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Lebanon has had very difficult years, following the Beirut port blast, the many lockdowns and an economic crisis that keeps worsening. Hana Kaddaha Khatib, Managing Director, GroupM Lebanon, shares how the agency and team have managed to thrive throughout such a tumultuous 2021 year.
2021 was the year of courage, hope, and skills upgrades. We were fixated on overcoming adversity by finding this inner strength.
The team and I decided to detach from the real world of hardship we live in and truly focused on the opportunities such tough times could bring us. This is not poetry, but rather a self-protection and a coping mechanism that we’ve adopted in 2021 and worked miracles for us at GroupM Lebanon.
We have decided not to waste our coffee breaks whining about the situation. We all agreed that repeating the prices of bread and rice for the 100th time won’t change them! So, our focus was on the areas we could control and change: how to protect our existing clients and encourage them to be active again? How to attract new ones? What new skills we could acquire to make us the right partners for our clients during such volatile times?
Throughout we were working as one team, one heart with multiple brains aiming towards achieving that end goal. Certainty was eventually achieved by supporting each other staying the course and reminding ourselves of the end goal on daily basis.
Like all agencies and businesses operating in Lebanon, we were threatened; but I believe doing that saved us and turned us into a magnet for positivity.
The triple crises our country is witnessing, made services like e-commerce, lead generation communication, and ROI, key to offer. Upgrading our skills in these areas helped us retain and grow our existing client’s businesses and attract new ones.
But above all, showing our clients a true partnership spirit, going above and beyond to support them during such times, paid back.
In summary, we changed all the rules of the game where focus, team playing, flexibility across all fronts: staff, clients and vendors, and true passion ruled.
PUBLISHED FIRST IN ARABAD PRINT EDITION OF DEC/JAN 2022
