Business Monitor Light at the end
Light at the end of the tunnel?
Hooray, hooray, two very clever and hardworking Germans have come up with the vaccine to beat coronavirus. Given that this whole subject has been one of disappointment piled on top of sadness for the whole of 2020, what makes me so confident that this is the goods? Marketing expert, Paul Clapham, reports.
L
et’s start with a number – 90%. That is the success rate being attributed to the work of Pfizer and BioNTech.
I am no expert but when scientists describe such an outcome as ‘unheard of’, I think we’re all entitled to cheer. Second this is Pfizer, one of the world’s leading drug companies. Sure, it is going to make a mountain of money out of it, but if it all went pear-shaped at this stage it would lose a lot more – and very fast. Do no harm is basic to the Hippocratic oath, with the unspoken corollary, do no harm to the share price also highly respected.
But before everybody decides to down tools and go on a belated holiday, let’s look at some other numbers rather more sobering. First up, the government announced plans to vaccinate ‘one million every week’. So, problem over. I hope for your sake that you are not in the later stages of the process because that’s 66 weeks away from the start. Fortunately, someone ordered 40 million units of the Pfizer product. It’s a lot but not enough. Each person vaccinated must have a follow-up booster, so it’s enough for the older generation and health and social care workers. You will have read that the old and infirm will be at the front of the queue. That first tranche of product will be given to the over 65s and younger high-risk individuals. How many of your staff or customers fall into either group? Not many, I bet.
Track record
There is yet another problem: skilled staff. Are there enough and in the right places? If not – and this government has track record at not joined-up planning – then the process will slow. I was joking the other day that reformed heroin addicts seem to be the only people confident working a syringe who are not on Matt Hancock’s list, but I begin to wonder. Finally, I have to say that everything I have read on this topic in the papers or heard and seen in the broadcast media is riven with weasel words. Perhaps I should be pleased – it suggests that Whitehall is taking us seriously, not before time. Just be
| 60 | January 2021
sure to note that ‘if we receive supplies’ and the like mean a government minister is covering his arse. Regius professor of medicine, Sir John Bell, says that ‘as long as they don’t screw up the distribution’ all the vulnerable groups should have been vaccinated by Easter. That sounds like reality to me. So, it isn’t time to kill the fatted calf just yet, but we can say that the light at the end of the tunnel is dawn, not an express train heading our way. We can also say that businesses have been given a planning opportunity, something solid to get your teeth into.
Your plan
What should be in your plan? I’d say first up you need to re-establish contact with clients. You are going to be mighty lucky if none of your contacts have been seriously ill or had family suffering. At worst, recognise that someone you knew may have died from COVID-19. This is why you don’t want to go charging in all gung-ho, tempting as it doubtless is. Then it’s ideas. Phew! Dodged that bullet, seems to me to have the right tone of voice. I’m sure you can come up with a number. I think that the sense of ‘we’re all in this together’ would be reconfirmed. I would add that if the nation takes anything out of the whole grisly mess that one sentiment is worth clinging to.
The winners and losers as proclaimed at the last lockdown have virtually swapped places, such that Ocado has gone from top of the charts and all the airlines want their Rolls Royce engines serviced.
As a personal prejudice, I would dearly love to see all the ‘online only’ operators in all fields get a serious dose of comeuppance. As far as I can tell, their business model has done away with customer service at the sole aim of lowest headline price. Someone should tell them that there’s nothing so terribly clever about being cheapest, but being best demands hard work and understanding of the customer. I’d say that the management teams at Easy Jet, Ocado and Scottish and Southern Electric have all made this mistake.
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
