Ukraine Counter Attacked — The Modern Warfare Tactics
Who would have thought that one-day social media platforms and tech companies would play a major role in warfare and the invasion of lands?
As if the Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t made our years crazy enough, the war in Ukraine yet again has thrown businesses into another global chaos.
Worldwide consumers are voicing their thoughts and expecting to see brands taking action toward this crisis. Whether it be pulling back products and services out of Russia or boycotting the business with Russian-related entities entirely, but nothing so far as worse as cutting off access to digital platforms and social media. — Say goodbye to Google Maps, Mastercard, and Netflix.
It Began with a Tweet
First of all, let’s introduce you to the hero of the story, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s youngest minister, who exceptionally turned technologies into weapons and deployed them to cut off Russia from the rest of the world. — big applaud to that!
After the first invasion, Mr. Fedorov asked for support from the tech companies, namely Apple, Google, and Netflix, to restrict their services in Russia. While also tweeted to Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and Space X, asking for help with access to satellite internet, Starlink, when its traditional internet infrastructure has been destroyed. — yes, tweeted, not letter nor email.
And within hours, Mr. Musk replied — again on Twitter
When has Twitter become the quickest, most effective, and appropriately acceptable? channel of communication between leaders during wartime?
I truly admire Mr. Fedorov in how he uses the power of the Twitter world to publicly persuade, or in some situations pressure, brands into taking action. Although I think many would be offended and disagreed with the way he ask for help, I am amazed how it ended up so well.
Big Tech Supports
While, Apple halted all product sales in Russia and put restrictions on apps, pressuring Russia to stop the invasion. Alphabet, Google, came up with the new feature where it will send air raid alerts to Android phones in Ukraine through the Ukrainian Alarm app. It also disabled live traffic data on Google Maps for the safety of the civilians and to protect Ukraine from Russian troops tracking the movements.
With everything going on, we can clearly see that the war now a day doesn’t solely rely on the power of the military and advancement of weapons anymore. The insights and live data gained from the access to Google Maps can make a big difference in advantages.
Economic Pressure
Another concerning issue is Russian economics and business which is in the question of recovery after the war. Visa and Mastercard have already blocked Russian Financial Institutions, which impacted all the credit card holders issued in Russia terribly. Besides, the Russian companies and brands are now, being doubted uncertain, and marked as risky investments.
But most of all, the reputation of the Russian has been repeatedly shamed throughout the internet and social media. — how would Russia come back from that? It’s the people who suffer from all this madness.
How Would it End?
Many brands undoubtedly have the power to change the world into a better place. Whether it be creating a marketing campaign for raising donation aid, supporting political actions, or encouraging people toward good causes. Especially, with technologies and innovations these days, there really are no borders between countries.
The war still has not yet come to an end, but learning from this, I think digital platforms and social media have become a crucial part of our society, so much beyond our thoughts, even in unexpected situations such as warfare. They are the tools, not only for marketers but anyone who understands the usefulness and brings that to their advantage in whichever situation they are in.
