to be familiar with many of these story elements. NOVEMBER 2020
The first element needed is a creation story. A Wuhan doctor named Li Wenliang identified the virus and alerted Chinese authorities, but was shouted down, and a short-term cover-up ensued. The doctor was later infected with the coronavirus and died (aged 34). Thank you for your voice, Dr Li.
In the 1300s the Black Plague inspired icons like the Grim Reaper, beaked masks, songs like Ring Around The Rosie and other memes that exist to this day. Covid-19 has inspired its own rash of dark humour. The confusion between Corona beer and coronavirus is laughable on its own. A quick search online yields Snapchats, YouTube skits (example: woman who sneezes at train station gets pushed away, sprayed and offed for bad behaviour), one-liners, cartoons and more.
The second piece of primal code is the creed, and covers coronavirus’s reason for being, which, dramatically, is to make you ill and potentially kill you.
There are many rituals involved with coronavirus, including the progressive nature of the disease itself. According to The New England Journal of Medicine the most common symptoms are fever (98%), cough (76%) and myalgia or fatigue (44%). Other processes include person-to-person transmission, routine hospitalisation, daily news reports, social media postings and travel warnings.
The third piece of a primal brand is iconography — how do we identify it?
Covid-19 has started a wave of new rituals, including washing hands
What should you do? This is a brand movement that you want to engage in only from a distance. By early April the coronavirus had affected over 1-million people worldwide, and the official death toll stood at about 70,000. The disease is virulent. In fact, reports The New England Journal of Medicine, “Covid-19 has already caused 10 times as many cases as SARS in a quarter of the time.”
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