Page 7 - AdNews May-June 2020

Editor’s Letter
Saving the village without levelling it
Sarang McLachlan, receptionist at WPP AUNZ, normally works in a building with several hundred people.
She sees a lot of people every day – media, tech, digital, PR, events.
But, like most of the adver- tising and media industry, she and her colleagues retreated from COVID-19 to the safety of home.
McLachlan, an aspiring writer, is optimistic despite the sudden change, as she told AdNews in the first of our series of articles, The WFH Diaries.
“There will be light after darkness. We can’t control the future, but we can use this experience to shape tomorrow. We must thrive together from this.”
McLachlan also points to inevitable changes. “Working from home has demon- strated far less of a need for meetings. Much can be resolved easily via email or over a quick video confer- ence. A huge time saver for everyone.”
There is no doubt the world will be fundamentally changed when we emerge from home caves and deal with commuting again. This will include how we work and the landscape of the business world itself.
This is a recession-causing pandemic, according to all analysis. But this downturn is different to most others because it is not driven by the financial sector. The solution is medical and no amount of fiscal magic can change that.
Along the way there are victims. Analysts at investment bank Credit Suisse: “It is difficult, if not impossible, to save everyone. And when conditions return to normal, we will not get back bankrupted businesses.”
Australia, like the rest of the western world, moved quickly with stimulus, throw- ing large sums of money at the economy to keep its fiscal nostril nearer the surface of a functioning system.
China, where the pandemic started, hard shut its economy and did stimulus later. Australia kept the economy going with a gradual shutdown, compared to China. Which approach will have longer-term benefits remains to be seen.
In Australia, jobs have been lost and the great major- ity of people working on are doing so with significant cuts in income. And the situation still has a way to go.
Sarang McLachlan again: “I like to remain positive and believe that COVID-19 will be the wake-up call that our
society is given to create a kinder way of life.” Dominic Pearman, the founderof leading independent agency Pearman Media, points rightly to the people of the advertising industry being the
greatest asset.
Clients will spend once again. “It seems hypocrit-
ical to talk to clients about the importance of invest- ing in their brand in tough times if at the same time we are cutting staff or their hours,” he says. “Now is the time to invest in our own businesses.”
EDITOR
CHRIS PASH
www.adnews.com.au | May-June 2020 7