ABSTRACT
The era of the COVID-19 pandemic affects almost all industrial sectors, including start-up industry. This research aims to provide an overview of branding strategy innovations conducted by the startup coworking space industry, "Ngalup", especially to deal with various problems arising from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used qualitative methodology utilizing interview techniques to collect all the necessary data from informants. The main informants in this study were the Marketing Communication Manager and Internal Community Host of "Ngalup"Coworking Space, and the supporting informants were visitors and participants of "Ngalup"Coworking Space event. The results showed that the problem included decreased engagement on social media and decreased revenue due to the lack of visitor because some events or activities had to be shifted to online. To overcome this, "Ngalup"has tried to optimize omnichannel branding strategy, which is the integration of multichannel including online and offline to continuously improve the customer experience, such as optimizing their online media channels and programs, creating a new project 'Digarapin' as a new business model to gain revenue, and maintain the five-star hotel service. The research conluded that the branding strategy developed by "Ngalup"through omnichannel has helped "Ngalup"maintained the top coworking space in Malang and taken advantage of the development opportunities in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2023 Author(s).
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has restricted social movements in the community, has also created the emergence of self-care trends, which have driven brands of local body care products to come up in the market. In 2020, Hairen started its business during a pandemic, hence most of its digital branding activities were carried out through its Instagram account to introduce and build the brand. The purpose of this research is to investigate Hairen's branding strategy of using Instagram to raise brand awareness and influence consumer purchase decisions. A qualitative method by study case was used for this study through an in-depth interview with selected informants, namely Hairen's owner, social media staff, and marketing staff. Data triangulation was done to ensure its validity. According to the findings, Instagram has played a significant role in increasing brand awareness for Hairen since its inception. Influencer marketing and content marketing are among the strategies implemented to develop awareness, supported by interactive content design. Hairen should further maximize the function of Instagram and boost customer involvement and engagement to reach top-of-mind brand awareness. © 2023 IEEE.