Page 6 - AdNews Magazine Jul-Aug 2020

Editor’s Letter
An overload of self with a dash of story
Zoom, an off-the-shelf solution waiting for a lockdown, is also an opportunity to check out yourself in action.
Sneaking looks at your own moving image during a conference call was irresistible. Better than a mirror.
Many have commented on how different the two-dimen- sional experience is.
Such meetings add an extra layer of emotional effort, and subsequent mental strain, as we strive to look good, look interested and look for facial and voice cues.
That all added to the load of exhaustion in the first few frenzied pandemic weeks as work lives jackknifed, seeking a path through deep change.
The next big thing is a return to the office, something that appears harder than the departure. How to get every- one in and out of a tall building while still social distancing? Difficult. The more likely sce- nario is a staged return: a cou- ple of days a week, gradually rising as restrictions are eased.
Luke Clifton at brand expe-
rience agency Jack Morton Worldwide is looking for- ward to people looking at him when he is speaking.
In an AdNews WFH Diaries report, he wrote: “I’ve noticed that everyone looks at their own image on video chat — you can see their eyes looking down and to the side — and I can’t unsee it.”
But it is increasingly clear that many people have thrived in lockdown.
Willie Pang, CEO at MediaCom AUNZ: “We are run- ning staff surveys and 70 per cent plus, in addition to
feeling better, the preference is to either maintain or predominantly work remotely forever.”
Plenty of others feel the same way. The WFH Diaries, an AdNews series of more than 60 articles, reported many positives.
Some people reported a closeness with colleagues as everyone worked to overcome adversity.
But in an industry of extro- verts, that has to be balanced by the need to be around people.
Rebecca Carrasco, ECD, Saatchi & Saatchi: “Our indus- try has always had a fairly structured way of working. This is forcing us to find other ways. I don’t know if we’ll ever come back from this — I don’t know if we’d completely want to. But I think this is also making us all realise how much we like being together and how important team cul- ture is to motivation and men- tal health. The making is far better together.”
And the output has been strong, meeting the need of clients to quickly recast and
turnaround campaigns.
Aimee Buchanan, CEO of OMD Australia: “There
are some tough days but the moments of joy are the incredible work that is going across our desks.”
Andy Flemming, group creative director, M&C Saatchi, wrote a poem, Stories. It reads, in part:
We can’t move without growing. We can’t think without knowing. We don’t know what’s coming. So we need stories to keep going.
EDITOR
CHRIS PASH
www.adnews.com.au | July-August2020 6