In a recent article written about returning to the next normal, McKinsey & Company said how as we approach the five month mark of the arrival of coronavirus, “There’s a sense that we might be on the verge of returning to “normal.”’
It’s a considerable irony that we’ve never seen the word normal so much - talk of the new, the next, the return to - when our circumstances are anything but. Most likely, because when our lives are upended and hastily rearranged within the new, often confusing, parameters of what we can do - we really crave normal. It might be a little boring, but it’s safe. Something we could all do with right now.
But as the McKinsey & Company article continues, “[That return to normal] is unlikely. During the months of lockdown and self-isolation, we have been, in fact, writing a new future.” Whilst one half of the industry’s editorial outpour coronavirus brought about was concerned with getting back to business and back to the office, the other half was, first tentatively and then blatantly encouragingly, imploring that we uphold new business practices and working cultures which have had a positive impact on our business, but our lives.
In April as the great toilet roll hoarding got underway, we called on brands to use this time as a period for reflection: “The key behaviour we're seeing from senior brand marketers right now is them taking a step back and reflecting on the future they want to create.” We surveyed 50 senior marketers from the likes of BrewDog, John Lewis & Partners, IKEA, and more to get their insight.
Again, we’re confronted by that idea not of a return to the normal, but a new era; a determination to create something new out of the old, and not build from memory something that is most likely not suited to these new times. As we move into this period of recovery, brands must now reap the benefits from a period of reflection and now pursue that new future they’ve been on the brink of writing.
The comparisons between our current situation and the American Civil War are, admittedly, limited. But in its early months, poet Ralph Waldo Emerson called it “a new glass to see all our old things through.” That’s because it would be impossible to go back to how the world was before. Now we can’t help but see everything - face masks, supermarkets, banana bread, business - through a coronavirus filter. Recovery isn’t meant to return us to where we were before, but to somewhere far better where we’re stronger and wiser to boot.
Writing your future
This isn’t the point in the article when we ask you to step forward and present your schoolwork. If you’ve spent the last five months concerned with other things, that’s understandable. The current climate has been extremely testing for everyone, and not the retreat we often confuse it for when asking ourselves where the novels, new learned languages, and sourdough starters are.
A time for reflection should blend seamlessly into a time to recover. You might have had time to consider what you want to change and the business you want to be, not just in 2021, but in 2022 and beyond. Now’s the time to think hard on how you can make that happen. But, unlike schoolwork, there’s very little wrong with looking over the shoulders of your colleagues. Our editorial arm BITE have written extensively on the brands redefining themselves during the current climate, whilst our CEO Charlie Carpenter has been talking to the likes of eve sleep’s CEO Cheryl Calverley, Britvic’s CMO Matthew Barwell, and more, about how they intend to return from this period focussed on the future.
Reaching a changed consumer
It was Matthew Barwell, who in his interview with Charlie, said “[In the future] there’ll be a focus on genuine brands who have a place in society.” Whilst BITE Deputy Editor Izzy Ashton spoke to Draper’s about how the fashion industry, and most others, will be returning to a caring community post-COVID. She said: “Brands who think they can go back to the marketing they were doing before without reflecting on what’s happened are naïve. Businesses will need to consider how to talk to customers amid the new normal.”
Like brands, consumers are busy rewriting their future too. They’ve had time to reflect on their role in the world, and a lot of brands will be found wanting when they try to talk to them on the same terms as before.
There’s been a huge shift in consumer behaviour and the shift to online is predicted to continue across all categories. It’s important that your business is set up for the new world of customer experience and that your ecosystem of both internal teams and agency roster is capable of making that change happen.
Investing in your partnerships
When we spoke to start-up HUN Wine and their agency TBWA/London, they described how it dawned on them very quickly that they had to adapt after coronavirus hit. Their plans for a festival-fuelled word-of-mouth launch were scuppered, so instead they opted for a very tongue-in-cheek OOH campaign. To turn it around so quickly, they leaned into their agency partner who gave the brand a voice. Co-Founder of HUN Wine, Mark Wollard said how “[the campaign has] very clearly defined our tone of voice.”
Writing a new future, reaching a changed customer - these are all things it’s nigh on impossible to do alone. Instead we’ve seen just how much thriving creative partnerships have helped brands navigate the choppy waters of the past several months. The value of a strong brand-agency relationship was somehow still in dispute back in early 2020, with the latter referred to dismissively as suppliers, not partners. Surely now, with not only the experience of the past but the summit of the future to consider, the importance of agencies that get your brand, business and voice cannot be undervalued. Whether it’s investing in existing relationships, adding to your roster, or considering a change.
