"Corona shines a light on an outdated industry culture"

This text was published in our newsletter.

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned our entire existence upside down and affected society as a whole. But for me, being privileged with a job I can do from home and having decent health, this crisis has allowed me time for self-reflection. I have gained clarity on what is important in my life and which bad habits I need to break.

The entire communication industry would benefit from a similar self-examination. Especially since much of the communication created is built on prestige and what is professionally "cool" to execute, rather than what serves the purpose best.

Take, for example, campaigns with extremely lavish productions or commercials filmed on the other side of the world. Surely fun to create, but the question is: does it yield better results? For instance, do sales increase more because a commercial is filmed in South Africa instead of right here at home? Does the target audience even care? What we do know, however, is that it leaves a significant carbon footprint.

Industry culture dictates more than we care to admit. In reality, we should focus on finding the best solution to reach the people we want to talk to, within a reasonable budget. If that is the goal, there is much to question. It is possible to create communication in much smarter ways. Communication that is authentic. That starts with the target audience rather than being an agency's "wet dream." Communication that takes responsibility.

So, as we have reset our entire lives, we should also reflect on our professional lives. Which bad habits is it time to let go of? With the perspectives this crisis has given us, is it really justifiable to go back and work exactly as we did before?

The questions we should always ask ourselves:

• Have we minimized the campaign's carbon footprint?

• Does the campaign provide real benefit to the target audience?

• Is the campaign linked to business objectives?

Joakim Johansson 

PR Strategist, Obeya