We are wrapping up the second week of schools being shut down in most European countries and remote working is the new black for millions of us. As the novelty of working in your underwear wears off (it lasted about 47 minutes anyway) what a lot of us are wondering is once you hit the Pause button what happens when you hit it again. Global teams are virtually held together bound by digital links - was that not the plan all along?
To be honest, very few of us know what happens next. Even if Covid-19 had a personality he/she would not know - a mindless parasite looking for a host does not weigh in social fabric and financial destruction when making its move. However, as time goes by more and more start to realize that the new normal is nothing but. And we are all called to make the most of it - the best way we can. And how do we make the most of it? How do we acknowledge all this massive change and still get up, turn the laptop on, have coffee and start working (not necessarily in that order)? It is something that we are still dealing with and we will be for weeks, possibly months. Throw in 2.4 children in there and the mix is complete. Everyone requiring their share of attention and (more worryingly) bandwidth. Maybe we are all part of a large social experiment, but I am sure whoever is conducting it is making the protocol up as they are going along.
What is the role of communication in a time like this? After the shock, during the shock - how do we conduct ourselves and what advice should we give our clients. There are many sides to the argument and the immediate reaction following fear is to shut everything down - including our own selves and stay inside our cave. Pretty much like we did a few millennia ago, when wild animals were threatening us at the entrance of our abode. We have advanced a little bit since then - at least I hope we have. I do not advise our clients to stop everything. Yes, I want them to go on because I want the team to keep on working and invoicing and making the world continue to tick along but also because it is through communication that people will receive another perspective of the world around them.
Now is the time to communicate - to over-communicate about issues, keeping focus on what is important and not losing sight of what is happening in our societies and markets and surroundings. It is the large clients on whose shoulders the responsibility falls: carry on with your campaigns responsibly, sensibly, without exaggeration and give citizens and consumers the message that some part of their existence as they once knew it continues. A dystopian future is not in the cards - a new future is however, and we all need to make it happen together, while staying safe and considering others and the world around us.
So, keep communicating - keep exchanging views, keep fighting even, but stay out of the cave even if only it is digitally. Have your say, listen to what others have to say and keep active - campaigns will go on - maybe less colorful but we all need to see another perspective apart from survival and we all have a responsibility to ourselves and our societies that does not include hoarding toilet paper and UHT Milk.
Author: Yiannos Contrafouris.