Reflections from Marketing Leaders during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 Pandemic posed radical changes across all areas of business activity, presenting organizations with both challenges and opportunities. Changes in human resources and marketing, in particular, have been particularly dramatic. To gain insights into the subject, twelve expert interviews were conducted with marketing professionals and academics in the early months of the Pandemic. The interviews, which each lasted approximately thirty-five minutes, focused on a number of key topics and were video-recorded and transcribed. The results demonstrated the widespread expectation among the experts that the Pandemic would bring about a seismic shift in business as usual. As well as this, the impact of the Pandemic was found to cause an accelerated digital transformation and associated competitive technological advantages. Looking at the literature today, these predictions and reflections are largely commonplace.