Maintaining production continuity during COVID-19
As the world continues to navigate the far-reaching consequences of COVID-19 the priority is clearly to keep everyone safe, but we also need to continue to work and keep our businesses moving forward. One area that all marketers need to consider is how to continue to produce work, while travel and movement restrictions are in place and most staff are working remotely. We have identified 10 key areas for consideration during this period, and beyond.
Know where your assets are stored
With many countries and offices locked down, assets need to be stored in the cloud and not stuck on servers in offices with limited access. You need access to your work at all times, even when it is with a partner or vendor.
Invest in strong partners
Secure your supply chain and consolidate if necessary. Ensure access to key data and assets to mitigate against the consequences of possible business failure. Strong partners have good resilience and can deliver business continuity. Doing production work remotely needs strong infrastructure and investment in smart technology.
Global connectivity
It is crucial to stay connected across office, cities, countries and regions. The ability to move your work around the world removes a single point of failure. On-site facilities cannot function in the current environment, so having access to scaled offsite and offshore capabilities is essential.
Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t
Your customers are still there, and you still need to communicate with them. There is no need to stop projects moving forward, they might just need to take a different direction. Do you need a location shoot? Can you capture and produce content in different ways?
Use your time wisely
Think about your plan for the year. What can still be produced without the need for shooting? What projects can be brought forward so that there isn’t a year of activity crammed into 6 months of time? Think about starting pre-production even if you have to delay going on-location. When restrictions are lifted, you should be ready to go.
Re-use and re-purpose
Use AI search and tagging to find assets that are relevant and quickly adapt them to be published across all media channels. There will be more work ‘ready to go’ than you realise.
Challenge your creative partners
It’s not about compromise, it’s about reacting to what is possible, and what can be done using smart production techniques. Work which chimes with the COVID considerations and sensibilities is more likely to be possible to make.
Embrace technology
The effectiveness of our communication will be driven by technology. Be prepared to approve in the cloud, to engage through workflow tools and experience the benefits of having access to information in one place. There will be absence through sickness, so don’t lock projects in individual mailboxes.
Innovate
Think virtual sets, synthesised talent, remote editing, remote grading and dynamic video. Think craft and technology working in-sync to produce beautiful work without compromise, but limitless possibility.
React to the facts
Every day the situation will change. Every week we learn more and operate in new circumstances. Be agile and prepare to quickly move work and change your approach.
‘Crisis Production’ is ‘Sustainable Production’ we will see profound and lasting behavioural changes after the end of the lockdown period. Resilience and robustness should be incorporated into your production approach and supply chain. When things start to return to normal, climate change will again become a primary consideration driven by innovation, cloud-technology, remote attendance and a move away from location shoots. We need to learn from this crisis and make the way we work better for all of our futures.