Exploring how the communication strategies in place by TLC Marketing have changed in times of uncertainty for the partners & content department 

: the impact of a crises on communication strategy

Abstract

The current internship report is a result of a curricular internship in the TLC Marketing agency—aiming to connect the challenging times of the pandemic crisis in Portugal with business-to-business communication strategies. This report intends to identify marketing and communication strategies that can minimize and reverse the adverse effects of a coronavirus pandemic. The phenomenological research design aspires to analyze two similar campaigns launched in different years (2020 and 2021). One campaign achieved impressive results, and the other one didn’t. It plans to classify which strategies made the first campaign so successful. Following Creswell’s research design, I choose to use the qualitative method: open-ended and semi-structured interviews and participant observation during the internship period. The present research is based on three main chapters: the B2B market, the communication context, and the Covid-19 background. According to my conclusions, I was able to identify the communication strategies that were successful in a B2B setting. However, several partners closed because of challenging times like this, and there were many struggles to overcome. In times of a pandemic crisis, when firms don’t know what to count on, it’s fundamental to invest in a company’s communication and empathy approaches. A greater emphasis should be given to digital possibilities, even more so now, that all types of businesses that have the opportunity are becoming digital savvy. Furthermore, I aspire to contribute to a better knowledge of business-to-business communication and hope that new studies can strengthen this research area, promoting an academic discussion deeply connected to the marketing world.

Date of Award	23 Feb 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Jessica Roberts (Supervisor)