As mentioned in Bhagavata Purana, Mahabharata and Vishnu Purana, one of the most well-known occurrences in the Hindu philosophy is The Samudra Manthan (Ocean Churning). The churning of the ocean brought forth opportunities and threats, a battle between gods and demons, it was through audacity and talent that the Gods were victorious and rejuvenated.
Talent and audacity are both required to pivot an existing business towards new opportunities or launch new ideas in such turbulent times, a churning of the seas, to say
of the business landscape that we see now emerging from the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic that began in Wuhan, China.
These are uncertain times, to say the least — priorities are shifting every day as a global health emergency is addressed globally. At the same time, companies have been forced to move quickly in response — to support those suffering from turmoil and to try to remain financially sound.
The developments that we are seeing are an array of brand new strategies and the rapid use of digital technology and platforms including live streaming and virtual reality, which reshapes business models and communicates in innovative ways with customers.
Future will tell whether or not the innovative business ideas will remain strong in their respective industries once relative normality returns. But we do find it inspiring and exciting to see so many fascinating and creative approaches come to light.
Let's look at some of the most powerful and positive innovations associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
Fashion and lifestyle: Leading Paris based fashion retailer Lanvin, used Virtual Reality for the creation of a cloud based fashion show during the Covid-19 lockdown. They invited fashion bloggers and celebrities to livestream the event, resulting in over 5 million views!
The coronavirus epidemic is truly testing the ability of a brand to respond, particularly in the luxury industry. For brands like Lanvin, the goal for many designers has been to increase human interaction by harnessing technology. This innovative drive to have creative ways to engage with customers is driving the evolution of live streaming, VR, and rapidly growing social media platforms to transform marketing strategies in the near future.
Sports and entertainment: To many sports enthusiasts there has been tremendous frustration at the suspension of virtually every game during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leagues around the world are working on ways to restart their games, some proposing playing in stadiums without spectators, and keeping players in strict quarantine, so that they have contact only with each other.
The Finnish Hockey League, however, has come up with an innovative alternative and has decided to stage its playoffs as an e-sports competition. The Liiga plan to keep the playoffs is more about entertainment than a serious sports match.
They have teamed up with Telia, the Finnish e-sports channel, to create a tournament which will be played with the video game EA Sports 20 NHL. Each team selects a representative to play for their team during the playoffs. The games will be on national TV, where the broadcast will receive a real feeling from the professional commentators. All 10 Liiga teams scheduled for the finals are taking part in online playoffs.
Yet elsewhere, teams are deeply concerned about the loss of income generated by the widespread cancellation of playoffs, games and seasons. A strategy that involves e-sports can be one way not only to help keep up the spirits of sports fans, but can also help raise money to keep the teams running. This is something IPL T20 could have adopted, they still can.
Though we have highlighted a few, there are many other industries which are at the forefront of taking up the challenges thrown by the coronavirus crisis.
One thing we've heard from company owners time and time again is that they now have time to complete the digital project they've been postponing for a while. It's maybe a website or app redesign, or development, or bringing the structures and processes together.
When things momentarily slow down, you have the ability to update and improve your systems, and to do some internal training on certain areas that need to be worked on. So put your innovation hat on and explore how you can create value and pivot in the time of such crisis. The ocean is churning, and it's your time to grab new opportunities.
How can we help you? We’d love to hear about your challenges and ambitions. Let's work together.
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