Disclosure of Silent Branding During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study of Sarsiwa Village in Chhattisgarh State of India

ABSTRACT

The study tried to explore the adopted branding strategy in trading essential goods in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lead researcher observed the buying behaviour of 600 rural customers as a participant–observer in grocery shops. Additionally, he interviewed five grocery shopkeepers in that village to cross-check the customers' observations. The study categorised these observations into similar themes using content analysis. The sorting of the study data resulted in six main categories. Out of six categories, two are the most important, which reveal that customers don't want to compromise with their choice of products/brands even in this adverse situation and they ask their preferred products/brands in code word very often to their nearby shopkeepers. Actually, these code words are the impact of silent branding of a product in their mind. The current study reveals that silent branding works long-lasting for customers and could be beneficial for firms. The study imperatively adds the concept of silent branding in the existing literature on branding.