Rewind 2020: “We’ve learned from history that we’ve learnt nothing from history”

As we are set to bid adieu to 2020 – a year of major disruptions, global shutdowns, economic rollercoaster due to COVID-19 – there are several lessons and takeaways from this momentous year. Adgully brings its annual review of the year gone by, wherein industry experts analyse the most significant developments and trends of the year and their implications on the coming year as well. 

Chetan Mahajan, Founder & CEO, The Mavericks, feels that though the world has been under siege since March, it went past as quickly as any other year. Looking ahead, he predicts that the overall integrated marketing business is likely to grow by over 20% and some of it will be at the cost of traditional advertising. 

Developments & disruptions 

Well, as they say, time flies. All I can say is that 2020 went past in a jiffy. The world has been under siege since March and yet the year went past as quickly as any other year. I’ll reiterate what I’ve been saying all through this year. If I’m still alive, healthy, around my loved ones and I’ve food on the table, all I have is gratitude. We’ve learned from history that we’ve learnt nothing from history. As soon as the pandemic is behind us, we’re likely to find comfort in slipping back to our pre-pandemic lifestyle. However, one thing is for sure, the world will never be the same ever again for most of the mortals. The disruptions have been abrupt and will leave indelible marks behind. 

We are more unequal than ever before: Millions of people lost their livelihood, yet the corporates got richer, widening the inequality in wealth distribution. The sales have at best been stagnant, but the profit margins for the listed companies have improved, indicating that the human resources cost and associated overheads got trimmed disproportionately. In general, the rich have become richer, the poor poorer and the burgeoning middle class has just managed to survive. 

Offices will become smaller and homes bigger: Most corporates are likely to adopt a hybrid model of office, with many people working permanently from home and many others to visit office by rotation. All in all, the corporate offices will need less space and homes will need more space to accommodate the work from home culture and perhaps distance learning. Migration from metros to hometowns perfectly meets this need and much more. These migrants will take their metro lifestyle along with them triggering a fundamental shift in the culture and consumerism in the non-metros. 

Pandemic induced Digital Transformation is here to stay: From digital payments to e-commerce and tele-consultation to e-education – the way we engage with the ecosystem has transformed enough to change the long settled habits. Consequently, the businesses in these sectors are likely to trump the other sectors in growth and valuations. 

This year was also a year of introspection for most of us. The priorities have changed, and so did the resilience to stay relevant during the big disruption. If I were to pick five key learnings from my experience in the last nine months of keeping our agency and myself afloat, here is my pick:

• Invest in staying healthy and fit
• My family is my topmost priority
• When times are tough, the need for alignment with purpose becomes even more pronounced
• Upskilling is not a luxury, it’s a necessity
• Gratitude and love must be expressed in abundance

Looking ahead in 2021 

We help brands manage, build and defend their reputation with an integrated communication approach. During uncertain times while it becomes even more critical to manage the brand reputation, it certainly becomes much tougher to do so. Barring the first few months when brands took some drastic kneejerk decisions in response to the nation-wide and global lockdown, the investment in sustaining the reputation by brands has been consistent and growing. 

The other trend that is emerging amongst the marketers is to consolidate the multiple streams of marketing with one or two agencies to ensure better harmony in messaging across multiple channels while enjoying the benefit of rationalisation of cost. At least 50% of our clients buy two or more services from our integrated portfolio of public relations, creative, digital, research, content, influencer marketing and digital. This trend has become even more pronounced in the last 6 months and we expect a large number of mid-tier and start-up brands to look at consolidating their businesses with fewer agencies in 2021.

We are expecting to grow by at least 30% in FY2021 and looking at the current trend and the rising need to manage the reputational risk/ opportunity, we expect at least 50% growth in FY2022. We’re just 2 years old, hence operating on a relatively smaller base, so percentage growth may not mean much. The overall integrated marketing business is likely to grow by over 20% and some of it will be at the cost of traditional advertising. 

Select agencies who invested in talent and upskilling their teams during the last nine months will not have to wait for too long to reap the benefits of the sacrifices and investments made during the turbulent times, both in terms of team morale and client stickiness.