Advertising agency leaders say the transition to Sydney’s second major lockdown has been smoother for staff and bookings, but express frustrations about being back here again.
The Greater Sydney lockdown has been extended to July 30, confirming the industry will continue working from home for weeks ahead.
Leaders are also reporting that the snap lockdown, in its third week, hasn’t had a noticeable impact on campaign bookings given it’s restricted to Sydney.
However, media agencies note that certain sectors, such as travel, are once again suffering.
“If we do see a sudden movement in media spend, there will be a reason for that which probably isn’t related to COVID,” says Mediabrands Australia CEO Mark Coad.
Unlike the panic felt during the nation-wide lockdown last year, agencies say staff have adjusted quicker.
However, they are concerned about those having to juggle working and other responsibilities such as homeschooling.
“There is definitely a lot more calmness that we assume is coming from the experience of dealing with this previously,” says Luke Spano, managing director at digital media network Avid Collective.
“There is a lot more composure that I think comes from the previous experience. People are a lot more proactive with adjusting their work schedule to balance activities that help both their mental and physical health.”
While agencies are confident they can work through this extended lockdown, they are frustrated to be back here again, 18 months into the pandemic, and are looking forward to bringing staff back into the office when it’s safe.
“It is quite disheartening to see that the government’s overwhelming complacency will now have a devastating impact on all the people of NSW,” says Digital Media CEO Loan Morris.
“It is certainly very frustrating as well for us to have to revise our FY22 projections, but we need to stay positive and stick to our plan to ensure we come out the other end in one piece.”
See more responses below:
Mediabrands Australia CEO Mark Coad
Pretty much 18 months after the first lockdowns last year, our teams and the industry are well-tuned and highly practiced at moving business forward with the same level of intensity, be it working from home or in the office. If we do see a sudden movement in media spend, there will be a reason for that which probably isn’t related to COVID. It’s not the business that’s the biggest concern. It’s our people and our client executives particularly in Greater Sydney who are digging deep to power on, while placing their private plans on hold. Their command of the comms technology is second nature these days. I’m sure everyone at Mediabrands nationally is with them in the hope this current out-break is defeated quickly.
inc. Digital Media CEO Loan Morris
Are you seeing this lockdown have an impact on business?
This lockdown has had a limited impact on our campaigns given the fact that we are mostly buying and placing digital media, however our clients in the travel and hospitality sector have had to pull back their spend once again. It’s like we’re back in 2020 for these businesses and it is heart breaking to hear once more about millions of dollars being cancelled and their recovery being halted without much government support for their staff and business. We are also working closely with our other media partners especially out-of-home to understand the traffic impact to shopping centres at the moment and how the extended lockdown could affect the campaigns we have starting this month.
How is this lockdown impacting staff?
It is a tough situation to manage especially with the added pressure for working parents who have to home school their children. We have a national team so not everybody is in lockdown. It is ironic to see the roles being reversed with Victoria so luckily our team can draw upon the learnings and support from their interstate colleagues.
The team is mostly in good spirits right now; we are making a conscious effort to be kind, understanding and empathetic towards everyone’s own situation and to look at the silver lining in everything we do as this will help keep a positive outlook. It is true that we don’t know when it will end so we hope for the best but prepare for the worst. We have started to take bets as to when we will get out and most of us think it will be sometime in August so we need to look after each other and ourselves to go the distance.
We were back working three days per week from the office and it was the right balance for us. Most of us were still set up for working from home so productivity hasn’t changed at all and we intend to go back to that balance as soon as we can.
Other countries are starting to return to normal after mass vaccination programs, do you fear Australia will be left behind?
Being originally from France and unable to travel to see my family or friends for more than 18 months I have been monitoring the overseas situation this entire time and shared with the team my disbelief regarding the suppression strategy the Australian government has unfortunately been following. From the get-go, I didn’t believe it was the right strategy and today’s situation shows it is certainly not a sustainable one. Australia hid behind a false sense of security only brought in by closing the country off which in the long term is, as we know, impossible to maintain. It is quite disheartening to see that the government’s overwhelming complacency will now have a devastating impact to all the people of NSW. It is certainly very frustrating as well for us to have to revise our FY22 projections, but we need to stay positive and stick to our plan to ensure we come out the other end in one piece.
Avid Collective MD Luke Spano
Are you seeing this lockdown have an impact on business?
This lockdown has been very different to what took place in 2020. We are only seeing campaigns from advertisers in the travel and local experience industries pause, whereas in the initial months of last year campaigns were paused across all categories as marketers sought to understand the environment better. There is definitely a lot more calmness that we assume is coming from the experience of dealing with this previously.
How is this lockdown impacting staff?
Our staff are responding extremely well. There is a lot more composure that I think comes from the previous experience. People are a lot more proactive with adjusting their work schedule to balance activities that help both their mental and physical health.
Are you keen to get staff back in the office?
Until the recent lockdowns our people were back in the office. We’ve always had flexibility with most team members working from home once a week or once a fortnight. Our team thrives from working around each other and so we will look to resume this as soon as the health experts advise it is safe to do so as it definitely helps with collaboration and enjoyment at work.
Other countries are starting to return to normal after mass vaccination programs, do you fear Australia will be left behind?
It’s definitely frustrating to be back in lockdown but in reality we have been very fortunate compared to many other countries. It definitely would have been great if vaccination programs had been rolled out faster, however I’m not sure if the uptake from Australians would have been higher given the level of complacency present in the community. Hopefully we can get this situation under control ASAP and take vaccinations much more seriously as a nation so we can start moving past the pandemic in line with the rest of the world and get to a scenario of no lockdowns.
MediaSmiths MD Angela Smith
Are you seeing this lockdown have an impact on business?
There is a little bit of a slow down in our business as we readjust to the WFH environment, however the difference this time is that it is for the most part just Greater Sydney and surrounding centres are in lockdown while the rest of the nation is still open. Therefore the impact is not as profound and as we’ve been through it before, businesses know we will get through it, albeit with some pain for those in the lockdown vicinity.
There are some campaigns that have been pushed backed to the end of the month or certain channels that have had to be either paused or pushed back due to the nature of how there are delivered to audiences, such as some of the out-of-home platforms our clients utilise. At this stage we are not seeing any particular channel affected as we did in lockdown 1.0. It is still too early to tell.
We have had some of our pharmaceutical category clients boost their spend this during this lockdown. We saw a similar pattern in lockdown 1.0 as we know that pharmaceutical products are essential.
How is this lockdown impacting staff?
At this stage our staff are doing well and doing a wonderful job at ensuring they are always on point and delivering regardless of the circumstances. They are quite used to working from home now over the past year and a half and we have excellent online systems to ensure they are supported as well as platforms for communications so everyone feels well connected. There is no doubt there is a preference for real human connection as we work very well together. Mental health is something that is really important to me and to ensuring as a business that we do support our team from this perspective. They all seem positive, engaged and in a good place at this point.
On the whole I think productivity is pretty much where it was prior to the lockdown but I will have to watch and see over time if there is further impact. The biggest concern will be for those who are home schooling and trying to work at the same time. Home schooling can potentially impact a person’s ability to get their work done in a timely manner and in our business it can be critical if we’re on deadlines.
Are you keen to get staff back in the office?
Yes, once it’s safe to do so, I would like to see the team back in the office as I know how well everyone works together. It drives greater collaboration, supports team morale and improves positive culture within the business. This in turn drives greater creativity and results for our clients.
Other countries are starting to return to normal after mass vaccination programs, do you fear Australia will be left behind?
It’s frustrating to operate a business in this manner as it’s been extremely difficult to forecast, and make planning and business decisions being in such a state of flux, however we have taken the view that we just need to keep going under the circumstances. We ensure we have all the safety measures in place for our team when they are in the office, adapt as needed when we are in WFH mode and keep moving forward. This will end and we want to ensure we’re all here at the end of it.
Hogarth Australia chief operating officer Chloe Lane
Whilst last year remote working was forced into our lives, this year it’s part of Hogarth’s DNA and we have committed to our people that agile working is here to stay for the long-term. We have found a more flexible rhythm provides so many benefits to our people and the business - productivity, energy, health and happiness being just some. Agile working is about much more than working location, it’s about flexibility of hours and shifts too. So, whilst we’re facing another lockdown in Sydney and parents are battling with home-schooling, our working rhythm allows our people that extra room to move and breathe in this tricky time.
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