By: Alexis Cohen, Supervisor, Creative Strategy, rEvolution
As sports marketers, we’re used to the blurred line between entertainment and work. We notice the sideline digital boards, broadcaster biases and end-card hashtags at the end of a spot. Never 100% watching any game or event as a fan anymore, but loving what we do all the same.
A big change in recent weeks isn’t the lack of live sports, though, that is really weird. It’s that, for most of us, the line between our personal and professional lives is no longer existent. Not for sports marketers or anyone else.
Through video chat we’re seeing firsthand how our coworkers are navigating childcare, entertainment and even how they chose to decorate their dining room. Our first questions to people aren’t asking for tactical updates but checking on them personally. And while mindfulness and well-being aren’t new to the scene, they certainly feel more mainstream.
Outside of our own company culture, we’re seeing this shift in production level. An appetite for live streams that translates into lower video and sound quality. By podcasters where the priority is to be relatable rather than experts. And a lack of original content while everyone else tries to breathe and reset.
Empathy is growing, not only among our close circles, but toward the people we don’t know or see. Growing so much that we feel empathetic distress, the heaviness of the world and situation, and work translate it into compassion. The small acts of service, giving back where we can.
To quote Brene Brown, new is hard. It’s vulnerable. Not knowing what you’re doing is uncomfortable. None of that has changed.
But notice the collective acceptance that we don’t have to have it all figured out. The more vulnerable we’ve already been a week into this. The moments of empathy and compassion. And rather than try something new, try what you’ve always wanted to do.
