"Thank you, guys. See you in 2min on the next call."
That's been our daily routine since the pandemic has brought us a new normal. Where you need to schedule those "stumble upon" moments in the agency's corridors after a long meeting.
I moved to Geometry NYC just one month before the pandemic was declared and quarantine had begun. Besides the fact that I didn't get the opportunity to meet the whole team in person, it was hard to adapt and differentiate between "home time" and "work time".Now that I have been working from home for the past few months, I can definitely say that I have adapted to the new reality.
Other than that, I would say that working for an experiential agency during this uncertain time was a challenge that we had to work around and it forced our team to shift the way we think and change the way we create. Our mission was to adapt a whole new creative calendar for the year to fill in for the experiential events planned. Digital is our new best friend.
Who would have thought that shooting video content virtually in which the director is in LA, the crew split between Chicago and Nashville, and creatives in New York would be possible?
I would say that overall this experience has demonstrated that this can be the future of the workplace and I believe that agencies will adopt this within the next few years to come. If there is a bright side to this all, we realized that the machine works well and creative talents can be based anywhere.
Virtual borders are open to everyone to work from anywhere no matter where they are. Ideas have no boundaries and can be listened to by everyone, except if you are talking while you are on mute.
- Oswaldo Sa is Regional Creative Director, North America.