AdNews brings the stories of those working from home (WFH) in the advertising and media industry during the coronavirus crisis.
Paul Baker is strategy director at Carat.
How are you dealing with the silence?
If you’d ask any of our strat team, I think they’d all agree that I’m slightly old before my time – and I’m therefore really trying to embrace the slightly slower way of life.
Keeping some semblance of a routine has helped me stay sane. Everyday I get up and pretend I’m off to the office, shirt on, and queue up at the coffee machine in the house.
The only difference is that beneath the desk are shorts and flip flops, the WFH Mullet.
Outside of that, as a house we’ve tried to keep that Monday to Friday distinction by finding any reason to celebrate at the weekend, and taking up even more hobbies to be slightly rubbish at. I haven’t tried to paint since I was 14 and thought Linkin Park were the pinnacle of music tastes, but now I actively look forward to it.
What’s the upside?
There is a saying from the founder of McDonald’s, Ray Kroc, that ‘None of us is as good as all of us’ – and I think the pandemic has genuinely made that resonate.
Within our national strategy team, we’ve never been as close as we are now. By all dialling into team meetings as individuals, the distinction between the different markets has evaporated, and sharing a beer with everyone during the team Happy Hour has become one of the highlights of my work week.
But more than that, there is a sense of unity as an industry. With each agency facing similar adversities, it feels like the negativity has vanished and been replaced by the championing of great work.
Then within the work itself, the severity of the context with which we’re in, has forced us all to put people, not data, back at the heart of our advertising. As a result, the work created is some of the best I’ve seen during my time in advertising.
The downside?
There is something unique about the energy within an agency when you’re up against deadlines, and all trying to muck in together; whilst video-conferencing has helped bring people closer, it’s been difficult to capture that same feeling of excitement and anticipation that builds during those late hours.
How are you using the commuting time saved?
Oddly, this has been the one thing that I’ve actually ended up clinging on to. Going for the same 30-minute walk up the coast each morning, before starting my day in “the office”. Although I think the team are getting slightly bored of my jokes about the traffic being bad.
I am looking forward to being back in the office because…
It’ll mean that we’re through it all, and I’m curious and excited to see where we’ll all be heading as an industry.
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