The pandemic has brought a myriad of challenges agencies had to navigate slap bang in the middle of formulating and concluding pitches, assuring clients that their brands would not fade into obscurity and that new ways of doing business was and is possible.
What Covid-19 did was give staff flexibility in terms of working environments and being able to manage their personal lives. With the relaxation of pandemic protocols, however, staff now could meet to brainstorm creative pitches and in-person client presentations. The challenge here is that staff would still operate in silos within an office environment as clients still operated away from their offices and were accessible only on Teams and Zoom.
Agencies thrived on community, camaraderie that included late-night pitches and brainstorming, and the Friday drinks culture that makes creative agencies what they are. What we find difficult as agency leaders is how we build a virtual and physical culture.
A positive has been the hiring pool widening across national, continental, and international lines. Talent can now be hired and work for an agency from anywhere in the world. Agencies no longer have to incur relocation costs or for a new employee that does not like your agency culture to resign based on this. How this helps the business is that it gives regional nuances especially when campaigns are being rolled out, and also getting global industry insights when rolling out campaigns.
The other challenge Covid-19 has brought is the energy received from a client when pitching an idea. What one on one pitching allows is for immediate feedback on an idea as the client’s reaction is invaluable at that moment. You are able to gauge based on body language pretty early in the pitch how it is going, and if any points could be of contention and rectify them quite quickly. It becomes difficult presenting on Teams when there are interruptions in the comment section and harder to have difficult conversations as some clients and sometimes agencies hide behind technology in not wanting to deal with mostly financial challenges head-on.
Many agencies believe that they have embraced digitalization because they are just using Teams. There is more to efficiencies and navigating tech in agencies by using platforms like Magnetic, Monday.com, and optimising Chase to be able to manage Slack internally.
Further to this, leaders were also being challenged by having to navigate how to best manage staff personalities in and out of an office environment. Bringing the best out of a workforce that has had to deliver without in-person supervision and be self-sufficient during a pandemic has forced leaders to be adaptable. Here technology was the biggest driver of consistent communications, seamless one-on-one online meetings, leveraging of staff personalities via Zoom and Teams, and human interaction both on and off camera.
Agencies have realised that owning buildings is no longer an important part of a business. Hybrid working and co-working spaces keep overhead costs down. Offices are now primarily being used as a place to build a company culture and brainstorm client pitches rather than a place to do admin or any duties that can be done from home.
“We deliver through people”. It has become more difficult to manage people remotely, in person seeing how people manage work pressures becomes easier to navigate when you are visibly present. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of anxiety and depression, its role, and how people have been affected by it.
To me personally, people are not laptops. It is important to be plugged into the mental and physical wellness of the people I work with. Empathy and showing kindness are important not just because we work together but from a basic human perspective. I would want to know that I’m approachable should my team require my assistance on anything business or personal.
As agencies navigate the business through the post-Covid-19 era the importance of mental wellness should not be diminished, continuous checking in with the people you work with is important. How we manage client expectations by taking them on the agency journey of leading with empathy is imperative. Chasing revenue should not be the only determining factor when your team is close to burning out.
Advertising entrepreneur and businessman, Bongani Chinkanda, is the founder of Diaries of a Salesman as well as the Managing Director of Bravado – an advertising agency. Born and raised in Malawi, Chinkanda was schooled in Harare, Zimbabwe before completing a degree at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. As MD of Bravado and prides himself on finding creative consumer-facing solutions for brands and product owners. Chinkanda is passionate about bringing big ideas that impact to the consumers lives and the bottom-line of client businesses.
