I saw this headline that read "A uninsured cancer patient who tested positive for COVID-19 was billed $34,927.43"

This is in the US where apparently there are between 30m- 40m people without access to free at point of use healthcare - pretty scary but also helps us put into context the unknown benefits we in the UK sometimes take for granted when it comes to our amazingly overstretched NHS.

Today's reality is were all facing uncertain times, and when we do the first thing we think about is how to survive and for how long can we make our cash last.

Companies whose revenues have been decimated by lack of income have no option but to become fiscally tighter. Consumers are doing something similar in fear of losing jobs, homes, and livelihoods so they're postponing discretionary spend of any kind - it's all filtering through to the worldwide economic infrastructure we once thought was impenetrable.

The reality is that other people will behave exactly the same as you and me. 

Retargeting adverts to encourage me to book that hotel, book that flight, buy that shirt/dress, or book that restaurant are simply wasting budgets that could and should be redirected to other parts of the business and activities in order to remain solvent.

This crisis is making all of us rethink what was, it's got us all looking for ways to maintain a front of mind presence when we can no longer afford to feed the fraud ridden programmatic shit machine of digital advertising to audiences who are no longer in a financial position to respond. Based on the current 'Coronavirus' economic direction of fear and loss it will happen a lot sooner as the rate of ad blocking, and ad skipping continues, and now GDPR which is at last starting to show some teeth following the 'honeymoon' period for companies to readjust. 

"How about stopping the spammy intrusive stuff that none of us really pay any attention to"?

So, when your no longer have the budget, retained agency fees and limited resource available because there all working from home, or self isolating what practical things can you do?

On social platforms telling stories is vital to branding and authenticity.To do this requires you to create an internal, and external socially inclusive strategy. This should also include employee advocacy at every level, starting at the top down and if done right - just like 'Covid-19' can produce its own 'butterfly effect'. 

If you combine this with consumer advocacy which actively encourages discussion and engagement you start to build authentic relationships. To do this right also requires you to have the right skills based training, and of course the right 'listening tools'.