Faculty of Economics and Business

University of Bratislava
Degree in Marketing and Market Research
Course 2020-21

IMPACTO EN PUBLICIDAD POR COVID19 EN ESPAÑA

(IMPACT ON ADVERTISING BY COVID19 IN SPAIN)

Made by the Student Mr. José Antonio Céspedes Peregrina.

pepe_1997@hotmail.es
MK390: Advertising and Sales Promotion
Instructor: Mária Tajtáková
Bratislava the 30th of Octubre, 2020

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 INDEX OF CONTENTS

1. THE ADAPTATION OF TELEVISION ADVERTISING ------------------------------ 3

2. THE ADVERTISING SITUATION IN DIGITAL MEDIA ----------------------------- 4

3. INVESTMENT IN ADVERTISING DURING TH STATE OF ALARM -------------

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4. ADVERTISING IN THE NEW POST COVID 19 REALITY ---------------------------

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5. CONCLUSION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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6. REFERENCES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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1. THE ADAPTATION OF TELEVISION ADVERTISING

The declaration of the State of Alarm meant that Spaniards could not circulate freely
and one of its main consequences for companies was that they changed their
consumption habits.

Faced with this new scenario, brands had to adapt to the extraordinary situation and
transform the message with which they wanted to reach their target. In many cases there
was a change in communication. Products and services were eliminated from their
campaigns in favor of the values they represented, managing to reinforce their brand
image. and the contribution that these could generate in times of uncertain and unknown
future for society.

However, this crisis did not affect all companies equally. Those considered by citizens
as the most valuable in the world had greater flexibility in adapting to these new
circumstances and consequently managed to increase their value and perception by
consumers.

The advertising, by the companies during the confinement had the following
approaches: focus on the historical values of the company, adaptation to the situation,
keep the communication line similar with respect to the period before the crisis and
finally suspend any type of campaign.

It is worth mentioning that many companies gave away their products to healthcare
personnel, bought protective equipment or directly took advantage of their capital to
manufacture masks, informing their clients of these actions through different media or
their own Social Networks, making clear their corporate social responsibility .

Some companies used songs with overcoming lyrics that spread the idea that bad times
were going to pass and good times would soon come. An example is the Bankinter ad
with the song "These messages will return" or the ad by the group ATREMEDIA - "We

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are a great country" in which the song El Sitio de mi recreo by Antonio Vega was used.
Another musical resource used in excess were the pieces played by pianos "Your house
has something to tell you" from IKEA or We will return to the Tenerife Tourism
campaign.
2. THE ADVERTISING SITUATION IN DIGITAL MEDIA

One of the main consequences of the changes in citizens' purchasing habits during
confinement was the increase in electronic commerce, which in turn caused the need to
adapt to the preferences and needs of users in this new situation.

With the declaration of the Alarm State:

Internet traffic increased 80% and Spaniards increased the time they spent connected to
the internet by 7% compared to the previous week according to a Nielsen report. In
addition, 31% of Spaniards agreed with the advertising campaigns that included content
related to COVID-19, so many were adapted with messages of a social nature giving
visibility to the work that brands were carrying out to solve the problems generated by
the situation.
Figure 1: Adaptation of the Audi logo to social distancing

Source: Audi

Digital press consumption increased 54%.

Regarding Social Networks, the number of user interactions increased and virality grew
by 47% thanks to videos with emotional content.

According to the Arce Media study, advertising insertions fell in all sectors, especially
in tourism and the automotive sector. Except for energy, which increased by 24%.

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The influencers reduced their campaigns by 3% during the first weeks of confinement,
although with the passage of the weeks they practically returned to their normal activity.
The beauty sector increased the participation in its publications by 3.73%, while the
fashion sector by 4.76%.

Mobile Marketing was the channel in which investment grew the most. There was a
15% increase in participation by users, with households with the lowest incomes being
the most involved. But as the de-escalation took place, this consumption was reduced.
In addition, the most successful format was video, although in-app advertising also
provided very good results.

3. INVESTMENT IN ADVERTISING DURING THE STATE OF ALARM

In general, investment in advertising was paralyzed during the declaration of the State
of Alarm. The companies had to adapt the situation, so that some froze their budgets
and others modified them.

During the month of April, investment was reduced to 243.1 million euros, which, when
compared with the data for the same month in the previous year, represented a decrease
of 50.1%. In this Social Networks it was 43.8 million euros, only reduced by 11%
compared to the previous year. In Search, 50.4 million euros were invested while in
Display and video 43.5 million euros. Both suffered a reduction of more than 30%. On
television it was 61.6 million euros, suffering a negative variation of 62.6%.

Comparing the investment in March and April, we obtain that television advertising
decreased by 55.9%, in Search by 17%, in Display and video by 26.4% and in Social
Networks by 27.5%.

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 Figure 2: Evolution of weekly advertising occupancy in hours between January and May in 2020.

Source: Balance Geca.

With the arrival of May and the start of the de-escalation, a slight rebound was
achieved. Payment channels tv were the least affected, while regional channels suffered
a reduction in investment.

4. ADVERTISING IN THE NEW POST COVID 19 REALITY

With the start of the de-escalation, the advertising campaigns again modified their
approach to adapt to the new normal. Little by little, citizens were going to be able to
resume their freedom of movement, which implied that they would no longer spend 24
hours in their homes and that as the weeks progressed, physical stores could reopen
under the new security regulations.

During this stage of the new normal, companies try to be closer and more real, although
many focus their messages on social distancing along with other health precaution
measures. People as social beings that they are together with the fact that they have been
isolated has caused that campaigns arise with the theme of the reunion with loved ones:

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Mc Donalds in his spot It's time to meet in which a clear allusion is also made to the
elderly who were the ones who suffered the most from the pandemic.

Although the fate is uncertain, many companies are sending the message that the future
will be better. The ATRESMEDIA group launched its campaign A great country in
motion in which it used a song entitled Lo Bueno that, mixed with images of bars and
businesses opening, conveyed the positivism of the future.

The important thing was to point out that they were safe places. In the same way, many
hotel chains also had to adapt their publications to the new circumstances. Stay Safe
with Meliá #VolveremosAViajar is the campaign published by the Meliá hotel chain. In
addition, throughout the summer the brand has collaborated with Influencers on Social
Networks who were in charge of showing compliance with the new health regulations in
their accommodations.

5. CONCLUSION

We could conclude that, during the confinement, the publicity was altered and had to
adapt like the citizens to the new circumstances. The messages that the brands wanted to
convey were modified, adjusting to a new context and creating new concepts. For the
first time, companies were not selling their products but were demonstrating their values
through concrete actions.

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6. REFERENCES

Abellán, A. (2019 Septiembre 4). Spot publicitario: Qué es y qué tipos hay.
https://productoravideomarketing.es/que-es-un-spot-publicitario

Alameda, M. (2020 Junio 24). Influencers y coronavirus,¿ pueden desaparecer tras la

covid- 19? https://www.elle.com/es/star-style/noticias-
famosos/a32901422/influencerscoronavirus-covid-19-futuro-instagram/

ARCE Media. (2015). Indice Inversión publicitaria I2P.

http://www.arcemedia.es/dossieri2p/2015/i2p_2015.pdf

ARCE Media. (2016). Indice Inversión publicitaria I2P.

http://www.arcemedia.es/dossieri2p/2016/i2p_2016.pdf

ARCE Media. (2017). Indice Inversión publicitaria I2P.

http://www.arcemedia.es/dossieri2p/2017/i2p_resumen-anual2017.pdf

ARCE Media. (2018). Indice Inversión publicitaria I2P.

http://www.arcemedia.es/wpcontent/uploads/2019/04/i2p_presentacion_2018.pdf

ARCE Media. (2019). Indice Inversión publicitaria I2P.

http://www.arcemedia.es/wpcontent/uploads/2020/02/informe_i2p_2019.pdf

ARCE Media. (2020). Indice Inversión publicitaria I2P.

http://www.arcemedia.es/wpcontent/uploads/2020/02/i2p_2020_02.pdf

Fraile, A. (2018, Abril 9). ¿Qué es el marketing viral online? Ventajas y ejemplos.
Cyberclick. https://www.cyberclick.es/numerical-blog/que-es-el-marketing-
viralventajas-y-ejemplos

Gómez, R. (2020 Febrero 25). La televisión pierde el liderazgo de la publicidad.

https://elpais.com/cultura/2020/02/24/television/1582556457_449625.html

Marquez, J. (2020 Mayo 23). Hacia dónde irá el negocio de la publicidad en la era post
Covid (esto es lo que opinan los directores de las principales agencias).
https://www.eleconomista.es/status/noticias/10556264/05/20/Hacia-donde-ira-
elnegocio-de-la-publicidad-en-la-era-post-COVID-esto-es-lo-que-opinan-los-
directoresde-las-principales-agencias.html

Martínez, R. (2020 Abril 16). Estrategias creativas realizadas por las empresas en
tiempos de crisis. Atrivity. https://blog.atrivity.com/es/estrategia-comunicacion-
creativas-covid19

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Mendoza, R. (2020 Agosto 21). Tendencias de Marketing Digital 2020 en eCommerce.
SEMrush Blog. https://es.semrush.com/blog/tendencias-marketing-digital-
deecommerce/

Rodríguez, S. (2020 Agosto 12). La publicidad móvil aumenta un 15% durante la

pandemia. https://comunicacionmarketing.es/seoysem/12/08/2020/la-publicidad-movil-
aumentaun-15-durante-la-pandemia/16205.html

Santos, T. (2020 Junio 1). La importancia de las redes sociales en los negocios.
https://www.broobe.com/es/la-importancia-de-las-redes-sociales-en-los-negocios/