“Eat gold this Ramadan” or 5 ways to avoid crisis communication situations during the Holy Month
The holy month of Ramadan is just around the corner and like during any festive season, companies are trying to get their portion of media attention. There is no problem with promoting Ramadan deals and special offers, but it should either be done right or not done at all! The best way is to work with communications professionals or hire a competent marketing manager should the company wish to handle its promotional activities in-house. No matter what route your company decides to take, remember following these tips and aspects of Ramadan marketing:
- Stay respectful
No matter what types of audiences you are communicating with through your promotion, western or eastern, you need to keep culture in mind. If it is a restaurant, you can mention that you will be open during fasting hours, but please don’t talk about happy hour and grape packages, especially in association with Iftar options.
- Say no to nudity
When running a Ramadan related campaign, make sure your visuals are appropriate. If you have people in your artworks, dress them in accordance with the cultural norms in the region. You don’t want models with naked shoulders to pose for your Ramadan promotion flyer or advertising artwork.
- Show me the food!
Of course there is no such law that forbids food brands to post food images on their social media, but your brand can drive more positive attention by not doing so. Instead post something different and intriguing about upcoming Iftar options rather than meal pictures.
- Time to CSR
Make Ramadan the month of CSR and giving back. It is better to do something impactful and meaningful during the month of giving rather than just trying to sell as much as possible while catering to the occasion. CSR is almost always a great way to PR your company and doing it during the right time of the year will add more value to your brand image.
- Eat gold at our 7 stars…
No over the top offers please! Most of the people have probably heard the story about edible gold offers and nitrogen frozen ice cream. Ramadan is not the time to market those! It’s the month when Muslims are not only trying to live more modest lives, but also the month of a humble lifestyle and worship. One of the reasons Muslims fast is to allow people to understand how a poor person who has no food or water for the entire day might be feeling. Eating gold with a glass of bubbly at a luxurious venue on the Palm Jumeirah is not something your brand should be screaming about while offering special Iftar packages.
At the end of the day, all brands have flaws when it comes to their marketing campaigns. It is always better to work with reputable professionals to avoid causing more harm than good when running brand communications campaigns. Hire one today by calling us! 😉