One year into the pandemic, 4 ways work will remain changed for marketers and agency execs

Over the last year, the advertising business has had to adapt to new norms and ways of working. The question now is what changes remain going forward.

To get a sense of the shifts that will be the new normal long after mass vaccination, senior marketing editor Kristina Monllos spoke to marketing leaders and agency execs to hear what they believe will continue.

In this week's Marketing Briefing, available exclusively to Digiday+ members, Monllos shared four key takeaways from those conversations. Get a taste below and subscribe to Digiday+ for the full analysis of what's to come for marketers this year.

Marketing Briefing: One year into the pandemic, 4 ways work will remain changed for marketers and agency execs

By Kristina Monllos

Flexibility will continue to be a must

Throughout 2020, advertisers and agency execs pointed to the need for more flexibility in ad deals, particularly when it comes to TV ad deals. That push for flexibility isn’t likely to go away despite hope for a return to some sense of normalcy as the vaccine rollout ramps up.

“With upfronts, I know a big part of the conversation will be the agility and flexibility of those buys,” said Haley Paas, evp of strategy at Carat U.S., adding that flexibility will be key this year as consumer behavior could change dramatically as vaccinations increase. “It’s a much more strategic conversation [with clients] about how you want to show up when people are behaving differently.”