All aboard the #stayathome bandwagon

Most people are grateful for the roof over their heads, be it big or small. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent #stayathome response has given households around the world a new shared experience and a new sense of identity.

These households are made up of what brands call consumers.  And brands are like ultra-eager neighbourhood friends, always ringing consumers' phones, doorbells and popping up on their news feeds and video streams, ready to chat, play or asking them out to their favourite activity—shopping.

So it's no surprise that as households are ordered to keep to themselves, these brands are getting really restless. They want to come over and hang out at your place. They want to be there for you and share what you're going through while stuck in your home.

So they're putting roofs over their heads.  Well, over their logos anyway.  In the US, the Ad Council, the ANA and 4A's (all the A's, really), are joining together to put roofs on their logos to encourage everyone to stay at home. 

So agencies, get ready to build a lot of roofs.  Here's a tweak to the logo of online bus ticketing platform RedBus sent to us from agency Entropia Noir out of Malaysia.

Here are some tweaked Twitter pages from Reddit and Pinterest:

Canadian independent agency Zulu Alpha Kilo didn't wait for any brands to tell them to get cracking.  They've put houses on the flags of countries around the world for download, including China, India and Japan.

But while it's great for agencies and brands to encourage us all to #stayathome, it's important that they not kid themselves. We're staying home to protect ourselves. We're staying home to protect frontline health workers. We're staying home because the government is telling us to. We're not staying home because McDonald's puts a roof on its logo.

Yes, that roof makes us feel like we're all in this together and Ad Nut understands brands are hurting too.  But it's not a completely shared experience.  We'll still let brands into our homes when we feel like it. But don't be surprised if Ad Nut starts telling some annoying over-eager brand friends to ease up on the doorbell ringing and practice some social distancing too. It's not like Ad Nut doesn't like you, but now might not be the time to play.

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.