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Firas Mghames, Feer McQueen’s MD, reflects on the year 2021 and its impact on the agency and team.
This past year has been thrilling – with all of the word’s connotations rightfully attached. Uncertainty has been the only thing that was certain, which is ironic, to say the least. But we had a glimpse of hope with the reinforcement of digital channels. Despite all of the global and local crises, we were able to quickly move to remote working, allowing us to continue business “as usual”, revolving around the digital realm and all its opportunities.
We Run on “e-Lebanon”
What’s more, with this upheaval, more businesses turned to e-commerce – that meant more projects for us – So, thank God, for Digital! We were also able to easily navigate the export of our services to the Gulf and Cyprus, which I am sure is something a lot of local talents – freelance or otherwise – were happy to do as well. This is what I now like to call “e-Lebanon”: the export of creative services to audiences abroad. This really has helped run the creative economy, despite local crises.
The Ripple Effect & Endless Opportunity
Now, after over a year of people being stuck at home, there’s a huge appetite for new businesses. On the one hand, brands are being more aggressive than ever and making up for lost time. On the other hand, a lot of people have used their down time during quarantine to plan and build new businesses, all while being more aggressive in terms of investment and in the willingness to take higher risks. Businesses are rethinking their work, and while rethinking they are tackling a lot of areas worth optimizing, which in turn creates a ripple effect that brings forth endless opportunity for creatives.
“We were able to easily navigate the export of our services to the Gulf and Cyprus.”
The Turnover Tsunami Hits
With these opportunities and digital hype, the biggest challenges we see today are related to talents: retaining and hiring qualified and adaptable creatives. It’s actually a worldwide issue with a Turnover Tsunami like never before, add to it our Lebanese crisis, and it’s quite a lot to take in. With these challenges though, we also foresee some major shifts in the upcoming year. Traditionally, agencies were competing at a creative level – that was the classical case. Then, we moved on to who was more creative and able to provide a better service in terms of speed, time, management, and so on. After that, it was all about who was more disruptive, followed by who was more “360”.
A New Rockstar in Town
Today, the major shift is all about who’s getting results. Clients want numbers. How does that affect us as creatives? Well, it will definitely affect agency decisions. For instance, moving forward, the Creative Director will no longer be the agency’s rockstar. The new leading role could be the head of e-commerce or performance marketers – those are the winners now. With our sights set ahead, we’re predicting it’s going to be another groovy year!
