Businesses taking a positive approach to the pandemic

In a recent press release the government announced that more of the country’s leading businesses from a variety of industries have pledged their support for the UK’s world-leading COVID-19 vaccination programme by offering incentives to vaccinated customers.

In this article, we take a look at the new offers and also discuss the power of helping small businesses thrive through utilising the ‘power of good’.

New businesses & rewards

Asda, lastminute.com, National Express, FREE NOW taxis and Better leisure centres will be offering discounts to people who get a COVID-19 vaccine, joining the national effort to protect the country as it continues its cautious return to normality.

The companies will be joining Uber, Bolt and Deliveroo, which committed last month to backing the vaccination programme by providing exclusive offers to those who have received a jab.

The new businesses and rewards will include:

• Asda has become the first supermarket to offer a reward to young people who receive the Covid 19 vaccine by offering a £10 voucher off clothing at George when 18-30 year olds visit one of their three vaccination centres.
• lastminute.com – will offer over-18s £30 gift cards towards holidays abroad to all young people getting vaccinated through their website;
• Better leisure centres – will offer over 16s a £10 voucher to use on any Better membership and a free three-day pass at any of their 235 leisure facilities across the UK;
• FREE NOW – will provide up to £1 million in free taxi rides for over-18s attending their vaccine appointment each way from today [Sunday 15 August] until the end of September; and
• National Express Buses (Midlands) – will offer 1,000 people 5-day unlimited travel saver tickets which can be used within 90 days. Tickets can be claimed by sharing vaccine booking references in the company’s app.
• Deliveroo has also revealed further details of their support, which will include thousands of £5 vouchers to those who get the vaccine, distributed in the coming weeks. Bolt will be offering £10 vouchers for 10,000 rides from next week in Birmingham and Leicester, and Uber will be announcing further details shortly around their drive to help students get vaccinated ahead of term time.

The power of good

To help fight the doom and gloom and help business thrive it feels more important than ever to find the positives.

Businesses who display integrity, empathy and trustworthiness by showing they are about more than their products or services provide that much needed glimmer of hope for everyone.

Even small businesses that look beyond short-term sales to engage with consumers on an emotional level will drive long-term value.

Five years from now, we won’t remember the brand telling us we’re all in this together while flogging their latest products. We may remember however, Asda encouraging young people to get vaccinated and help everyone be safer, with free vouchers.

Whether these companies are doing good deeds or strategically building brand awareness doesn’t really matter. It’s their actions that are making a difference and this is powerful.

It’s a great example for small businesses who may also be able to use their brand’s USP for the power of good. We will see them thrive when we make it through this crisis to the other side.

That’s not to say that we should all forget our bottom-lines and turn into charities any time soon though… :)