Has your company changed since March 2020?

This is an extract from a McKinsey article I was reading last week and it got me thinking about how Wild Stag has changed in the past 12 months.

Since Covid 19 emerged, “Leaders have seen that their companies have been able to operate at an unimaginable pace and with so much resilience and creativity. Now they’re asking, ‘How do we hardwire these behaviours into the organisation so that we are stronger in the years ahead?”

Mary Meaney, a senior partner at McKinsey

Our latest project has been a case in point. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve been working on an exciting project. We won the pitch to create a film for a City of Culture pre-launch bid.

We had prepared our own bid back in 2020 and to our delight were chosen

However, the new lockdown restrictions have remained in place, making the task of showcasing a vibrant and bustling city almost impossible . It was certainly going to be a challenge to come up with a solution. We were also aware that some of our competitors had shot footage in 2019 when people used to go out? Remember that? How were we going to be able to replicate that?

On the recce day we realised our concept was now beginning to look somewhat flaky

Therefore it called for what can only be termed, ‘an out of the box’ solution. Although the streets were empty of activity, what we hadn’t anticipated at that moment was how the vibrancy we were after, was actually going to emerge organically. This dynamism came from the people talking to camera from different places across the area. Interestingly, the location itself did less of the talking in this specific instance.

We knew that a creative solution to the problem was essential

Therefore we decided to find people from the local community that could help us tell the visual story. We studied Instagram feeds and spoke to artists, fashion designers and asked the council to use some of their own stock footage. We even chatted to YouTubers who were delighted to help us out. We utilised drone footage from ordinary folk that had taken out a drone for fun. Everyone was surprised but pleased that we had asked to use their stuff. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a film about your place and help secure City of Culture status?

Suddenly the piece took on a life of its own

Seeing as we had won the pitch over local film makers, we had been under additional pressure of not really knowing the location too well. The place is not a city itself, but comprised of different areas and is, in fact, vast. We drove around for miles finding spots but we needed to use our time wisely while trying to find the less obvious but attractive places.

Of course, we were also compromised in even more ways

For example, the number of indoor shots we could take as a consequence of Covid was compromised. We also used a skeleton crew for both Covid and budgetary considerations. When we filmed vox pops we had to stand well away from people’s doorsteps and use a boom mic with a 3-metre-long pole. 

I guess the point of telling this story is how we learned so much

There were some unintentional spill-overs from the whole experience. Certainly, this particular project tested us and therefore we needed to be extra creative, resilient and agile in our approach to everything. Of course, we are always continuously learning but I shall certainly take some of these lessons on to future projects. Surprisingly, perhaps, in terms of Covid, even though we take it extremely seriously on every level, it hasn’t really compromised us as much as I had initially feared. Yes, it's given us challenges that we’ve had to overcome and demonstrates that actually we are more flexible than we had imagined and we created a better film because of it.

Our agility has been another significant aspect of the whole team

We have relied on skeleton crew, for obvious reasons but it does focus the mind on set. It’s quite a challenge doing everything with a very small team. On a big film set there is a separate person for each separate job, and everything is defined. On a Hollywood set there would be crowds, but in this project we were responsible for every shot set up, focus; the production, direction, editing and so on. You are all things to all people. You are also, part-time accountant and we have to handle tight budgets while creating the best possible product.

Who could have predicted the journey many businesses have undertaken since March 2020? Yes, there will be some significant losses but hopefully, for those that survive they will be fitter, leaner and more agile. What do you think?