‘Beautifully’? Is that the right adjective to use for us all frantically trying to keep businesses afloat in this current climate?
I have a very dear relative of mine who left the London Ad agency scene (Leo Burnett etc…) in the late seventies and lives in the US. One of his business interest is a company that designs and imports high end European hair creations for Women and children who lose their hair. I love his strap line. ‘Adapt Beautifully’™.
The link is obvious between the cameleon and changing/adapting. In the wig world, the word beauty is never going to be far away, regardless of the reason for needing hair. So it seems a really good fit to beautifully change the way you look (with a wig) to give yourself more confidence and self-esteem. But also to adapt your psyche to your new way of working in a beautiful way.
Bringing it back to the creative and marketing world and the current situation, I couldn’t think of a more appropriate strap line for us all.
The need to adapt our way of thinking is crucial as we all know, but just like in Rugby where it is all blood sweat and tears, you can score a ‘beautiful’ try, or football with all the over inflated salaries and self-indulged footballers, you still get stunning skills and end to end moves that result in graceful and ‘beautiful’ goals.
So for me beauty comes down to the end result and how you got there. When something needs to change, it is the smooth transition that can be beautiful.
So are agencies adapting beautifully? What are they doing and how are they reacting.
Being in a business that works closely with agencies, we have first-hand experience of what is going on and simply put… it is tough out there.
We have clients who I can’t get hold of directly as they have been furloughed while others have already lost their jobs asking me to keep an eye out for them.
Those lucky enough to still have a job are working incredibly hard to adapt campaign ideas for their clients to make their brand relevant. While others are working with brands that are full steam ahead, frantically trying to keep their head above the water as they have limited staff, limited resources and still need to deliver.
Christmas campaigns are being thought of now and there seems to be a backlog for some brands where they haven’t been able to do anything but now want to press the green light.
I said it as lockdown began that this will be a blip. A major one at that. A pause for business owners to re-think strategies, work on their own marketing and plan for when we can all get out there again. Now seems to be that time. I’ve spoken to many in the industry over the last week and phones have started to ring again.
This may be a damaging time for brands but there is no let-up in enthusiasm and that is why I feel this scenario is unlike any other. For those that have lost livelihoods and have struggled, it is devastating. But I just feel on the whole, the market will bounce back, recent activity has proven that. We haven’t forgotten in 3 months the buoyant market we were in and we are all keen for that to continue.
At Epic Activation we have a number of alternative marketing strategies to help our FMCG clients. Behaviours in supermarkets have changed and so has our offering. If agencies, project managers and account handlers need support, then we can help. From project managing to pulling in all resources from designers, digital experts, handling and fulfilment, prize sourcing, Epic Activation can support you through this challenging time, helping you Adapt Beautifully™.
Oh yes and thanks for the inspiration Mike! If anyone wants to know more about high quality wigs, check out jolicameleon.com
#AdaptBeautifully #DigitalMarketing #handling #fulfilment #PrizeSourcing #promotions #AgencyLife
