New Digital Age has always celebrated the digital industry, from the people that drive it to the technologies that underpin it and even as the coronavirus pandemic reshapes the world around, we’re not going to stop the celebrations.
So, as the coronavirus pandemic has quickly become the new normal, NDA wants to celebrate the positives of our current situation, to discover what people in the digital industry have to be cheerful about.
Of course the pandemic is causing unparalleled disturbance and upset to every element of life but while acknowledging the severity of the situation, we want to shine a light on the positive things happening across the digital industry.
What’s more, although it seems hard to imagine right now, we also want to examine the positive impact the coronavirus pandemic may end up having, from new consumer behaviours to new tech innovations.
In our Reasons to be Cheerful series, we’re talking to leaders across the industry to find out what positive impacts they’re seeing from the way work has been reshaped and what they think we should all be cheerful about in our post-coronavirus future.
TSB CMO Pete Markey
Fittingly, the series kicks off with the redoubtable Pete Markey, CMO at TSB, one our most innovative marketing leaders, who also launched our My Digital Hero series celebrating the heroes of the digital industry.
What positive impacts have you seen on how your business operates?
We’ve moved quickly to ensure that we can continue to support our customers at this challenging time. This has meant the need to move at pace to innovate and work even better across the business and between teams.
As a result, a positive has been the pace and energy this has generated with the focussed purpose on helping our customers when they need it the most.
What have you been most heartened about in how your staff, partners, customers or clients have reacted to the new normal?
I’m inspired everyday by the amazing people I get to work with everyday and all that they are doing to help our customers.
I’ve been particularly inspired by our agencies the7stars and McCann and my own team in how we are now working and collaborating in new and brave ways to create great work.
What technologies have you been most impressed with during this new situation and do you think coronavirus will hasted their uptake or development?
I think MS Teams and Zoom have been the most useful to connect people to work and interact together. I now use MS Teams with my team and our agencies and it’s a great tool to get things done and share work in progress.
I’ve used Zoom for weekly improvised comedy lessons which are interesting (and fun!) to do!
What, if any, positive long-term impact on the digital industry will coronavirus have?
I think we’ll look back and be amazed how far we have come and how quickly. I think the current challenging situation has enabled us all to reconsider the working environment and what great work looks like.
I think we’ll embrace change through digital far more easily in the future.
What positive impacts on long term consumer behaviour shifts will it have?
I think we’ll see further acceleration in digital adoption and embracing of new technologies to get things done.
Plus I think there are many things as consumers we wont take for granted when we are through this whether big experiences or small.
