Fast decisions for long-term gains

Don’t let a good crisis go to waste.

Jack Watts, CEO of Bastion Collective, the largest Australian independent agency network, had done a lot of work on the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix up to March this year.

“We were doing a major Ferrari activation and a Robbie Williams concert there that I've personally worked on for a couple of years,” he says.

“I went into a meeting at 7.30am on the Friday (March 13) with a big day planned. I came out of that at 8.35am and the world had changed.”

The COVID-19 crisis had arrived. The grand prix was called off, and the fallout for the rest of the economy came quickly.

Bastion has a strong collection of major accounts including Microsoft, KIA, AMP, Customer Service NSW, Deakin University, L'Oreal and Australia Post.

“I was on the phone all day to our biggest clients, trying to ascertain how their businesses are, how we could help,” says Watts.

His wife and daughter were meant to come from Sydney to Melbourne for the Robbie Williams concert on the Saturday. That was now off.

Watts went back to his in-laws’ house, packed and returned to Sydney on the last flight out of Melbourne.

“It was just such a weird feeling,” he says. “During that weekend, we mapped out every scenario we possibly could in the business with my brother and the old man who are partners in the business with me.

“And by Tuesday we had a complete plan of what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. A full plan that we've continued to monitor every hour since. We engaged our staff and clients on that journey and they have all bought into it.”

The first few days of COVID-19 were terrifying.

“You build a business over 10 years and grow fast and you've put your heart and soul into it,” he says. “In the early days, where there was so much unknown, we didn’t know how it was going to play out.”

Watts spoke to Harold Mitchell, the father of media planning and something of a mentor to him, in that first week.

He asked: “You ran your business through some big shifts and major recessions — tell me your experience, what can I learn?”

Mitchell replied: “Listen, son, the three moments my business got fundamentally better were the ’87 stock crash, the tech bubble burst combined with the September 11 attacks in 2001, and the GFC.”