Welcome Back, We’ve Missed You! Humanized Business Communication in Shop Window Messages during Early 2020-Lockdown

This paper focuses on the way in which small and medium-sized businesses Flanders adapted communication with their customers during economic lockdown March–May 2020. It documents, more specifically, how shops tried to maintain, re-establish, or even re-invent this two-month period. Based pictures of shop windows a Flemish city, we analyze (semi-)commercial messages that appeared setting analysis adopts an interdisciplinary perspective, cognitive linguistic approach is integrated analyses practical advices by marketing agencies. Despite orientation towards distinct, theoretical goals, both approaches share analytical interest mapping participants mutual relationship as part communicative interaction. In period lockdown, marketers urged owners ‘humanize’ business strategy downplaying content-related issues favor maximal social outreach customers. Considering advice, it was hypothesized under these circumstances commercial transactions would be construed much prominently, presenting themselves each other unprecedented empathetic personas. Much our data comply expectation, thus providing empirical evidence subjectified ground, buyer seller personas figure augmented prominence parts object conceptualization. Messages include, among things, expressions empathy, solidarity, combativity, but also creativity humor incorporating new type humanized communication. With respect strategies, collected at same time instantiate legitimize marketers’ advice about humanizing one’s exchange.