We have decided to add a new content feature segment here at Prestige called 'Phoenix from the Flames'. Now, Phoenix from the Flames can have several meanings depending on your age and what you have watched or read in the past. For some devoted 1990’s fans of David Baddiel and Frank Skinner's Fantasy Football League, it may remind you of their regular feature ‘Phoenix from the Flames’! This is where Dave and Frank recreated famous moments from footballing history, usually with a retired footballer and a good dose of comedic input from Dave and Frank. For Harry Potter fans it may be Dumbledore's trusty companion and defender Fawkes, a highly intelligent male phoenix that can be seen combusting itself into dust, then being reborn from the ashes. Now, that brings us around to the phrase ‘phoenix from the ashes, which is based on a story that goes back thousands of years, the meaning of the story was to emerge from a catastrophe stronger, smarter and more powerful. This is exactly what we will be focusing on in our new content segment!
Positive Stories
As we are still in the throes of the COVID-19 crisis, and we have not quite reached the ashes and rebirth stage yet, we still have a few flickering flames to go. So, our new segment of blogs and podcasts are about highlighting businesses that have come through the COVID-19 crisis and have emerged stronger and more resilient for it. We think there is enough doom and gloom to go around regarding the last year, so we thought we'd look at some of the great business stories for this year. Positive stories to give a little balance, hope and motivation for the beginning of next year.
We all know how amazing some of the larger online retailers have done throughout this crisis, especially those that were already led by an online e-commerce model, the likes of Amazon who had a massive boost to their business over the last year. But it's not all been about the large dominant online retailers. There's been a lot of small to medium businesses that have done well too. In fact, those businesses that have been agile and have pivoted their business using the world of the internet as their new playground have really prospered.
Forbes Article
Last April I remember reading a great Forbes article entitled ‘Four Startups That Pivoted Their Way Out Of The COVID-19 Crisis’. This article was early on into the crisis but through this, I could see that if people were willing to adapt and pivot, there can always be an upside. All four of these businesses in the article had just done that exact thing, they had been brave and forged a new path early on in the crisis and these were the people that had been reborn by an idea to become a stronger and smarter business.
Let's Meet The Businesses
Marco Castelanelli - Club Vino
Marco Castelanelli, founder of wine tasting event company Club Vino engineered a way to take his key wine tasting business online.
When Marco could not do his live events anymore he started getting requests from regular clients asking if he could supply wine and host the tastings via a video link.
“There it was,” he says. “The obvious way for our business to move forward during this crisis. Club Vino wine tastings in the comfort of your home’.” Customers can order a home tasting package from the website, which includes a themed case of bottles, printable tasting notes with food pairing suggestions, and a video link that guides them through the wines and explains the story behind the bottle, what a great idea!
Tom Best - The Auction Collective
The Auction Collective focused on young and independent artists who are disrupting the industry. Auction Collective was selling artwork in a traditional auction setting. But with COVID-19 closing conventional auctions, founder Tom Best reinvented the company and took his auctions completely online. Live streaming options for real-time bidding and the world's first downloadable bidding paddles that bidders can wave during the auction! They have also developed an online shop where independent artists can sell prints and other merchandise. Tom says: “Part of my mission is to make auctions more normal and fit for other consumer behaviour and to help independent artists sell their work.”
Lottie Whyte & Joe Gray MyoMaster
MyoMaster is a sports recovery business creating innovations that help athletes to train harder and obtain peak performance. Lottie Whyte and her husband, England and Harlequins rugby player Joe Gray started the business. Pre-crisis all their business was achieved at live sporting events and gyms. The couple feared they would have to close the business and then flipped it around by observing the home workout market starting to boom! They immediately pivoted to become a successful e-commerce business. Lottie said “We had everyone in the team focusing on updating our website, finding influencers, creating content, and figuring out how to do digital advertising - we've all been up late doing online courses and learning as we go - and we've created an online store. What we used to sell in a month, we are now selling online in a single day. There are real opportunities out there for brands that can sell online and provide people with products that can bring them joy at home.”
Hannah Feldman - Kidadl
Kidadl were an online platform for discovering and booking family events and experiences. With lockdown hitting this market sector hard, the company found a new way forward by becoming an online repository for ideas and inspiration for stay-at-home fun and learning. They have over 1500 free activities and resources to make family life in lockdown much easier. Co-founder Hannah Feldman says: “We've pivoted by doubling down on editorial output within the business. Our writing team, comprised mainly of part-time working parents, is producing the kind of content other parents need at this critical time.” The move worked, with site visits to kidadl.com already seeing over a 500% increase.
Conclusion
So you can see from the businesses within this article, they have been bold and have looked for opportunities within their industry. Although pivoting over to being an online agnostic company has its share of headaches, the people who have embraced this have given their businesses a much-needed lifeline throughout this crisis.
These are some true Phoenix From The Flames stories that inspired me in the early throes of the epidemic. But here at Prestige, we've also had some great stories too. Over the next few months, we will be writing blogs and producing podcasts that talk to our clients that in this past year have pivoted and begun a new journey of success on a slightly different road! So until our next instalment of 'Phoenix From The Flames', keep positive and search for those opportunities!