Marketing in the time of Covid & Coups in Myanmar. Should we?

ONE OF THE MOST COMMON QUESTIONS I get, both from inside and outside Myanmar during this period is can any marketing activities be done and whether they should do anything at all. I will attempt to give my views and some thoughts on what can be done or not.

A few months back, still reeling from the effect of the double whammy, I wrote a piece called, “Branding in the time of Covid and Military Coups : A Myanmar commentary,” where I talked about the future of branding in Myanmar. Lets say it was one of the more popular posts I had.

This is a companion to that, not exactly and update, but trying to address specific questions of what can be done on the ground.

BRIEF BACKGROUND

After almost a year of Covid, where Myanmar was somewhat coping, with vaccinations plans starting to roll out with CovidShield, 2021 seemed like it would be a better year than 2020 in the early part of January of this year. Business was down, economic activity was down, but the people were fighting back. Into that mix came the military coup on Feb 1, 2021.

You could say that the coup could not have come at a worse time, but there is never a good time for any military to usurp the legally elected government of any country. That being said, it was a bad move at a bad time. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that things would get worse, and they do. 7 months into the coup, this is the ‘context,’ that business are facing now.

DOWN DOWN DOWN WE GO

Covid tends to have that effect on the economy elsewhere and most likely you are in a place experiencing it so I won’t go over much detail but I will cover what the effects of the military coup are.

1. ECONOMY IS DOWN : Said that already right? Things are getting worse as Covid pushed it down, but the coup pushed it down further, -18% as claimed by the The World Bank. This comes from restrictions on transportation of goods, restriction on the banking system, restrictions on general movement and most important for marketers, restrictions on free communications. Please note that when I say restrictions, they not only come from the military, but some are self imposed and others are due to circumstances.
2. BANKING FOR BUSINESS IS DOWN : Central Bank after the coup has imposed severe restrictions over a period of 7 months. Currently business of all sizes cannot freely transfer or move funds as needed. A business can pay another business online/wire, but cash based payments are almost impossible. Most business were mostly offline (checks, cash prior the coup).
3. CASH SUPPLIES FOR GENERAL POPULATION IS DOWN : Two things happened almost immediately after the coup. The first was that most government and banking staff went on Civil Disobedience Movement — meaning not showing up for work and striking. The second was that central bank limited cash withdrawals to less than 200 USD equivalent a day. This immediately caused long lines at banks that are open and at ATMs. People were lining up at 4AM in the morning to withdraw cash. 7 months on, this continues.
4. LOCAL CURRENCY IS DOWN : It is then not surprising that the local Kyat is depreciating at an alarming rate. Prior the coup the exchange rate was 1,300 Kyats to the dollar, this week it was around 1,800 Kyats to the dollar. Almost 25% drop.
5. MEDIA ARE LIMITED : I used the word restrictions and there are indeed restrictions imposed by the military and they ranged from limitations on what to call them, to what news are acceptable for coverage to arrests of journalists and closing down of independent media outlets. Also what has happened is that most all of the independent media outlets are closed down by their owners out of concern for their own safety to media outlets forcibly closed down by the military. Generally the only free flow of information is on Facebook and Telegram.
6. INTERNET IS RESTRICTED : With the help of China and Russia, the military has imposed a White Listed Internet. Prior the coup, the internet speeds were going up and the internet was generally free with a few porn, drugs and weapon sites blocked. Now, everything is blocked, with am exception on the sites that are deemed safe. Most people get around that through VPNs, but after awhile, that stops working as the censors catch up. Facebook had 22 Million active users prior the coup, now it is around 8 Million users.
7. CELEBRITIES ARE DOWN : A curious way to put it. Two things that happened almost immediately was 1) Most celebrities immediately started to join the protests in early February. Then the military started crackdown with raids, arrests and warrants. Those that were not immediately detained, went into hiding or crossed over the border and escape elsewhere. Some even went to join the resistance. Sufficient to say that the number of working celebrities are down.
8. THE RISE OF BOYCOTT CULTURE : Businesses, individuals and celebrities linked or deemed to be linked to the military were boycotted. People stopped buying beer and cigarettes from military owned or JV businesses. People unfollowed and also boycotted celebrities who didn’t speak up. Here is a list if you are interested in doing the boycott. You are welcome! This extended to brands that used the ‘wrong,’ celebrities and even big brands were quick to come out say that they were not working with certain celebrities before.
9. THE RISE OF SANCTIONS : Western democracies primality imposed sanctions on military related businesses, military related individuals rather quickly. What else followed was higher scrutiny on financial transactions by any international transfer or doing business abroad. Investments dropped, stopped and now nothing much is left as multinational companies are writing off their losses and getting out of the country.

There is definitely more to write, but this is pretty much the abridged version of things in relation to doing business in Myanmar. So then what can business do in Myanmar currently? With care and sensitivity, business can still do a few things here.

SO THEN WHAT CAN WE DO?

Not much sadly and it is a judgement call. Check out my previous article about branding I shared at the start of this post on what we can do in Myanmar but what follows are the what and how we can do marketing here. Not the choicest of assignments, but for those willing, and there are a few, things to do.

1. TRADE SMARTLY : Most retail and shopping areas, especially for food, medicine are open. If your product is in that category, loss of sales is expected, but people will continue to buy your products. Go back to the basics and keep your distribution system running — keeping in mind the restrictions on transportation and communications — and your product will do well enough. Sufficient to say that if you are in the Pharma side of business, things are booming as need for vitamins, medicine and healthcare products go through the roof.
2. COMMUNICATE WITH CARE : Both be careful of how you say things to promote your product but also show that you care. Tonally don’t be too selly but sound like you are here to help in your own way. Again if your product falls into the food, medicine and essentials people will need your products and services. Too happy, too positive, too energetic tones will piss most users off. Just be aware of the challenges that the people are going through, which leads us to the next topic of people.
3. PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING : How? Let me count the ways, health-wise, financially, future prospects and personal safety. This is unfortunately a pre-existing condition and what you as a business can do is to help them get through this period. But, but you will say that you are not here to help the people of Myanmar but here to make some profits. Well, you can and in fact quite a few people take advantage of the situation to get rich. As the Chinese would say crisis equals opportunity (yes I know that it is the word that they use). No judgement there, just to say that you can do well for yourself in such a time. But know too that people are suffering so I plead with you to do what you can help.
4. OPINION LEADER LANDSCAPE HAS CHANGED : With most of the well known and popular celebrities detained, escaped or dead, the KOL landscape is much reduced. To complicate matters, celebrities, who were once quite popular are now on the shit list of many people by either supporting the military or not speaking out. As marketers it is therefore very risky to use celebrities or KOLs like the pre coup period now. The last thing a brand wants to do is have the wrong association.
5. MEDIA LANDSCAPE HAS CHANGED : Most of the independent media outlets are gone. What remains are the military stations (whether owned by the armed forces or the government) and media outlets with links to the military. The question here is that do you want your brand advertising to be on those outlets? Perhaps OOH is still fairly neutral — although the specific owners are not known.
6. ONLINE & SOCIAL : With the help of VPNs people are online and on Facebook. The use of VPNs are not legal and while there has been no action taken against the users of such services, it is not difficult to imagine a time when people can be detained for such use. That said, this is where the action is if you want to communicate to your audience — even with all the restrictions and limitations. With a lower active user count, you won’t be able to reach a sizable population but you can still reach.

Sever limitations exist due to both Covid and the Coup. Yet life continues and for that we need food, medicines, essentials and hopefully a way to make a decent living. If companies and brands can do it, can help people while also making some profit, please do so.

TL; DR

1. Be conscious, be very conscious of the context of what you are trying to communicate.

2. Be sure to add value — ease their troubles, help them live a better life — with your marketing.

3. Be around. People will remember who was around them in their times of need.

4. Bottomline’s are important, but the effect you have on the community are even more important. And I am not even talking about being Purpose Driven or CSV conscious.