11 - Why I'm Looking Forward to the Creative Renaissance with Oyster Creative - Abbey Hudetz
There’s no shortage of tribulation from the past 10 months. Wherever you sit globally, one does not have to dig deep to find a reason to grieve about the events of the past year. While I am not diminishing the pain that COVID has manufactured, I do have a glimmer of hope for what the future holds.
Whenever the current events seem catastrophic, turning to history helps me step back and see the bigger picture. The doomsday emotions that have permeated through the air for the past year are not in isolation. Humans throughout history have confronted global atrocities as a mass before. As heart-achingly tragic as it may be, history has shown us that there is no better pressure cooker for innovation than collective desperation. As the proverb states, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Wartime efforts often usher in new innovations and global tragedy creates fertile soil for technological upheavals. When the world was unified in the fight against the Bubonic Plague, the world transitioned into The Renaissance period. History has shown us time and again that where there is hardship, invention follows.
Coronavirus forced our heads into the collective fire and urged us to take stock of how we are living our lives. It obliged the human population to realize that nothing is promised to us in life aside from the inevitability of its end. As a populace, we peeled back the thin veil of ignorance and assessed how we had been living our values. While black and brown communities have been advocating for equality for generations, never before as a collective society have we exhumed our own contributions to the strata that upholds this unequal social order.
We reckoned with our privileges - racial, economic, and environmental to support those who are most vulnerable. We unearthed new needs as we transitioned our lives online - our needs morphed under circumstances of “the new normal” and innovators raced to address our recast needs.
Tote bag released by Oyster Creative in conjunction with North Brooklyn Mutual Aid
Whilst we reckon with our societal structure and the redefinition of the way we live our lives, creatives will lead the way. This will have implications for how we conduct ourselves, business and creativity for years to come. Historically, we have accepted the bare minimum in performativity from corporations and businesses. Now individuals are demanding more of their employers & providers, which will reshape the way we think about business and the type of businesses conducted. According to a study from McKinsey & Co, while 90% of executives believe that COVID will change the way we conduct business in 5 years, only 21% surveyed feel equipped to handle the shift. There is a vacancy for creatives to quench the present-day needs of our society in a socially responsible and novel approach.
Historical context is not the only basis for my hopeful outlook. In July, I had a come-to-[insert higher power of choice] and decided to change course. After doing the corporate dance as the Marketing Director of a hospitality management firm in NYC, I decided to take a leap that I had scripted 10 years down the line in my life plan - founded my own agency. I was fortunate enough to be able to amicably leave my post to start Oyster Creative. Our agency services small and midsize brands for their social media, web dev & branding needs. Since the inception of Oyster Creative, my inbox has been flooded with inquiries from young entrepreneurs who have recently taken a similar plunge. Many have been sitting on the idea for years and have decided the time is nigh to “go for it”. I am in awe of all the stories of budding entrepreneurs who have decided to lay their claim and find myself constantly inspired.
The quid pro quo of yesteryear has been upturned, paving the way for the go-getters of the next generation to start building the businesses that will inform tomorrow. After our collective trauma, people are not sitting and waiting for experience to deem them worthy of claiming their opportunity. Individuals around the globe are grabbing the bull by the horns and developing responsible solutions to the wealth of problems that have bubbled to the surface during the pandemic. As the entrepreneurs of tomorrow suit up, I am hopeful for a new kind of renaissance.
Oyster Creative is a Brooklyn-based marketing agency specializing in social media, branding, websites & design. For more information, check out their website at oystercreativeco.com, online at @oystercreativebk or email at hello@oystercreative.com. Mention this article for a 10% discount on services.