Russell Hopson, group managing director, M&C Saatchi
My wife is an optimist. To the point of delusion, in my view. But I can’t deny the sheer beauty of her perspective. She should have been born in Australia; the phrases, ‘It’s all good’ and ‘She’ll be right’ fit like a glove for her. Me? I say realist, she says pessimist. Read the rest and you decide.
2020 has been a disaster, there’s no doubt about it. Personally, professionally, economically, socially. So many people have suffered. It’s been heartbreaking. And the Dada-esque political events in the USA seem to be the soundtrack to it all. You’d have thought I would have been in my ‘realist’ element. But here’s my truth, we, as an industry have a good crisis. I know there will be people who disagree. Businesses who have suffered and maybe closed, people who have lost jobs. I’m truly sorry for those people. I’ve been fired at a tricky economic time, it’s no fun, I know. But I firmly believe the COVID crisis has put our business up a rung on the ladder it has been inexorably moving downwards on over the last decade or so.
There are two reasons for this, in my view. Clients have realised our counsel, objectivity and creativity are invaluable in a time of crisis and uncertainty. Speaking personally, I feel closer to our clients than ever and find them seeking to understand the mood and view of their customers through us. Right across the board we have been asked to bring our insight and creativity to bear in ways we have never done before. As long as we remain creative about how we are creative, things will be good for us all.
Secondly, we are the growth people. Never forget that. I attended a talk recently which pointed out that, in any business, there are only two departments that actually create growth: R and D and Marketing. R and D is obvious- they make the stuff that sells. Marketing are the people that build that value in the mind of the consumer. Create premium, create demand. And we are the tip of that spear. And, I believe, it takes a crisis, financial and societal to make us all realise who the people are who really need in any endeavour.
Has COVID 19 brought a slew of closed businesses and retrenchments? There have been both for sure, but it hasn’t been a bloodbath. And I’d like to believe those talented people who have found themselves on the wrong end of a chat with HR will find their way back, one way or another. I know plenty who have. Speaking personally again, we’ve fought hard to keep good people by moving them around the business- there are benefits to scale.
Please do not read this as a whitewash over a time of immense strain and distress for us all. Those things are real and undeniable. I’m simply making the case that there is a great and tangible case for optimism for us as an industry. If we stay focussed on the opportunities, understand that we bring something that no other industry can (are you listening you consultants?) and keep proving the value of it then, well, she’ll be right.
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