Brand Communication in Times of Crisis: A Comparative Study of Saudi Brands’ Digital Messages on X During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Brand communication during public crises plays an essential role in building sustainable and strong relationships with customers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi brands, like all brands around the world, needed to devise novel survival strategies. This study explores and contrasts brand communication strategies both during and after the pandemic. The study focuses on the peak of the pandemic, which coincided with the holy month of Ramadan. It analyses two datasets comprising brands’ Twitter content during Ramadan 2020 and Ramadan 2024 using Taylor’s six-segment advertising strategy wheel. The sample included a total of 3021 tweets from 37 companies across five industrial sectors. The results reveal the ritual view with social segment dominated the tweets in both periods and variances in segment details at the sector level. Brand voice was found to have shifted from sympathetic in the first period to energetic in the second period, reflecting changing circumstances.