Banished by Mother Earth to reflect, to rethink and to re-establish; the COVID-19 pandemic has granted us all with so much time to converse with our minds.
With the sudden lockdown, the fashion industry saw an unprecedented stop in its production and sales. With everyone working from home and clients asking us to hold on to a few projects, we were in a pickle too. With panic and a rush of anxiety, we got onto rewriting and restructuring our functioning as an agency. I read many reports on analytics explaining the next thing to do for creative businesses. Not a single report or an article tried to articulate the importance of basic values that would save us all as agencies, not just during these uncertain and challenging times, but for the rest of the millennium.
A moment of reckoning made me write down as to what the future for creative agencies holds. The most obvious point lies in underlining the factor of going digital vigorously.
But would that be enough? What about the morals and values that we tend to erode while dealing with projects? What about neglecting the well-being of your employees and running after deadlines?
These things urged me to sit down and note a few points that could help our agencies to think better and to create better.
1. The most significant thing to practice would be to unmask ourselves as an agency. To be who we are without a hue of pretense and badge our authenticity.
2. The second thing would be to focus on quality rather than quantity. It’s not the numbers that define us, it’s the content and the soul of our brand connected to the clients that define us.
3. This biblical opportunity to reflect has also helped me understand the need to incessantly promote the strong values and morals that the company believes in and not letting anyone manipulate these.
4. Pay heed to your employees’ mental health and open your minds to help them indulge in a relaxed conversation with you.
5. Foreground humanity; when that’s done right, your organization is molded with strength and courage. Let commerciality evaporate behind the curtains.
6. Find the long lost soul and make it the conversation starter for your next pitch without mincing words.
7. Focus on branding, it is something you cannot buy or sell, branding is evolutional. Let others speak about your brand and its oeuvre right now. It is what you choose to be, so let’s be wise.
8. Last but not the least, make Chai for your team once in a while and maintain the level of humor and sarcasm.
Stay Home, Stay Safe.
Rutuja Kamble
Creative Director & Founder
Ploti