You might soon be working in a drive-thru office. You’ll be holding meetings from your cars, sitting in an open parking lot. You and your colleagues would all take a short drive for a nearby drive-thru restaurant.
Think it’s insane? Well, judging by how things are going, it may not be such a crazy idea.
Thing is, the coronavirus crisis has changed the entire consumer experience. It turned preferences and sparked new trends. Companies shifted offerings, spaces, voices, values. And there’s a heavy move towards online shopping and curb-side pick-ups. But, perhaps nothing has been as significant as the rise of the drive-thru.
It started with drive-thru coronavirus tests, which we first saw in South Korea a few months back. Since then, we’ve seen companies initiate the drive-thru supermarket concept.
We at PostFunnel also reported on safe food sampling with social distance, where a cereal maker converted their driveway to a tasting drive-thru. Just a creative way since footfall in supermarkets declined, but new products still need new mouths to try them out.
And in recent days, we gathered so many more examples. There’s an animal vaccination drive-thru in Pittsburgh where Humane Animal Rescue will host a free drive-thru vaccine clinic. In Texas, there’s a drive-thru food bank to help those in need amid the ongoing pandemic.
Up in Canada, there are drive-thru funerals to let people pay their respects while respecting COVID-19 restrictions. And while unemployment is still high, drive-thru job fairs have been put into effect in Mississippi.
On a lighter note, there has been a drive-thru wedding in Malaysia. At the same time, at the University of Arkansas, a public charter high school graduated its second class of 78 seniors in a drive-thru ceremony.
A drive-thru baby shower and drive-thru fireworks took place in California. A traditional Greek festival is now a drive-thru only in Pennsylvania.
Well, you get the point.
Can you think of what will come next? Perhaps a drive-thru disco, hair salon, furniture shop, post-office. Anything, really!
While there have been plenty of drive-thru facilities for testing corona worldwide, some say the future of medical care could be drive-thru doctors.
“COVID-19 is keeping many people from going to the hospital,” says Ryan Hullinger, a partner at NBBJ Architecture firm, who came up with the new medical clinic drive-thru idea.
“We’re looking for ways to make hospital clinics safer [and give patients] an environment [they think of] as safe, so they’re willing to come back and get the care that they need.”
And, as always, we want to ask – what is the lesson for marketers here? If you are one, you should find a way to get in on this trend. It is MASSIVE. And will only get BIGGER.
See what part of your products, offering, ordering options, and overall communication language can either be tweaked to speak the language of a drive-thru, be served in a drive-thru manner, or make a drive-thru experience easier.
You can start with your images on social media or your next advertisement – it depends on your product or service.
Judging by the results you get when you Google news “drive-thru,” you would at least get some helpful media exposure over such initiatives and further position your brand as helpful and relevant. Which is something customers are looking for in brands nowadays, especially.
