How has your company been impacted by concerns over the coronavirus–or the virus itself if a worker or client has been stricken–in terms of business, your staff, client relationships?
Prior to the ‘official’ national and international shutdown, late February – early March, productions that were awarded and / or in prep were canceled. Projects that were actively bidding ceased. GPN is now silent as are all of our production service providers globally.
Thus far none of the people who work within the GPN Network throughout the world are infected, AMEN to that.
The well-being, health and safety of people is clearly top priority. What measures have you taken to protect your staff and collaborators during this challenging time?
I’ve basically told ALL to stay home and chill. There is nothing more to do than remain calm, be smart and wait out the storm.
How have you adapted your behavior, practices, policies, approaches, ways of thinking and doing business in response to the pandemic?
My business is all international. With countries locked down, quarantines in effect and air travel heavily curtailed there is little for our network to do except to hunker down.
Remote broadcast is possible in a handful of countries yet there has only been talk. No remote work has actually happened at this point.
Were you in the midst of a particular project when the coronavirus outbreak hit and how did you manage to deal with that situation?
Yes, GPN had projects in Argentina, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Estonia, Italy and Russia, in prep and / or in production. All were canceled.
In some cases cancellation fees were possible, in others, not so much.
What’s your biggest takeaway or lessons learned from your experience dealing with coronavirus concerns thus far?
Keep your S___T tightly wired.
No need to panic or stretch your thoughts too far into the future.
What advice, if any, would you offer to your counterparts at other companies/agencies, your clients and collaborators?
It’s simple. Stay at home. Money comes and goes and will come again.
Let’s get healthy first,. The money will take care of itself.
It’s said that strength emerges from adversity. Do you see any silver lining or positive dynamic emerging for our industry/marketplace from this global health crisis?
Strength absolutely comes from adversity, however the ‘kicker’ is, after the diversity / upset has ended will our strength and the knowledge gained remain, or will we all go back to business as usual? Will we have learned anything for the long haul?
