Do you know the candidate words to be the word of the year 2020 of the Urgent Spanish Foundation?
Coronavirus, resilience, confinement, pandemic are candidates (the winner is chosen today).
And for the Merriam-Webster dictionary the word of the year in English is “pandemic” (pandemic).
Did you know that etymologically it comes from Greek? The root is “pan” which means “everything” and “demos” which means “people”.
After March 11, when the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, everything changed. You changed.
The forms, the contents, the relationships, the contexts, the rhythms changed. Ergo, the perception of brands – political, personal, business, institutional, ideological – changed.
What opportunities does 2021 bring?
The previous article listed 10 ideas inspired by both analysis of Trendwatching.com, Accenture, and Forum for the Future. Now, I include ideas from the play 29 habits that changed our livesby Iván Sierra.
I share 11 new ideas for companies and brands.
11. “Shopping will never be the same again” because “our conception of the act of going out to buy has changed.”
12. Previous consumption maps turned into anecdotes. Brands must build new maps as they explore new consumer territories.
13. Companies must rethink their position on the reciprocal employee / employer contract and reimagine the experience of their collaborators.
14. Contents of formal education and continuing education should focus on capacities and abilities for asynchronous polymaths.
15. Brands must assume a role in educational and cultural processes.
16. Online shopping forces brands to rethink how to manage the consumer experience in their own home.
17. Empathy. Really.
18. As longevity increases, brands must help people feel relevant.
19. Brands must be involved in the solution of systemic inequity – gender, economic, justice, educational or environmental.
20. Brands must accept and incorporate into their marketing practices the new norms –gender, health, educational, media, cultural, social–.
21. Positive mindset for 2021. It’s key.
You cannot control local or global threats. You cannot choose how some events will unfold. But you control how you respond to those threats.
You – your company, your brands – decide whether to react to threats or respond to opportunities.
And your response must be transformative, collaborative, hopeful, creative, and inspiring.
Let’s go to 2021! (OR)
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