We’ve all been affected by the lockdown. There is no escape from its reach into how we go about our daily lives and how we work. Thousands of us are working from home, the streets are empty, and the schools are shut. In this series we revisit the original Marketing Minds interviewees to see the impact of Coronavirus on businesses, big and small – as well as the people involved.
Joanne Pearson is Global Customer Insight Director at Jaguar Land Rover and via Zoom call she told the impact of Coronavirus on her world.
1. Where are you spending lockdown and how do you manage your day?
At home with my husband and 2 children, working a pretty normal homeworking day with quite a lot of online meetings and some supervision of my youngest child and his schoolwork.
2. What are the biggest adjustments you’ve had to make in terms of you work, managing your teams/ clients?
Doing everything remotely, managing much reduced budgets, furloughing team members and working with a reduced team size. Thinking even more about wellbeing and how colleagues are feeling and coping.
3. How has your business been affected by and reacted to the crisis?
Dramatically. We are a global car manufacturer so we are significantly affected in all regions around the world. We have had to close plants, offices and retailers, continue to provide a service to key workers, re-purpose our cars, engineering and production capabilities to support medical and care teams around the world with suppliers such as masks and transport, whilst supporting customers and colleagues.
4. Do you expect that your company will return to BAU post lock down or do you think there will be some changes? If so what?
It really depends on how customers and consumers emerge from this crisis and whether there is still as much demand for our cars. We are monitoring whether consumer needs may change for example will customers have an increased demand for their own vehicles to avoid public transport, will they require fewer vehicles in the household if they might work from home more, are their attitudes to sustainable changed such that more customers will want to mKe the switch to electric vehicles or hybrids. The most important thing is that we keep in touch with customers and how their expectations and needs may change as a result of Covid-19.
5. How do you manage to keep yourself motivated?
I keep motivated in the knowledge that people need me, be that customers, to be their voice into the company, or in supporting my team or my family to keep home life as normal and relaxed as possible.
6. Have you been impressed or put off by any particular brands in how they have responded to the crisis?
I’ve been impressed by the supermarkets in how they have adapted their customer experience, supported those at most risk, the banks and building societies who have given mortgage holidays, free business banking and moved their call centres to home working and the companies who have redeployed their engineers and designers to create vital equipment for the NHS.
7. What has been the hardest part and the best parts about lockdown?
The hardest part of lockdown has not being able to swim or play tennis on a proper court or netball. The best things have been not having to commute, spending more time with my family, seeing my children’s schoolwork and having time to read a book.
8. There has been talk of massive changes to how we live our lives and how we work due to the lessons learnt from the Coronavirus – do you think this is true?
I think people have learnt a lot about themselves and what they value and don’t value through this crisis and what the impact of it is on the world that is positive and negative. I think that there are some positive intentions for change but that more consumers will default to the world as we knew it and that although there will be changes such as more homeworking, more virtual socialising, less business travel etc the change will be small.
9. What one thing do you hope will continue post lock down?
More homeworking so that I can use the reduced commuting time to spend more time with my family.
10. Have you learnt anything about yourself during lock down that you didn’t know before?
Yes, I really enjoy spending time at home and don’t need to fill my diary with so much to be fulfilled!
How is Lockdown affecting the lives of leaders in different businesses? Running teams across multiple markets within the EU Marco already had his hands full as Spotify’s Head of Sales for Europe. In this series of the Marketing Minds he talks to me about how Spotify has had to adapt to the New Normal during…
Any business that takes its marketing seriously needs to create an effective marketing funnel. You know… a strategy that involves seeking out new potential clients and then moving those leads through the various stages of their buyer’s journey, with a proportion dropping off, until a sale is made. It’s been a proven approach that’s worked…
Winning at audience engagement. You learn the marketing world over that by being relevant, having a good reach and resonating with your audience is the winning combination to gaining audience engagement. When advertising is relevant and timely it can create a special connection with its audience – but when it also captures the buzz of…
Introduction In the B2B marketing world where success is dependent on building long-term relationships, companies face the decision of choosing between two powerhouse strategies: Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and lead generation. The decision on which strategy to deploy is profound, influencing not only how businesses engage their audience but also the manner in which they need…
When I started the Marketing Minds series, I reached out to people that I knew who inspire me, hoping that through their words and wisdom I could engage with a wider audience. So, you can imagine my delight when Mike Berland got in in touch and wanted to be part of the lockdown series. CEO and Founder of Decode-M, Mike…
There’s no doubt that the last year’s events and pandemic have taken a huge toll on all of us, mentally, financially, and economically, however there are plenty of lessons from lockdown learnt that will allow us to improve ways of working, our lifestyles and our personal wellbeing going forward. While Covid-19 is still very much…
How do you work out what to spend your marketing budget on and how to split your marketing budget? The clock is ticking and the board is already impatiently waiting to see results. Plus they have their own ideas about what marketing activity should be done this year. What will it be this year? The…
Discussing creativity in Lockdown and how it is still possible to collaborate and find inspiration when your usual channels have been closed down with Cordell Burke, Creative Managing Partner at UP There Everywhere, the world’s first full-service, global, cloud-based agency. Cordell has been an inspiration to me since we met many years ago when I…
Marketing is simple! – Know your customer, understand your market and how your product / service fits within it and then apply the basics – Deliver the right message to the right person at the right time in the right place – sounds easy right? But to be able to do this you need to have…
Increased consumer expectations, global connectivity, digitisation, and data are transforming how businesses compete and operate. Meeting these evolving needs is becoming increasingly challenging for any single business to achieve alone. However, the evolving landscape of technology and connectivity enables businesses to collaborate and tackle complex operational and market challenges together. Strategic collaboration, promoted through partner…
