Coronavirus strategies for brands surface

A very poignant new film for Facebook that attempts to position the social media giant as a critical vehicle in bringing us together. The spot, created by Droga5 along with Facebook marketing, starts with emotional images including deserted streets, empty classrooms and picked over grocery shelves. It progresses to emotional images of people in masks, patients in hospitals and family members in tears. The film moves to the more uplifting, with people communicating online (via Facebook, of course), laughing, rejoicing, embracing and being grateful for each other, life and moving forward. All are set to Kate Tempest’s reading of her beautifully haunting poem “People’s Faces”, which was nothing less than a brilliant choice. One can argue that this well-crafted spot shamefully leverages the crisis and places the much-criticized Facebook as some kind of savior. We would argue that despite the social media giant’s missteps, it is an important piece of advertising capturing the unique moment with both emotion and flair. We all could not stop watching it. Does it help Facebook with its image challenges? That is the million (or billion) dollar question…