A day after launching in Ulta Beauty stores, foot care brand Barefoot Scientist received unfortunate but inevitable news: Ulta's locations would have to close due to the pandemic. For the relatively new company, it was disheartening that consumers wouldn’t be able to test its products in-store. But like other brands coping with the pandemic, Barefoot Scientist has learned to adapt and focus on the present.

Among US employees who are currently working and/or working from home, nearly nine in 10 believe that companies will now be working more virtually.

Faced with a global pandemic, consumers leaned into certainty. Forty percent of shoppers said materials and craftsmanship earned their confidence in a brand.

Faced with fierce competitive threats and now the pandemic, incumbent insurers need to double down on AI use.

For example, 37% of US adults in the Salesforce survey said they were more interested in mobile app shopping than they were last year, and 22% said the same about shopping via social media. Additionally, usage in click and collect has surged—specifically curbside pickup—which has allowed shoppers to make immediate purchases while minimizing human contact.

It's resulted in a net gain compared with pre-pandemic times.”. According to the Canada Media Fund, there was a clear shift to podcasts with a heavy pandemic focus. “Ça s’explique” at Radio-Canada and “Front Burner” at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) were two examples.

Netflix reported that it gained 10.1 million subscribers worldwide in Q2 2020, a direct result of both the pandemic and heavy expansion initiatives. The company said it had added another 15.8 million in Q1 2020, which comes out to 25.9 million new subscribers worldwide in H1. In light of this, we adjusted our Netflix user estimates up for every country in Western Europe this year.

After years of steady increases, time spent on social media by US social network users fell last year. Those figures will flatten as the intensity of Facebook usage starts to moderate and activities such as digital video and video games draw more time and attention.

Innovations Show Renewed Promise During Pandemic

As Americans hunkered down under stay-at-home guidelines for much of March and April, they unsurprisingly consumed more mobile media. The added mobile time, however, wasn’t distributed equally.

It remains to be seen how those shares may shift this year as a result of the pandemic and looming recession. Mobile video seems to be well-placed. However, that will depend on whether marketers continue to lean on brand-building efforts and avoid performance marketing at a time of suppressed demand for many sectors.

More than half (55.6%) of this mobile traffic (among the top 100 sites) went to computer, electronic and technology publishers, which include search and social media under SimilarWeb’s definitions. The biggest percentage gains were on law and government sites and health sites, in which traffic grew 44.9% and 54.9%, respectively, year over year.

Digital media and the spread of misinformation are two topics that often go hand in hand, and as the coronavirus pandemic takes hold in the UK, consumers are turning to tried and tested methods of acquiring necessary information. With a less splintered and partisan than what’s found in the US, organizations like the BBC and other traditional media continue to be the go-to sources of information for UK consumers.

Outer Aisle was working on this app pre-pandemic. What challenges did you encounter along the way, especially as the company started working remotely? We started working on the app in late December, and as things started unfolding, a lot of our branding and awareness campaigns have had to pivot.

We look at how digital tools like smartphones and social media fit into (or distort) the lives of teens, who are the core of Gen Z.

Digital ad spending in the US healthcare and pharmaceutical industry will grow by 14.2% to reach $9.53 billion in 2020. Growth is being fueled by ads related to COVID-19, including public service announcements, medical supplies and telemedicine.

Daily engagement with social media added up to 1:36, essentially identical to time spent with social in 2019. But penetration of social networking increased 2.9 percentage points, to 84.6%. Among newer digital devices, smart TVs were the clear winner in terms of popularity. Half (49.9%) of respondents owned a smart TV in H1 2020.

Twitter didn’t provide Q2 guidance, citing economic uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the earnings call, however, CFO Ned Segal told investors that the March 11-31 timeframe can serve as a preview for what to expect for its ad business in April. That suggests that we haven’t yet seen the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic and economic slowdown on Twitter’s business.

The pandemic has hit lower-income households especially hard. But its effects are being felt across income brackets, and not always in predictable ways—for instance, upper-income consumers are making the biggest spending cuts.

While customer engagement on digital channels has been on the rise for years, the pandemic has drastically accelerated this trend, with over 80% of marketers reporting increased openness to the value placed on digital experiences among customers. It’s no surprise many companies are now accelerating their digital transformation. But the question remains—what kind of digital transformation is required?

Coronavirus pandemic-related information or updates in the app immediately address a set of common customer questions. At the onset of the pandemic, FIs raced to meet their customers’ servicing needs, and many (60%) stepped up and offered links to services like payment assistance and common questions. The timely resource is considered “extremely valuable” by 15% of respondents.

Over the previous month or so, the number of new COVID-19 cases has become relatively high, and despite a decline in recent days, authorities are still sounding a cautious note and urging citizens to avoid unnecessary travel. More people are likely to stay local and indoors, rather than traveling to see family, as has been the tradition. This means the emphasis on digital will be greater than usual.

Edelman’s latest survey of consumers in Canada highlights takeaways for brands during and after COVID-19

With UK adults having so much time on their hands, it’s perhaps surprising to see audio struggling to hit the same, or at least similar, heights as video. However, with commuting (a key listening environment) essentially nixed, maybe this was to be expected after all.