Background Information Topic or Issues for Investigation

The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted not only lives and livelihoods globally but also customer experiences and business models. It was the worst global recession since World War II, with the world economy contracting by 3.5% in 2020 (International Monetary Fund, 2021). Available economic data illustrate that the severe restrictions introduced to contain the virus caused massive shocks in most economic sectors. In Saudi Arabia, the GDP shrunk by between -4.8 to -9.8% from the baseline despite targeted fiscal countermeasures (Havrlant et al., 2020). Businesses were hurt by strict responses, such as border closures, domestic movement restrictions, and supply chain disruptions.

In only 3 hours we’ll deliver a custom The Impact of Video Marketing on Medium-to-Large Corporations essay written 100% from scratch
Get help
For companies, resilience during these turbulent times demands building capabilities suited to a different context. This applies to all companies, not just corporations. Brand marketers have to decide whether to invest in in-house teams or external agencies, considering a consumer shift to e-commerce and pandemic-related cutbacks. The World Federation of Advertisers [WFA] (2020) report found that 57% of brands have in-house advertising agencies that help generate digital content and implement creative media. Marketers have increasingly adopted in-house teams over ad agencies in pandemic times for obvious reasons, including cost savings, better integration, and brand familiarity.

Brands have to be more agile to overcome the pandemic challenges and exploit new opportunities. New business models have been adopted that may outlive the immediate crisis. A notable global trend is a significant shift to e-commerce as consumers embrace online shopping. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest online populations globally, with online shoppers projected to reach 19.3 million by 2022 (Statista, 2020). Thus, the country has moved to being almost completely digital, providing opportunities for internal marketing operations to cut costs and gain more flexibility and agility that are necessary to survive the pandemic effects. Globally, 74% of in-house agencies have been created since 2015, with companies such as Nestlé joining this trend in 2020 (WFA, 2020). The airline industry is headed towards turbulent times and will most likely try to save costs by adopting in-house marketing rather than contracting external advertising agencies. Thus, this paper will investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the acceleration of a shift towards corporate digital marketing and communication in Saudi Arabia, focusing on the Saudi Airlines Catering Company. Consumer research brands on different online media channels and marketers target these touch points to promote their products. At this level, corporate digital marketing is the delivery of ads or relevant content to customers through platforms such as brand websites, social media, email, and Internet-based applications (Kingsnorth, 2019). The specific issues to be addressed and justifications are discussed below.