Are Brands Essential?
Tags: Small Business, Crisis, Coronavirus, Branding, In The Know

Relief

From finances to resources, the following brands are providing much needed relief to healthcare workers, restaurant workers and the like.

Fanatics/MLB and Bauer Hockey

Lauren Pennline, Studio Coordinator

These non-essential businesses found a way to continue employing people through our wildly uncertain times by repurposing their factories, equipment and materials to create some of the most essential equipment needed for those on the pandemic’s front lines — Fanatics making gowns and masks; Bauer making face shields. I think that’s pretty rad.

The Wally Shop

Hua Chen, Freelance Designer

One brand I’m seeing that is standing stall during this crisis is The Wally Shop, which sped up their brand rollout to provide dry goods nationwide, donate to Feeding America, and provide free shipping for seniors and healthcare & emergency workers.

Cristian Siriano

Debra Katz-Velazquez, Controller

Cristian Siriano stands out to me. When Governor Cuomo first discussed the shortage of masks and supplies for our health care workers, he had his team create 1,500 masks with materials they already had. They just finished another 5,000 (in gorgeous colors!) and they’re still at it. Plus they have done this with little fanfare. Siriano isn’t a huge fashion house and I am impressed with what he and his team have done in a short period of time.

Kyo Pang and Moonlynn Tsai of Kopitiam

Wednesday Krus, Design Director

They stepped up, paid their team of 20 in full for all of their hours during closures, changed their operation to a two-person team, and transformed their restaurant’s kitchen into a 300-meal relief hub for low income and elderly neighbors.

Sqirl, now operating as Framily

Sarah, Senior Designer

Sqirl is a local — designer eye candy; look up their plates — cafe located in LA that has turned its restaurant into a relief kitchen. Now operating as Framily Meal, it’s offering free meals to out-of-work hospitality workers in the area. Sqirl is a simple reminder that your community is your f(r)amily!

Restaurant Workers Relief

Whitney, Design Operations Manager

I’ve been impressed by how restaurants and brands in the hospitality industry have come together to form the Restaurant Workers Relief program with outposts throughout the city.

Advocacy

Leading the advocacy charge are individuals thinking bigger than their brands, who have become the voices of their industries and who garner aid for people.

David Chang

Shivani Gorle, Cultural Strategist

From day one, he has spoken up about how coronavirus is battering the restaurant industry and demanded that part of the federal stimulus plan go to help it. As the daughter of an independent restaurant owner, I empathize with the incredibly difficult position he is in — carry on with business as usual and risk employees’ health during the pandemic or shut down his far-flung operations altogether. He chose the latter. Moreover, his Momofuku Group started a crowdfunding campaign for all of his employees who need immediate relief as they navigate this crisis.

DJ D Nice

Dylan Stiga, Integrated Brand Strategist

Watching DJ D Nice bring over 150,000 people from around the world together time after time to share in their love of music and dance through his Club Quarantine sets on Instagram Live has been inspiring to see. It’s an example of a “brand” that’s not doing anything different, but that continues to use its skills and tools to help people in the best way it knows how without expecting anything in return. The fact that he also is using his reach to advocate for initiatives like voter registration and healthcare worker relief speaks volumes about his understanding of what he can bring to the table when it matters the most.

Access

These brands have made accessibility a core offering during the pandemic, from connecting us with family, friends and colleagues, to providing us with tools that inform, educate and help us cope.

LEGO Foundation

Nicole Duval, Freelance Strategist

Good citizen brands have prioritized the critical needs of families with children during the quarantine. According to UNESCO, there are more than 1.5 billion school-aged children currently out of school worldwide. LEGO Foundation has launched two educative initiatives for the benefit of families impacted by COVID-19. The first benefits the most vulnerable in refugee camps and war-torn countries as well as children in urban areas by donating US $50 million to ensure they will continue to have access to learning through play. The second initiative is the creation of a platform called #letsbuildtogether across Lego’s social channels to alleviate the level of stress of families during the period of confinement.

Slack, Zoom and Adobe

Sam Barbagiovanni, Design Director

I feel fortunate to be in an industry where I can continue to work from home and carry on routines that are different but still familiar. Yes, my attire might be Sunday vibes 7 days a week and there might be extra trips to the fridge but designing as I would in the office and the brands that are helping me to do so are keeping me sane. So shout out to Slack, Zoom and Adobe for allowing this creature of habit to still connect with her co-workers and get stuff done. Business per usual in an unusually strange time.

Headspace

Dylan Stiga, Integrated Brand Strategist

I’ve never really explored meditation, but as my wife is a nurse she was given free access to the Headspace platform, which provides meditation and anxiety relieving sessions and tools digitally. I found that even sitting through the short 5-minute sessions before work or after has given me a sense of calm to either get through the day or relax at the end. It’s also great to see that it partnered with the NY State Governor’s office on a free New York-tailored platform to help us all cope with our circumstances.

Nicole Duval, Freelance Strategist

The need for a daily ritual at home has increased during this quarantine time and the brand Headspace app has provided me with an internal feeling of relief through mindful meditation. I also recognize the purposed value of this brand, which is giving away free subscriptions to healthcare workers.

UPS

Martha Kirby, Client Services Director

What can brown do for me? Deliver much-needed goods in a time of uncertainty.

Misfits Market

Benjamin Greengrass, Creative Director

This event is exposing several vulnerabilities in our supply chain. With billions of dollars in fresh produce going to waste, our food producers are being forced to reimagine how they operate. In some ways, COVID-19 will accelerate innovation in sectors of the economy that have tolerated inefficiency. We’re privileged to be working with Misfits Market, a food subscription service with a procurement model designed to curb food waste. While few of us could have imagined what we are currently experiencing, its willingness to challenge an inefficient food system has yielded a massive increase in demand.