Creating Value in a Pandemic
As a leader of Hudson’s Bay’s pandemic response, my focus was on how to shift our marketing so it was more relevant to our customers’ new reality.
As our customers’ needs narrowed, so did our focus. As they shifted from breadmaking to outdoor entertaining, so did our storytelling. And through it all we kept them inspired with activities, new challenges and inspiration across email and our social channels.
We treated each email as an opportunity to provide care and comfort to our customers.
Each week we examined the customer’s self-isolation journey, from teaching the kids at home to embracing a slower lifestyle, and weren’t afraid to change course. I ensured that the stories we told in each and every email felt authentic and helpful, and that we were sensitive to concerns and challenges.
Social Media
Through increased connectivity with the social media team we helped them to shift focus to more in depth Stories, IGTV and grid posts, like interviews, interactive games and other boredom busters. I helped them shift the focus to that of care and comfort with our influencer partners. And I found opportunities for social media to cross-promote via email for better engagement.
In Store
Throughout the Covid journey I wrote messages from the company to our customers to keep them in touch with our corporate focus: charity partnerships, store closures and messages from our executives.
Once our stores opened I wanted the customer to feel safe and secure. We were putting so many safety measures into place, we truly cared about everyone who would be coming through our doors. Thus everything was born out of the idea of a friend saying after time apart, “It’s good to see you.”
Over the course of our Covid response we saw positive growth in key areas that were relevant to self-isolation. While this isn’t surprising, much of the growth was in businesses that many customers didn’t even know Hudson’s Bay offered. In a time when many retailers were trending downwards, our storytelling confirmed to our customers that Hudson’s Bay was an essential business.
To help customers, we introduced new services
Like curbside pickup, contactless delivery and more—all while we were migrating to a new Sales Force platform at thebay.com.