On Sunday, May 10, Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister, announced the country’s next steps for COVID-19. As part of the presentation, the Prime Minister introduced a new color-coded COVID-19 alert system. Little did the PM know that the internet would liken it to Nando’s famous Peri-Ometer!

Nando’s is a popular fast-casual restaurant, with locations in the UK, plus over 30 countries around the world. The menu specializes in Portuguese-African food, such as peri-peri style chicken dishes. I’ve been many times and it’s pretty good and affordable if you like chicken. In the UK especially, there is a love for Nando’s that has sparked internet memes and even a popular saying of “going for a cheeky Nando’s.” One of my favorite articles on this is from Buzzfeed, which explains why Americans will always struggle to understand the true meaning of a cheeky Nando’s.

Cheeky jokes aside, let’s look at the business implications of Nando’s unwittingly becoming an internet COVID-19 meme. Is this good for the company? Do they have to respond? How should they respond?

Is this good for the company?

When these types of moments happen, it puts a brand back in consumer’s minds. Given the love for Nando’s in the UK, I am not surprised that fans of Nando’s saw the UK’s color-coded COVID-19 alert system and likened it to Nando’s famous Peri-Ometer. It goes to show that Nando’s has succeeded in a high level of brand awareness for its Peri-Ometer and the variety of spice and seasoning options available. This is a core component of the Nando’s experience.

Now, brand awareness is one thing, but what about having Nando’s thrust in the middle of a COVID-19 government update? If I were at the helm of Nando’s social media or marketing department, I would first go to social media and evaluate the volume of posts and the tone of them. I would evaluate how Nando’s was being mentioned and perceived. I would then also connect with my public relations, customer care, sales, and government relations teams to validate the sentiment across their touchpoints.

In reviewing the social media posts, it appears that the tone towards Nando’s is one of humor and poking fun at the UK government for the design of their color-coded COVID-19 alert system. As far as negative brand impact goes, there does not seem to be any. If anything, it seems positive and has made more people crave a Nando’s. I would also be curious to learn if web traffic or orders have increased in the UK as a result.

Does Nando’s Have To Respond? What Would A Good Response Look Like?

When your company suddenly becomes an internet meme, you will see the company’s social media conversation volume will increase and the news media will usually call the company’s press office for comment.

On the news media side, there’s pressure to respond – quickly. Most news outlets for daily publications are writing on a deadline and that usually requires an immediate response or a response within the same day. It’s not a good public relations practice to decline to comment or ignore the calls from the news media.

In this type of situation, I would advocate for a simple yet playful response that reiterates support for following the government’s COVID-19 guidelines. Something like, “While we usually advocate selecting the heat of your choice, we understand the recent spike in more mild cravings for Lemon & Herb. We will continue to follow the government guidelines and encourage our customers and employees to do the same. The health and safety of our customers and employees is our highest priority and look forward to seeing them again in our restaurants when times improve.”

The slippery slope here is that you don’t want to make fun of the government’s color-coded COVID-19 alert system or accuse them of stealing the design from the Peri-Ometer.

Interestingly, I’ve scanned quite a few news articles and have not seen Nando’s respond. I also have not seen news articles citing that the company declined to comment.

Now, on the social media side, I am a big advocate for social media community management and responding to customers across positive, negative, and neutral comments. Companies tend to panic and freeze and not want to respond in these situations out of fear for saying the wrong thing.

Instead, I recommend that companies form a cross-functional team across core business stakeholders to review customer conversations and sentiment about the issue, plus any potential responses. In these situations, brands can respond on social media in two ways, with a dedicated post on their social media channels or individually to customers posting or asking questions about the issue.

However, before you decide on a response strategy, remember that any communications that go out externally need to be consistent across all customer-facing touchpoints – so, PR, social media, customer care, web, email, sales reps. Government Relations also needs to be involved here, per their communications and relationships with government officials. Now, you do not need to use all of these channels for an official response, but if you do, keep your messaging consistent yet personalized to the channel.

So, if I was at the helm of Nando’s social media team, would I have advocated for the company to respond to the meme? In short, yes.

Why? When there is an unusual spike in conversation about your company, it’s not the time to go silent. I leverage my above-mentioned cross-functional team to review potential ways to respond and to assess the levels of risk associated with them.

How could Nando’s have responded? I would advocate for a simple text post on the UK social media channels with something like, “Current craving: Lemon & Herb. We look forward to the day when you can come see us in person again. Until then, stay safe everyone, and thank you for making us smile.”

If they wanted to be even more succinct, Nando’s could go with, “Current craving: Lemon & Herb.”

This copy is safe but playful. It nods to the situation, without using Boris’s name, COVID-19 or speaking about the government in a negative way. Fans familiar with the meme will appreciate it, but it’s not too cheeky or controversial to get the brand in hot water. Plus, if you look at the Nandos UK account and their social media tone of voice, the brand isn’t very bold or cheeky, keeping the tone in line with their current strategy. Now, if that’s the right brand tone of voice is another discussion for another time ;).

Now, are there cheekier ways to respond? Absolutely, but I would only advocate for a cheekier post if that was aligned with the brand voice. With these types of situations, it’s not time to reinvent a new tone of voice or to be someone that you’re not on social media. Keep it playful, positive, and consistent. Have 1:1 responses ready for consumers who engage with the post. It’s not a good practice to put a post like this up and not respond back to customers who appreciate it.

How would you respond if you were Nando’s in this situation? Would you respond? Leave a comment below!