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Pandemic has changed brand relevance, regional Creative Circles state on FIAP Face to Face Webinar
Liz Unamo| 20 de julio de 2021
Webinar Face To Face Martes 20 Julio
Everything has changed, from the way agencies work to the creative work they present at advertising festivals. That was one of the conclusions reached by Gabriela “Walls” Paredes, co-president of Mexico’s Creative Circle; Florencia Leibaschoff, president of the Creative Circle USA; Concha Wert, general director of Spain’s Creatives Club ; and Demian Campos, president of the Creatives Club of Venezuela, all panelists on the FIAP Face to Face Webinar on Tuesday, July 20.The forum – moderated by Leibaschoff – reviewed the challenges met and lessons learned by the industry during the pandemic.“It has altered the relevance of brands. When the pandemic broke out, it hit brands with expressions and behavior that seemed virtually meaningless. What is relevant now? That’s the question, because the context has changed,” Wert said.For Walls, the brand-consumer dialogue has been transformed and has become more intimate. “During the pandemic,” she said, “you want to know that the brand is on your side and that it offers you great content.” Along that line, Campos noted that “everything has become more intimate, more human, with much more togetherness. There’s more connecting going on.”ReconnectionBringing creative talent back to the agencies is one challenge the industry faces in a post pandemic world, the panelists agreed. After the wave of layoffs in the first quarter of the quarantine, many creatives found new ways to organize in order to keep working.“Among the phenomena that have appeared are small teams of freelancers working directly with clients without the traditional agency structures. The agencies that have suffered most are the multinationals, while those that adapted to the Covid situation in record time were the small agencies,” Wert said.Wert believes the industry is studying how to develop the talents it needs: “The great challenge is learning how to bring talent back to the agencies.”Walls warns that a lot more work needs doing to make creativity flower once more. “Between the monetary part and drowning in work the creatives we manage to employ, it all becomes a vicious circle.”Though working online has made the industry move ahead some 10 years, in Walls’ opinion the quality of work has obviously suffered.For Leibaschoff, the ideal would be to find a midpoint between working from home and returning to the office. “I’ve had the chance to be at filmings again, an in-person experience that is unusual right now, since that connection has been lost.Meanwhile Campos argued for more contractual incentives to bring back the in-person format.Watch Webinar FIAP Face to Face about creativity in Latin America during a post-pandemic era
