Community is the buzz word of the moment amongst VC Twitter and it’s a great opportunity for new & existing brands: 

One of the unexpected outcomes of COVID-19 has been the impact on community. Not the type of community marketers talk about – a bunch of people who follow your social channel – but actual communities. Of people. IRL.  Sharing location, attitude, interests, support.

From Mutual Aid groups to an increase in shopping small, lockdown keeping us where we live has re-calibrated attitudes and boosted cohesion. Apparently, community is now the latest buzzword amongst VC Twitter and will pick up the baton from bottom-up SaaS as the next slew of start-ups.

Whilst the seed money will see new kids on the block, existing brands can also capitalise on this trend. Here are six opportunities we foresee:

1. Brands can reimagine their position in the community – we’ve already seen this with Co-op Quickshop and Sainsburys Chop Chop deliveries and although Amazon Fresh’s latest offer may see cheapness and ease winning out, there’s an opportunity for services like local-shop aggregators like Good 60 (a kind of Trouva for food) to flourish and for major players to look back at their roots and act small in the services they offer.
2. Local community initiatives can become national marketing – the good brands do in local communities has often been an add-on or gone under the radar (for example B&Q’s community reuse scheme). The returning importance of community presents an opportunity for big brands to put these activities front and centre showing they may be a global brand but they care about the people around them.
3. Brands with existing communities can boost them further – Brands that genuinely have or inspire a subculture can make even more of this. Find ways to support the community, on and offline, with local events and other opportunities for people to connect (safely).
4. Local lend-a-hands – Charities can seize upon the increased desire and ability for people to help, locally. Those who’ve had a taste of volunteering during the crisis (for example as an NHS Volunteer Responder) may well want to do more. This could be particularly important for nature and conservation charities, who’ve lost funds and momentum for tackling the climate crisis during the corona-crisis – especially those who have been forced to make staff redundant.
5. New co-operatives – We can see bigger local SMEs continuing to give smaller ones a platform to sell their products, creating a community within a community and local businesses clubbing together for anything from a local delivery service to shared marketing training or even ‘1 mile radius’ loyalty cards. Meanwhile the ‘small slice of real estate pie’ approach started by brands like KERB could be applied to sectors beyond food, creating new community hubs that allow start-ups a foothold whilst minimising their costs/ risk.

As we’ve said before, new behaviours won’t just happen or continue – they need design not just desire. However, if brands and businesses take advantage of the increased desire for community right now, they could be designing a positive future for themselves and their customers.

Want to talk more about the opportunities for your brand to help build (real) community? Get in touch hello@welcometoshook.com We’d love to show you how behaviour design + creativity can help.

Thoughtpiece by Gemma Moroney, co-founder