South Africa, Aug. 28 -- The marketing and communications landscape has had to build on its EQ (emotional intelligence) during the Covid-19 pandemic as individual priorities the world over shifted. In the face of job and financial insecurity, life-threatening health risks, social distancing and possible isolation, the majority of people began to feel exposed and vulnerable.

Naturally, the consequence of this fear-driven survival mode is an intolerance for brand communications and marketing that lacks relevance, empathy and compassion. Pre-Covid, brands understood that marketing communications had to resonate and offer value to engage meaningfully with their consumers. And when the pandemic stormed the globe, many brands tried unconvincin...