REBOOT, REPEAT, KEEP GOING

Minefield / Hela Odinsdottir’s rule

Certainty? Not really, surprises kept crawling up on; the only thing certain was our determination to keep pushing against the odds.

Yes we absolutely felt at risk, if we didn’t feel it for one reason, we’d feel it for the other. The challenges were way too many for us to navigate safely or worry-free whether they were triggered of the banking limitations, the insane fluctuation of the exchange rate, or the exodus of talents outside of Lebanon, to name a few. We also lost a good number of talents at the beginning of the year and this could’ve had its impact, but we overcame it smoothly.

How we reinforce their belief in Lebanon? It’s a tough one. We strived (and still do) to sustain a positive internal environment. Our agency’s life is the only thing that we have some sort of control over when we feel powerless over the country’s decline.

Since the beginning of the crisis, we were keen on offering our team work facilities and payment adjustments that were implemented swiftly and helped them sustain within the dominating hostility. Together with our team, we nurture a positive environment at work, one that we all “escape” to and try to forget the problems outside of the walls of NINE. We nurture talks of positive change and “hope” and avoid feeding desperation.

Focus on the positive! The small little things I love about Lebanon, the little things I like about us as people too! The long way we’ve crossed as an agency. I refuse to give up easily. 1- I can overcome some pretty bad situations (and I wonder, could it be because we’re “Lebanese” and gotten used to being served lemons? sigh). 2- Everything you’ve worked so hard for can disappear in a minute.

“Wreaked havoc” would be an accurate description. But reboot, repeat, keep going.

We have always worked with clients remotely, the global pandemic simply helped prove that working remotely CAN work successfully. So we continue doing more of what we did from day one, but with more confidence that we can work with anyone and anywhere around the world, be it a brand or even a talent. Our clients remain based in Lebanon and GCC to-date.

I can’t say without a doubt that I foresee what might happen in the year ahead given all the above and the dominating climate in Lebanon. I do, however, can say that we expect Nine to grow its presence in Dubai especially that we are seeing substantial growth this year.

My personal challenge will be managing both offices now that I personally relocated to NINE Dubai, and making sure we set the agency on the right track in new markets.

Reflections; this is the word we would use to describe 2021. With all the hardships of 2020 and the exacerbation of the crises in 2021, this year has not only made us reinforce our commitment to value the small details but also, encouraged us reflect on details of the past and how much we’ve grown since TRACCS first started. Through our reflections on growth, our will and power to fight the hardships grew.

Were you able to find certainty despite all hardships and adversity crippling businesses in the country? Watching our country and its economy cripple was certainly not easy. But seeing our clients’ trust in us and their excitement to work with our team made us realize that yes, despite it all, there is certainty that we shall continue.

Towards the end of 2019, we saw many companies close their doors in Lebanon, as the situation was worsening. We feared that our turn to close would come, but we took that fear and updated our business strategy and tried to make the impossible happen. This motivated us to take a different approach and drive change in the game and aim higher than ever before.

Focusing on the “now”. We are all aware of how uncertain the future of Lebanon is. Therefore, it is only through focusing on the present that we were able to keep up. Having worked on amazing national campaigns this year, like the #Timetoabide and #Timetoregister campaigns with UNICEF, also helped us remain grounded and consumed by the present enough to keep our minds distracted from the uncertainty of the future and focus on the urgency of the situation at hand.

Our energy was further ignited by the gloomy climate. We refuse to allow the worse to take over, and while we have been faced with so many downturns, it is this refusal to give up and our belief that Lebanon shall become again a hub for talents and creativeness that are keeping us going. As we are in the creative industry, the situation inspired different forms of creativity that pushed us to continue. We were able to see new things, explore new campaigns, answer new needs, and more – we believe we gained more than we lost.

Opportunities are everywhere, even during the crises. All it takes is to look closely and allow oneself to accept these opportunities. Therefore, I believe TRACCS’ biggest opportunities lay in the minds and hearts of the team.

With the ongoing Lebanese crisis, we believe there will be a major difficulty in establishing investors’ trust, employees, and hope. The brain drain is not only resulting in a lack of talent and clientele, but is also resulting in a drain of hope and trust in the future of Lebanon. With most of the young Lebanese community migrating outside, targeting Lebanese has become targeting the diaspora and rarely those residing in the country.