As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, the advertising industry counts itself as one among the most adversely affected. According to Nielsen, much of the global economy is experiencing a drastic fall in advertising volumes. However, the traditional advertising industry has taken the lion’s share of the hit.
Governments across the world have put measures in place to prevent COVID-19 from infecting and killing more people. Effectively, this means that out-of-home (OOH) advertising media has lost a huge chunk of its audience. Indeed, OOH media had lost about 50% of its audience by the first week of May 2020, according to Mumbrella.
Guerilla marketing is an ideal alternative
If marketers have to continue relying on traditional advertising media, then they stand to lose significantly in terms of visibility. Fortunately, this seems like the right time for in-the-hand marketing. In-the-hand marketing is a form of guerilla marketing where advertisers make use of unconventional marketing tactics. Advertisers place ads in places one would least expect such as on printed sleeves.
Using printed sleeves placed on coffee cups is low cost and yet effective for targeting customers demographically. How does this work? One might wonder. Simple. Firstly, one should come up with a striking message to display to the target audience. Secondly, one custom prints coffee cup sleeves up to the desired number. Thirdly, one delivers these printed sleeves to the desirable locations, coffee shops, for instance. From there, one need not do anything other than wait for calls from interested customers.
Why are printed sleeves ideal during this pandemic?
From the foregoing, it makes little sense to display ads on huge billboards on the highway side. This is because majority of the people you might want to reach are staying safe in their homes. On the contrary, coffee cups are still making their way into millions of living rooms every day. As such, you would reach customers more effectively by using printed sleeves.
Additionally, stay-at-home consumers may want to venture into the local coffee shops. This is very much possible considering that countries such as the US are slowly opening up. Advertisers who will utilize printed sleeves placed strategically will reach their audiences in a more targeted manner.
Lastly, many businesses have minuscule advertising budgets because of this pandemic. Consumers staying at home means that the small businesses located far from residential areas are insolvent. Since advertising is inevitable, it is prudent to utilize cheap but effective tactics for visibility. Interestingly, this is exactly what coffee cup sleeves advertising delivers.
