The Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II – Social Factor Alert

The multitude of ceremonies surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II will be completed with the queen’s funeral on Monday, September 19th at 11:00 a.m. British Summer Time (BST) / 5:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT). The queen’s coffin will then be processed across London to Windsor Castle, with tens of thousands expected to turn out to pay their final respects. Burial of the queen will be completed at St. George’s chapel at Windsor Castle.

Recommendations for Brand Social Teams

• Consider your brand’s personality in relation to this event. If your brand were a person, would they be on London’s streets awaiting the State Hearse? Would they be following along live on streaming video? If engaging with this moment is natural for your brand, lean in and support the community mourning this occasion. If this isn’t where your brand belongs, strongly consider pausing all content for this day out of respect. 
• Social channels of all types will be awash with coverage of the funeral that day, and any post made by a Brand will be considered in that context. Take special care to review and potentially suppress any ads with words or ideas relating to monarchy, the crown, aging, or death. 
• Many brands now have “Work from Anywhere” policies, or at least have employees working remotely from diverse locations. Consider communicating your brand’s plans for this day with all employees, and recognizing that some may be particularly touched by or involved with the funeral. Social content created by employees related to the funeral should only be reposted by brand channels if your brand is already engaged in creating related content of its own.