Carpe diem. It may not seem like a particularly relevant motto at this moment in time, but we’re here to tell you why now, during this ‘unprecedented period of uncertainty’, it is more applicable than ever.
On Monday 16th March, the UK began to take COVID-19 seriously. Businesses panicked (and rightly so), the economy dropped, and things were looking bleak. Despite the nation being put on a three-week lockdown just seven days later, the government has promised measures to make life financially easier for businesses and workers and panic levels appear to have stabilised. However, the knee-jerk reaction for many businesses, not just the food and drink sector, has been to concentrate on simply surviving this strange time. We are here to tell our clients, past, present, and future, to be brave and to be bold – we will support you in this and are trying to do it ourselves.
So going back to carpe diem – currently this has an air of blue-sky thinking, but we believe that now is the time to seek out a silver lining, an opportunity. For the food and drink industry in particular, whilst pub and restaurant trade has slowed, people are spending more and reallocating their money to more luxury products in supermarkets and online. Canned and bottled beer sales in America are currently sitting at the same level as 4th July, according to The Dieline, whilst internet searches have increased staggeringly for food with health benefits, as mentioned on Food Navigator.com – and although we aren’t saying this won’t be a difficult time for every business, regardless of industry, we are of the mindset that those who can, should seek out opportunity to look inward and get creative with their business.
And we aren’t all talk – in the last week we have hired two new team members. One, who can dedicate time and energy to our marketing and communications, so that when this storm passes we have a strong plan going forwards, and a new designer who will take pressure off other members of the team and bring yet another dimension to the studio.
Whilst we aren’t suggesting you pile your remaining funds into business development, if you find yourselves with extra time there’s no harm in taking a look at your company and asking yourself, “what can I do to come out of this fighting?”. Whether it’s concentrating on your budgets, looking at your internal communications, having a conversation about a new product that you’ve been wanting to develop or rethinking your branding – carpe diem.
