Recovery and Revival: TBWA releases new Navigating Uncertainty report to support brands
As our society and economy is under extreme pressure during COVID-19, TBWA Sydney has released a new report to offer guidance on how brands can navigate these unprecedented times. The report has been adapted and a New Zealand edition has just been released.
The report titled ‘Navigating Uncertainty‘ identifies eight Emerging Values that are unique to New Zealand and provide a simple framework to help brands plan across three phases: Response, Recovery and Revival.
TBWA\Sydney chief strategy officer Matt Springate said the report was authored by the TBWA Sydney strategic planning team and focuses on the Recovery and Revival phases: “This crisis has been felt by everyone, we all feel it and live it, personally and professionally, day by day. It’s in our nature as an agency to help businesses navigate through these times.
“We wanted to curb the current feeling of hopelessness with some positive thinking, which will hopefully offer some guidance through, and out of, this uncertainty.”
One of TBWA Sydney’s planning directors, Matt Moran who co-authored the report, said the recommendations are inspired by cultural insight from the present, and historical data from previous crises, including examples of brands that built resilience during World Wars and global financial crises.
Says Moran: “In every major global crisis or period of tension, we’ve seen a sharp rise in innovation and creative problem solving. While emerging technologies are often at the forefront, social and cultural advancements often have a more enduring, long-term impact on consumer behaviour.”
TBWA’s chief executive officer, Australia and New Zealand, Paul Bradbury, said he hopes the report will provide some confidence and optimism: “We’re proud of the level of detail and insight that’s gone into this important piece of work, both here in Sydney and from our global TBWA Collective, and hope it can offer some guidance to ensure we all rise up together.”
Says Catherine Harris, CEO, TBWA\New Zealand: “As we navigate through an unprecedented time, people’s minds are shifting to what next? We’ve created a report called ‘Navigating Uncertainty’ that identifies emerging values Kiwis care about – and provides a simple framework to help business and brands navigate change. Emerging values are one way to help us start to understand the landscape we will be operating in, including what is particular to us Kiwis. The report is free to everyone on the link provided or you can find it on our LinkedIn page.
Says Matt Kingston, head of strategy, TBWA\New Zealand: “Working closely with our strategy team in Sydney we’ve looked at cultural values, both emerging and established, and analysed historical data from previous crises to offer a point of view on how businesses can respond. We don’t claim to know all the answers or offer a definitive prediction of what’s to come, this is simply here to inspire and provoke. A big thank you to our TBWA\Australia team for the original report, and our TBWA\Worldwide team for the shared intelligence.”