If anyone should have told us this time last year that we’d be soon be locked in our houses, running entirely remote teams and creative processes, navigating some of the most significant social crises in living memory, and having classes with the Faculties whilst wearing slippers, you would have asked what you were planning to call this fantastic work of fiction.
Nobody could have predicted what has unfolded in 2020 and it’s not over yet Pandemic, Social injustice, Civil unrest, A climate crisis. The list of challenges is as exhaustive as it is exhausting, and in both a personal and professional capacity, this year has tested every marketer and brand manager on the planet.
The fact how the crisis has come out to be a boon for many industries and a curse for many is surprising in ways. With education gone completely digital and online streams as designing and architecture have also gone digital. One of the top design institutes in Pune, MIT School of Design is looking forward to these changes by introducing technology-driven design courses such as communication design, UX design, and product design.
The design community works with marketers from all over the world on a daily basis, and as these changes unfolded the need to understand the highs, the lows, and the learnings of the past six months within this group. The education sector along with the industrial sectors from around the world are having different opinions on how the events of 2020 have shaped the industry so far.
Talking about the various Design institutes around the globe, it has been quite a challenging task to shift the curriculum to an online platform. However, they did it brilliantly and effortlessly. Moving on to the industries that hire these designers who graduate in the year 2020 and 2021understand the capabilities and are giving them a chance to grow and change the world. Though the year has been challenging, the impacts are powerful.
When it comes to creativity, there is a similar split. Thirty percent of all marketing professionals stated that working from home made creative work and collaborating on creative projects more difficult, but a similar amount (31%) claimed it made it simpler.
However, when the replies are broken down by age (and thus normal levels of seniority), a trend emerges: younger people have found distant creative cooperation more difficult than their older counterparts. Again, experience and tenure could be to blame. Effective communication and teamwork are two abilities that can be developed. In a distant location, the confidence that comes with expertise is equally important when it comes to decision-making and accountability. However, if remote work is to genuinely become the new normal, it is important to consider how the type of work being done affects creative cooperation.
When budgets are tightened, marketing expenses are frequently the first to be slashed. As a result, when the pandemic came in, the marketing industry was heavily hit by layoffs and furloughs. However, some opportunities have arisen, as well as certain silver linings that will benefit the business in the future. The importance of social media and marketing gave way to the younger generation who were willing to enter the designing industry. Institutes like MITSD, Pune provided opportunities for online product designing courses and more for young minds.
Talking about the industry again the people have had to rely on one another a lot more than usual both professionally and personally because of reduced teams and shared experiences of enduring difficult times together. As a result, nearly a third of marketers (31%) say their supervisors now have more faith in their abilities than they did before the outbreak. Because many marketing professionals have taken on additional tasks and workloads in the last six months, 22% say their chances of advancement have risen as a result of the epidemic.
While the shift toward flexible work has been ongoing for some time, the epidemic is expected to have a long-term impact on how brands and agencies interact with their employees both in and out of the workplace.
As a direct result of the normality of working from home during the epidemic, the majority of respondents expect their organization or clients to bring in more remote-only talent. Over two-fifths expect their companies to hire full-time remote employees and almost a third anticipate working with more remote freelancers moving forward. The opportunity here is clear: as the industry becomes more comfortable working with remote talent, brands and agencies will be able to hire more diversely, benefitting both companies and clients alike.
It is critical to develop skills and groom your working style at the start of your career. Learning the work and observing your superiors is a conventional necessity. As a result, it's no surprise that nearly 85% of marketers believe that being close to your team and management is critical. When asked about the effects of remote training and development on the younger generation and those who were just starting their careers in the market during the pandemic, the figures revealed that thought it had a positive impact on their social and professional development, while thought it had a negative impact.