Research released from the EACA Knowledge Centre of Effie Europe winners reveals 4 salutary lessons on how marketing communications can enable brands into growth post-recession.

Titled "The Road to Recovery: What lessons from previous recessions can teach us about communication-led growth in a post-COVID world”, this research has been conducted by marketing effectiveness experts The Effectiveness Partnership and TBWA\ ‎‎‎who have analysed data from EACA Effie Europe winners from 2008-2020.

Very little literature exists on how brands can best emerge from economic downturns. This whitepaper seeks to redress this, with research from the Effectiveness Partnership and TBWA\ finding that brands can drive communications-led growth by adhering to these 4 lessons:

1. There are big opportunities for value brands to cement their place in consumer repertoires primarily through driving increased frequency, and for high innovation, brands to use the power of communications to help fuel closer customer connections, and grow penetration.

2. That emotion is critical to bolstering brand connections to post-recessionary consumers, and growing brand relevance is disproportionately important during these periods.

3. That successful brands with the capability and confidence to bring new products and innovations into the marketplace, and communicating these when times are hard are rewarded by being able to move off the defensive and onto the offensive, seizing new opportunities for growth.

4. That TV, leading an increasingly sophisticated and multi-channel communications mix, remains critical to driving large business effects post-recession. And that the power of earned media is critical to engage consumers and to create fame, creating togetherness and conversation at times when consumers are looking for shared meaning.