The last year has taught me a lot about resilience and the need to adapt. To be patient, and to understand what matters most. Here are a few insights I thought were worth sharing.

1. Our people matter, most.

‍I am so thankful for our team. For always taking care of each other and our clients – especially amidst such uncertainty. The diverse team of remarkably talented people that we proudly surround ourselves with today are some of the best humans we know. They proved that excellence is not location dependent. And I am forever indebted to them.

2. Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.

‍The 2020 #WFH experiment illuminated one of the most valued qualities of a great team: communication. When you physically can’t pop into an office or catch up over a morning coffee, connecting often, in meaningful ways, becomes essential.

3. Hard work pays off, but patience and courage are vital.

‍Our promise (to ourselves, each other and our clients) has always been to work hard, be nice and always go the extra mile. When COVID arrived, it stopped everything. It took us a moment or two to catch our breath. Hopeful it would be a short interlude, we worked to push most projects downstream. Weeks went by and more and more programs were cancelled, entirely. And while I admit that, like you, this long season of ambiguity was far from easy it constantly asked us to keep thinking and keep rethinking. To keep working hard. To keep being nice. And to keep going the extra mile. Sometimes it was for clients. Sometimes our teammates. And sometimes ourselves. Admittedly many of the ideas we created never saw the light of day. But some did. And waiting for that to happen took patience. It also took courage. It’s so easy to doubt who we are, what we do, and why it matters when a global pandemic strikes, but as we have learned crisis doesn’t build character it reveals it.

4. The secret sauce to great customer service is not-so-secret.

‍Yes, there is a secret sauce to great customer service. Our recipe is readily available. And yes, you can learn how to make it. Necessary ingredients (no substitutions) include (but aren’t limited to) great hiring practices, solid experience, outstanding individual and collective work ethic, and empathetic leadership that genuinely and deeply cares – about the company, the clients but mostly about their people. We don’t always get it right, but boy do we try.

5. Human connections beget meaningful experiences.

‍During our first COVID summer, we did our very best to create meaningful, socially distanced experiences in real life. From golf to cycling, from hiking to curb-side brews. Anything that got us outside and brought us safely closer together was a gift. And while I love my Peloton and totally understand the connectivity of training games like Zwift —after all they are trying to empower a better life – until technology enables an effortless 3-dimensional experience, there is nothing that replaces a live in-person one. As we move towards a world post-COVID, brands will begin creating powerful and highly memorable in real life experiences. Ones that differentiate their brand promise and remind us why it matters. These moments will separate them from the online commoditization that has occurred throughout COVID. While the buying and selling habits that evolved in 2020 will not fade, we look forward to finally seeing brands come to life again – bringing with them sight, sound, touch, taste and feel. More on that subject here.

6. We want more from our relationships.

‍Clients who want a partner gain more than those who just want an agency. We strive to work with our clients as partners – with those who are willing to harness our collective strategic and creative horsepower to grow their businesses.

7. Our clients will always depend on us to innovate and deliver quality.

‍As an agency we have always been nimble, but 2020 challenged us to be all the more so. To think differently. In many ways our world both shrunk and grew at the same time. We’re so thankful that many of our clients came to us with aspirations to keep going. Some of the programming and campaigns might be smaller-in-scale than originally imagined, but to those brave ones who keep taking chances, we salute you. Here’s to continued success, together.