Hasta La Ideas

Aside from the far reaching health implications of coronavirus, one of the biggest impacts the ongoing pandemic is having is on our finances. Over the past few weeks, there have been countless headlines about big businesses rushing to make redundancies or being forced into adminstration, while others are relying heavily on the UK government’s recently announced furlough scheme, and almost one million of us have turned to universal credit out of desperation.

In the creative industries, small businesses have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. The government has stepped in with a number of support measures, specifically its Small Business Rate Relief scheme, which allows grants of up to £10,000, while companies with a rateable value of between £15,000 and £51,000 can also apply for further grants up to £25,000 to deal with business expenses.

As with most government backed measures, however, financial loans and grants will only get you so far. In the context of the pandemic, we’ve seen many examples of individuals helping out in their communities, but this community spirit has also been extended to small businesses, many of whom previously coexisted with or even competed against each other. One such community has found its home in Amsterdam’s creative sector, where a group of half a dozen or so businesses, ranging from cultural PR agency Hooton to tech director Tobin Nageotte, have formed an unofficial support network to help get each other through the other side.

Adidas Terrex campaign video by Gus&Joe

“It’s all based on personal connections first rather than business connections, so it’s more like one day you just realise that all these people that you hang out with [are in a similar situation],” says Joe Utter, one half of freelance creative director duo Gus&Joe, who have been based in Amsterdam for seven years. Over the last couple of years in particular, the ad team have relied on this network of likeminded businesses to collaborate on various projects, in what Gus Hudstrom describes as a “loose construction of an agency”.

“I think the handy thing with this is that normally, even if you’re a bigger agency you need to hire freelancers to come and help you with certain skills. When we have an idea and we want to take it to a client, then we can be open about the fact that we’re not a big company but a cluster … so you get a bit of clout, you become bigger together, which is very handy,” Utter adds.

For Simon Hatter, founder of experience agency Rumour Has It, the support network was fundamental when he was made redundant after to moving to Amsterdam in 2017, and he decided to go it alone instead. “I ran businesses in London but doing it here in a different city is kind of terrifying to be honest, so just being able to check things with people is really great. Sometimes you have those moments where you are like ‘why the hell am I doing this? This is crazy’, and they are able to talk you from the edge and say, ‘hang on, there is a reason why you did it, go back to the initial reason’,” he says.

“On a personal level as well, it’s grown my friendship circle, and I think it’s nice to know that there are other people in the same boat as you. Running your business on your own is pretty siloed, it can be pretty lonely, and I think it’s nice to know you can pick up the phone and just be like ‘I’m having a wobble today, I just need to have a chat with you’,” Hatter adds.

The close working and personal relationships of the individual within the group have resulted in a number of collaborative projects over the years, while the businesses share everything from the same accountant to intel on what the brands they work with are talking about, and they even teamed up on a joint Christmas party last year.

Since the pandemic struck with full force last month, all of the businesses in the network have felt its effects in one way or another. “Day to day, we are pretty much brakes on. We’re in brand experience, we’re in connecting with audiences in very public spaces, and we’re not doing that right now,” says Hatter.

Having a support network is almost like having a partner or having a relationship, giving and taking throughout the bad times and the good times

The agency’s Olympics project for Nike has been put on hold now that the event has been pushed to 2021, and Hatter made the difficult decision to let go of its pool of 15 freelancers to be able to properly support its five full-time staff. Meanwhile, Gus&Joe have had a number of projects cancelled or postponed indefinitely, although they’ve also managed to pick up a couple of extra pieces of work in the meantime.

In uncertain times like these, their unofficial support network has proven to be more vital than ever, whether it’s working out what the latest government measures actually mean, or keeping their ear to the ground for any potential work that they can push in one another’s directions. Having worked as a 24-hour freelance team for a few years when Utter lived in Melbourne and Hudstrom was in Amsterdam, the duo are well versed in the nuances of remote working, and have been able to share advice with some of the other members of the group who are struggling to adapt.

They’re also viewing the pandemic as the perfect opportunity to pick up that long lost personal project, and make use of other members’ areas of expertise while everyone has got a big more time on their hands. “As a small business, if you have work for a client you almost always focus 110% on that, and those other ideas that you want to realise can end up in a Google Doc while you end up on the next client deadline. Now is the time to do those projects, and that’s probably when this little network will be very handy,” says Utter.

Alongside the practical stuff, the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of having a shoulder to lean on during difficult times. “It’s been the most important thing I think,” says Hatter. “I was reading the other day that it’s like going through mourning, and I very much feel like I’ve been going through mourning. [Having the network] is almost like having a partner or having a relationship, giving and taking throughout the bad times and the good times. If you’re having a bad moment it’s also nice to see that other agencies are still going, so it gives you that momentum back to be like, ‘they can carry on, I’m going to carry on as well’.”

For other small creative businesses mourning life before Covid-19, Hatter adds, the value of this kind of support is immeasurable. “It’s an emotional support that the government can’t give you, because I think we’re just a number really when it comes down to it. The support of your specific industry, you don’t get that from anyone else other than people who are in the same situation as you. You know they’ve either been through it themselves, or they are going to go through it, so they can take stock of what you are saying and be like ‘ok, now I know how to deal with this’.”

gusandjoe.com; rumourhasit.com

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