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Serving ads during the re-opening phase

During the course of the pandemic, businesses were forced to change the way they do pretty much everything. Demand dropped off the cliff within days, offices went empty, stores forced to close and so many disruptions along the way. Now that we are coming out the other side, it's time to start dealing with more changes. With that in mind, let's look at some ways in which businesses should think about ad serving in the re-opening phase.

Relaxed restrictions

The days of being forced to stay home and away from work are now slipping into the rearview mirror. Businesses that were considered non-essential and forced to close during the peak of the pandemic are now able to re-open and welcome back customers. Many countries and regions are cutting back on limitations and restrictions. After essentially being shut down for two years, people are too tired of restrictions and are looking to take advantage of the relaxed protocols. This is particularly good news for businesses that were severely impacted during the pandemic, by which we mean the travel and hospitality industry, as well as a few others. People want to travel again and start going back out to restaurants and bars, so they will be looking for ads to help make that happen. More active businesses mean more ad campaigns and that is good news for publishers, adservers and related advertising vendors.

New challenges

While it is certainly good to see things begin to re-open and life start to return to some level of normalcy, there are new challenges for businesses and the buying public. These include things like rising inflation, labor shortages, supply chain issues, an ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and even a looming recession. Hotels and restaurants cannot find enough workers to fill vacancies. Factories do not have enough supplies and resources to increase capacity after a long period of dormancy. Sanctions from the war push energy costs to a worrisome level that put serious pressure on profit margin and survivability of some businesses.

The shutdown was quick and abrupt but the restart is definitely much slower. Workers took a break or switched to another job after they were furloughed or terminated. Onboarding many new workers at the same time is not an easy or quick task. This is still a tricky road to navigate for all businesses going forward. Advertisers need to make it clear in their ad campaigns that they are prepared and have ways to address these issues and how that can help their clients directly.

Outdoor destinations

After a couple of years of cabin fever, people are desperate to get out and about, which is one of the reasons why we are seeing the travel industry in a state of recovery. That is a much needed boost. Because concerns about Covid still linger and the future is uncertain, people are prioritizing outdoor and domestic destinations which include national parks, close-to-home destinations. Global travel is picking up but it is still not the same as it was before Covid. While this does not benefit all advertisers the same way, it helps spread the spending dollars to more businesses and that will eventually ease up the global supply chains.

Part 2 - New workplace and short-term ad planning

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