A Year Into the Pandemic, Marketers Reflect on the Bright Spots of Remote Work

When offices closed down last March, the initial novelty of wearing sweatpants to meetings and avoiding long commutes to work wore off quickly for some. But even among the marketers that are dying to get back to desks that don’t double as kitchen tables, the pandemic has offered a few silver linings. In an Adweek survey that measured the impact of Covid-19 on industry professionals, participants were asked about their biggest win when handling how life has changed. Here are a few highlights to celebrate. Meghann Craig, vp, marketing at Empower The biggest win was helping to foster a tight-knit culture across 200+ mini office spaces. It was a huge challenge that forced us to be even more creative. Investing time and resources into creating experiences that make people laugh, feel inspired and moved pays off. Rebecca Lynch, director of communications, EP+Co Being able to admit defeat is no small feat, for me especially. Now I'm able to look at the landscape of my daily life and prioritize where I need to be 100% and where it's OK to not be, because I can't be all the time. I've learned that this doesn't mean you're failing, it means you're learning to adapt to the many things life throws at you, and that juggling act sometimes results in dropping those balls. Katie Keating, co-founder and co-CCO, Fancy I realized how short life really is. And how the most important thing is just to go for it. Even if you're nervous, or you've never done it before, or you're not sure it will work out or be well received, do it anyway. It's up to me to live the life I want, do the work I'm proud of, surround myself with the people I love. I lost my brother to Covid, so this disease is more than real to me. Sounds trite, but cherish every minute and be bold enough to live, work, and play with gusto and guts. The biggest win through all this change for me was spending more quality time with family and being able to fold laundry during meetings.Romeo Cervas, cd, RPA Advertising Matthew Baier, CMO, Contentstack The previously oh-so-embarrassing interruption by a toddler has become quite normalized these days and such moments have become helpful reminders that the person sitting across the (virtual) desk is only human and likely trying to juggle their life just like everybody else. The tolerance and understanding for life “spilling over” into work is something that I hope we can continue to hold on to as an industry and as a society. Navdeep Saini, co-founder and CEO, DistroScale, parent company to DistroTV The time back that we would have spent traveling or commuting to an office has afforded many of our employees, myself included, the opportunity to devote more time to passion projects and to life outside of work. Trish Rexroth, executive creative director, On Board Experiential The biggest win has been to unapologetically put health and safety first. This has meant staying home, canceling holiday traditions, and focusing on nourishing my mind, body and spirit. Professionally, it's meant checking in with others often, bonding through workout challenges and sharing recipes and thoughtfully considering every person as an individual as we look forward to reentering our workplaces and event sites. Michelle Miller, director of people and culture, Madwell One of our biggest wins as a leadership team was making the call to go remote reasonably quickly and with very little information. Having seen that decisiveness in action in such a heightened moment, I take that with me and look for opportunities to bring that into our next decision-making. I've started to cook more and enjoy the loveliness of a nice night at home. As a New Yorker, I thought I'd never say that…Stephanie Wiseman vp, business development at YML Bill Durrant, CEO, Exverus Media Hiring. We now have several employees—who are thriving—that we have never met in person and don't live near an Exverus office! This required retooling our onboarding process and having faith that it would work. It still blows me away when I think about how several of our top employees have never met their teams or clients in person. Steffen Schebesta, CEO, Sendinblue I had never seen a kid on a Zoom call before the pandemic. Now, I know my co-workers’ kids’ names and enjoy talking to them. We’re making fun of each other’s haircuts, we wear comfortable clothes instead of button-up shirts and leather shoes, and we got to know each other in a different, very personal way. Tyler Sweeney, senior manager, digital strategy, RPA My biggest win was planning and executing an at home proposal. Living with my then boyfriend, it became tricky to plan a moment for us since we are around each other 24/7. With a few stolen moments I was able to email our local Pizza Hut to deliver a pizza with "Will you be my husband?" on it. And now we are engaged! https://www.tiktok.com/@tksween/video/6856130330827525381?sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6891695251461293573&is_from_webapp=v2&is_copy_url=0 Trey Harness, president and chief client officer/partner, Curiosity For our holiday party, we brought in celebrity Cameo appearances, shared prizes from senior leadership and gave awards to employees who really rocked it in 2020. When I looked around the Zoom screen, I recognized something special. This staff is more than a team. It's a family. Jonathan Harrop, senior director of global marketing and communications at AdColony Maintaining a healthy weight placed a much higher emphasis on diet, rather than “burning off lunch.” Taking serious stock of what I'm eating and how hydrated I am led to a great healthy year overall—so good that I’m not longer in group 1b for the vaccine. You win some, you lose some. My turn will come.