Promotional Marketing Campaigns in Pandemic Times

Abstract

Research background: CoVid19 was a shock for governments, organizations as well as people. At the beginning of the pandemic, everyone was stunned and companies tried to adapt to the “new reality”, as some sectors were forced either to diminish their offer due to the downfall of demand, or even to fully stop offering products or services as a result of the lockdown restrictions, as in the case of tourism and events sector. Imminent health, social and economic crises seemed inevitable, and with more destructive power than the 2008 economic crises. Purpose of the article: Almost all organizations and companies were affected to a certain extent by this global crisis. On one hand, companies manufacturing medical products, drugs, devices, disinfectants, construction, digital industries, courier companies had an increase in the demand, while others like: automotive, aerospace, construction, hotels, spas, cultural and creative industries had a fall of demand due to the lockdown restrictions. Methods: In order to discover the steps taken by organizations from different industries, we analyzed several promotional marketing campaigns and we deployed research among the potential customers in order to discover their opinion towards these kinds of strategies. Findings & Value added: Organizations that encountered difficulties in the pandemic time appealed to promotional marketing campaigns bearing in mind several objectives, like: boosting sales, increase brand notoriety of the products or services offered and even gain more customers having a mixed expansion of the market, not only intensive or extensive growth.