Having effortlessly shifted from 鈥減ivoting鈥 to 鈥渞eimagining鈥 in a speed not dissimilar to that of a sourdough rise, who says the ad industry isn鈥檛 au fait with client corporate management speak and is therefore undeserving of its place at the 鈥渢op table鈥 (and that鈥檚 another "ewwww" for that)?
Now that staff are being advised to stay at home by the government just days after being told to go back to work, offices lie empty again 鈥 the only noise likely being the supercharged air-con units continuously pumping in cold, fresh air as per the government鈥檚 recommendations. Take that, Extinction Rebellion.
For some smaller London agencies, the reimagination of the workplace has been the excuse for some downsizing 鈥 an opportunity to find space more suitable for the Covid era (and possibly cut the rent bill back and for management to do a nifty pocket tap on the bottom line, 脿听濒补 Sunny off the lamentable new Asda ads). St Luke鈥檚 and Elvis have both upped sticks to new premises.
For others, such as Pablo, it has meant giving up leases completely and embracing WFH as something many people will prefer to do until medical science finally sorts out creating a vaccine to save us all. It is to Pablo鈥檚 credit that it is donating the money saved to Shelter to help those more permanently without a home 鈥 this sum will be in the tens of thousands, I鈥檓 told.
Leagas Delaney, too, has given up on its central London HQ. Whether the practicalities of a diaspora of talent spread throughout London and the home counties work with the longer-term needs of clients is an issue that other agencies (and clients) will be watching closely.
For those holding companies that recently opened lavish campus sites 鈥 think Havas Village, WPP鈥檚 Sea Containers, Omnicom鈥檚 desolate Bankside location and Publicis Groupe鈥檚 Television Centre site 鈥 the promised back-office savings and cross-pollination of ideas from a centralised office look a little fanciful.
And no matter how much noise they make about the importance of preserving 鈥渁gency culture鈥 (free breakfasts and you can bring your dog in on a Friday?), it will probably take more than conceptual arguments to get all but the most compliant staff to potentially risk their health on busy Tube lines just to keep some HR flunkeys happy. Some serious reimagination is needed here.
How strange it seems that it was just a year ago that the whole concept of flexible working and work/life balance rose to the fore with Starcom鈥檚 鈥渇lexigate鈥 internal staff email complaining of empty offices on Fridays. It may have triggered an industry debate, but the question looks like it has been answered 鈥撀燼t least until the boffins have a vaccine ready.
Jeremy Lee is premium content editor at 北京赛车pk10