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Our co-founder, Andrew Healy, recently chatted with Matt Halloran of the Top Advisor Marketing podcast, where they talked about:

– How COVID-19 forced RIAs to adapt – and in many cases, adopt for the first time – their digital marketing approach

– How it changed the client experience overnight and how advisors can use technology to their advantage

– And why fundamental aspects of advice-giving was able to shine during the dark early days of the pandemic

– And more!

The episode is available here and you can check out the full list of Top Advisor Marketing podcasts at https://topadvisorm.blubrry.net/. 

Let us know what you think in the comments. 

Nathalie Burdet has worked through the crises of our past while helping global firms manage and even build up their brands from scratch. Today, she is the Chief Marketing Officer of Kantar in London, where she is once again helping a global brand efficiently pivot and support clients in new ways. We caught up with her to talk abut how these unprecedented times differ from huge global and economic events of the past, as well as how the marketing industry has had to shift (for the better!) to have a place in the future of business too. 

You’ve been a professional long enough to witness major events that affected the way we live and work. How has  this pandemic been at all familiar and what, perhaps not so obviously, is different from crises behind us?

Indeed, these are unprecedented times and as I reflect on this current crisis, nothing much felt or has been feeling familiar. I remember Friday, March 20th, literally hours before lockdown in London when the city started to become a ghost town and seeing restaurants, bars, and shops closing,the supermarket raided and a surreal feeling as if the end of the world settling in.

In the previous crisis in ‘08, there was a heightened sense that being in the office was crucial, with days full of meetings on how to address the impact, etc. This created a palpable sense of shared stress. In the current COVID crisis with the initial lockdown, the stress is of a different type and more individual. It has been more of a struggle to find the right work/life balance and to create a sense of team. 

Interestingly, with all of us working from home at once globally, which has never happened before, we are making greater efforts to communicate which has meant new ways of working, more frequent contact with the teams (on a weekly basis and with no agenda) with the greater emphasis on ensuring everyone feels supported and are coping. I believe that building and showing trust in these extraordinary circumstances will have long-term implications for individual teams – so by showing trust now – you build a high-trust workplace for the future.

If there was one thing I could say has felt familiar is the constant struggle to find the right life/work balance which, as I mentioned, over the last 10 weeks or so has been even harder than usual with the always on virtual workplace. I encourage my team to take regular breaks during the day as well as holidays stressing to them that these are key to maintain good mental health. Their wellbeing is important to me and I believe that leading by example not by just talking about it makes a difference.

Have you taken on any new hobbies or revisited old ones? What sorts of extra-curricular activities or routines have you incorporated into your life?  

I love running, so took the opportunity like half the country it seems, to do an early morning run. I also tried to take up online yoga and rediscovered my love for baking. Thank god for the running!  Probably most satisfying is that I have been able to read more which has been something I have wanted to do for some time. Lastly, I am finding that I am actually having more quality conversation with friends and family realizing how truly precious these relationships are. It just feels easier to have a better life balance.   

As the CMO of an international business with clients all over the world, what are the hurdles for marketing the business in the new normal?

For marketing, now more than ever is the time to show our value as a function and as a strategic partner to the business. We have been more than ever externally focused to support our clients and work incredibly closely with the sales team to ensure they have the right, pertinent material to help them engage with their clients and have meaningful conversations.

It has been about understanding our clients, how COVID 19 is impacting their business and industry. This unique crisis has been a catalyst to accelerate our evolution as an organization to focus more on anticipating the needs of our clients, based on changing consumer behaviors.

Is Kantar doing anything differently with the data to market the business now to different industries?

Kantar’s mission is to help our clients understand people and inspire growth. At the very beginning of the pandemic to present, we have been providing with data and insights on a weekly basis that would help them understand people and the impact of the pandemic on brands, advertising and media, consumers and retail, society and health. We are also helping them to plan for recovery post-COVID. In fact, we are using our own data and understanding of the pandemic impact on the industry to inform our own marketing and go-to-market strategy.

What advice would you give a group of young marketers entering the workforce for the first time, or to young professionals who haven’t seen a real global challenge like this one?

The world of marketing was already changing but the pandemic has accelerated the pace and has highlighted that digital marketing is the future. My advice to young professionals would be to:

–  Observe and learn from this uncharted territory: look at how leadership teams are managing the crisis, what companies are doing not just from a marketing point of view but across the board to answer business challenges COVID is posing, and learn what is working/not working.

–  Develop/master your digital skills. This may be understanding the different channels, how to target clients, personalize messaging, how to run digital campaigns to generate leads, or how to nurture leads.

–  Develop your commercial and analytics skills. Being digitally savvy, understanding the data and being able to analyse it to help inform future campaigns as well as being able to showcase ROI will set you up well for the future.

–    Finally, learn to have a good work life balance and most importantly, learn to be resilient and flexible – these traits will help you be more productive, happy and successful throughout your entire career as well as stay sane!

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As the W’s editor Sara Moonves said, reported by Jacob Bernstein with the New York Times on W Media, ‘We did it all over zoom.’ ‘None of us even met in person.

Ditto, Sara! In June, I joined the Water & Wall team and kicked off my new role virtually. My first interview, first day, and first new business pitch with my new New York City-based colleagues were done  from my small South Carolina hometown. My perfected handshake and first day outfit were thrown out the window. Instead, I focused on my opening Slack message.

The initial plan was that I’d spend my first month working from home and then when the agency headquarters reopened, I’d join my new colleagues in person. Being in the same workspace would allow us to form a more personal connection. Here we are, three months later, and the pandemic hasn’t let that happen. Pre-COVID, I’d know the go-to office music and the typical Friday afternoon chatter, and my coworkers would know a thing or two about me. Like how I write most ideas on paper first or how I have soup for lunch no matter if its 19 or 90 degrees outside.

So how do we shift our work “firsts” expectations to fit the times?  

Ask, ask, and explain

A traditional first day suggestion, ask any and all questions. However, many questions you’d think you’d ask when you’re starting a new job, double it. A key part of learning is that you have to self advocate. Be thorough and follow up with whomever you’re asking to be sure they have as much detail as they need to get you what you need. Take nothing for granted when your interactions with a new colleague are mostly text-based. What’s unclear to you, may be clear to someone else and vice versa.

New BTF

Maybe this is more of a shoutout to a new colleague than it is a pro tip, but I’ve now learned that it’s important to have that “best tech friend.” I’d handcraft our Chief Technology Officer a friendship bracelet if it would even amount to how helpful he has been during my onboarding. Thank you, Conrad.

Schedule meetings

When they can’t see you at your desk or you can’t bump into each other grabbing coffee, there officially isn’t any room to be reserved or timid as the newest member of the group. Be assertive and schedule meetings with your co-workers even if it’s just to get to know each other. Book ad hoc or recurring check-ins with your teammates to chat all things work. Discuss how you can best support your team and succeed with client work or projects assigned to you. Pro tip: bring ideas to your calls.

Accept the status quo

But only for things beyond your control. There’s comfort in blaming a mistake or weakness on starting remotely, but is that beneficial to your overall success? Nope. Instead, find solace in the fact that everyone is living this same new 9-to-5 reality.

What’s your jam?

On the 9-to-5 note – integrate your typical work preferences into your new position. If you’re like me, you listen to Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 as you drink your morning coffee each day. If someone is asking your preference on how you like to receive feedback, when you’d like a meeting, or phone vs. Zoom, share your thoughts! Remember, if you’re being asked it’s because your preferences are valued.

To note, my boss isn’t out to get me, I just really love Dolly’s classic.

Rejoice remotely

I’m extremely fortunate to have started a new job during this global pandemic and to do so safely from my home. Remember to be thankful for the work you get to do each day. Starting a new position before meeting the company’s leadership team or any of your coworkers takes a leap of faith for everyone involved. Perhaps the trick was that we got on the same page before we were in the same room.

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The financial services space is no stranger to economic crises and mass uncertainty. In just the last quarter century, they’ve experienced—and in some cases, caused—the 2008 financial crisis, the dot-com bubble, the 9/11 attacks, financial crises in Asia and Argentina and Black Monday. Marketers and communications professionals can’t always see into the future, but the initial dust from COVID-19 has settled enough for a few takeaways to emerge.

Water & Wall’s Andrew Healy reviews these takeaways in O’Dwyer’s August Issue. Read his thoughts in full here. 

Andrew is a key reason why Water & Wall has become such an extraordinary place to do business and we’re delighted that the industry has taken notice. 

We’d love it if you connected with him on LinkedIn and the agency LinkedIn for some shop talk. 

In the meantime, check out what PRWeek had to say about our co-founder here. 

Recently, one of our client CEOs had a video call with a Barron’s editor. Now, the on-camera conversation is nothing new in modern earned media engagement. In fact, most of our clients have become so adept at the live or taped on-camera interview that when they had to transition to the at-home format, it’s as if they were trained broadcasters themselves. Applause! However, this interview example is different as it could’ve been done by phone. Yet, in this particular case, in these strangest of times, there was a need for the video interview and it goes well beyond just being seen.

Goodbye Media Tours

At the start of NYC shelter-in-place, we thought about what would change about our communications and marketing work. One of the first things that came to mind was the age-old, get-to-know-you media tactic that yields as many meaningful relationships and earned coverage as it does logistical headaches: the media tour. The media tour is the ideal activity for an expert source to develop the relationships with journalists who cover the goings on in their business. It’s also a smart and far more personal way to promote good news.

The media tour is also an opportunity for said sources to establish trust with the journalist who is likely among just a handful of people who produces content for the audience, or customer, that matters most to the source. It’s a press junket or conference that acts more like a one-on-one campaign roadshow. In the best of circumstances, a day of handshakes, excess caffeine and lunches with poor acoustics in New York City restaurants stimulates on-the-record conversations that stoke near- and long-term ideas that lead to compelling coverage for a brand.

Three months ago, we wouldn’t have questioned any of that and now the model is inherently flawed. Who in the next 12-18 months (and likely much longer) would go through what it takes to get to and experience a densely populated city for business meetings? This has to mean the death of the media tour, right? Not exactly.

Long Live Media Tours

This is where we get to what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called the “reimagining” phase of the workplace and the media tour reimagined could still happen. The obviousness of its future reliant of video interviews aside, here is what the comms pro and the expert source need to consider when doing remote media tours, which are soon to be the thing.

Human Connection Matters More Than Ever

There’s something to be said about that interpersonal connection that happens when people sit around the same table and talk sans tech. If a journalist is willing to reserve the time to talk to a source on camera, something that in most cases could be achieved by a phone call, make sure there’s time for informal conversation whether it’s about the books behind someone, or the bad lighting or what hobbies they developed during shelter-in-place.

Sharing Is, Well – As much as it is a conversation, think of the video interview more as a presentation. Cue the screen share. What information, as a source, are you bringing to the interview and how can you show what’s in front of you to illustrate support of a thesis to a journalist. In financial services that’s often achieved with tables and charts. We used to bring these to meetings with limitations and now there are no limits to what you can share. (Unless compliance says otherwise, of course.)

You’re An Instant Omni-Channel Star – In this way, a video can be no different than a recorded / taped broadcast segment. A journalist has the option to record a full on-camera meeting if the expert source approves the recording. That recording, depending on the outlet, could be repurposed as media coverage later on any number of channels such as LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter. As always, the interview terms should be discussed in advance.

Off the Record is Now More Sensitive – Acknowledging that forthcoming info is off the record or on background often moves with the flow of an in-person conversation. Now, as in phone calls, terms of use must be made explicitly clear. For now, with the video tools available and in use, we wouldn’t recommend sharing any insight that you wouldn’t want to see broadcast. Oh, and always remember to go back on the record.

Every Interview Could Be as Colorful as a Feature Story – You’ve read the New York Times or Rolling Stone magazine profiles. There are few places in print journalism more conducive to the color coordination of words. Every celebrity interview references, sometimes with picture perfect detail, the setting of the reporter – movie star conversation. That ancillary detail lends itself to the anecdotal style of those types of articles. We’re not accustomed to that detail in financial services and yet we’ve already had clients share and have published seemingly insignificant information about their shelter-in-place surroundings or their at-home workout routine.

None of this is the forever change as we see it and there will be plenty of back-and-forth in the usual modes of communication. For a time, this is how we have to think as we adapt in this particular case, in these strangest of times.