By Editor Morten B. Reitoft

This is by all measures a completely impossible question to answer, but there are a few things that are granted. The most important thing is that there will be a day where the coronavirus situation is history, and things will return to... I was just about to write "normal", but I don't think it ever will be like it was before.

There is, of course, no single path for how to get through the crisis. However, one of the first things that happen is the reduction of all expenses possible—variable cost like advertising, exhibitions, freelancers, contractors, etc. are among the first things that will be cancelled.

The second phase is reducing fixed cost. The rules and regulations for firing people differ from country to country, but it's a fact that this happens relatively early in the crisis.

The third phase is stimulating the markets. State/governmental money will lead to an artificial demand and create at least a short-term belief in the future. You will see governments stimulating infrastructure projects to support the economy even further.

Now the effect of the lock-downs hopefully start to work, and you will see companies beginning to roll out ideas, campaigns, and projects that eventually will kickstart the private economy.

When the vaccines and medication is in place, and very few people are infected, you will see a battlefield with the 'dead', the 'wounded', and the 'survivors'. The battlefield, I believe, won't be a pretty sight. Global media unanimously already report devasting numbers for the worldwide economy, and the corona may already have kickstarted the expected recession. The recession will lead to even more casualties, but it will also lead to innovations. This behaviour CEO Jan-Olof Jungersten from Visutech in Sweden already spoke about in the interview I did with him last year. See and hear the interview here.

The duration of the above scenarios nobody, of course, can predict, but I believe it will be a relatively short recession. The reason why I think this is because the money pumped into the economy has historically always stimulated economic growth. With the investments in infrastructure, securing companies, banks, and to-large-to-fail companies globally, the intentions are to stimulate demand.

What drives the recession- and crisis- communication is a question about when the populations and companies again are ready to spend money. No one spends money now, and that is understandable since we are still relatively early in the crisis. The reasons for not market products and services varies. Some believe it's because it will upset the public opinion. Some, because most people are in some crisis and not ready to spend. Some even think it's taking advantage of the situation marketing products and services.

So who are the almost for sure casualties?

I am, unfortunately, pretty sure the printing industry will be found on that list again. Still, with a tremendous overcapacity in the market, and with a lower solvency ratio than industry average in most countries, the weakest printing companies may not be able to survive. Media in our industry is also considered vulnerable. Most or at least many media in the printing industry are small companies, and only very few have an international reach. Mega-trends has for years messed over centralized procurement, and I wouldn't be surprised if the larger vendors will take new measures into account in the future. Who would be able to deliver a global delivery platform? Who would be able to segment the audience better? Who got the broadest audience based on valuable contacts, their companies, what they offer, what customers they serve, etc. We believe that we are positioning ourselves for this future by having a reliable partner strategy with partners already now in Sweden, Germany, Italy, India, and soon more countries to be announced.

I also believe that vendors will turn their face more to value in their communication, so media that can't deliver quality and reach will have difficult times. Again INKISH has since we started been working on both new business models, different value propositions, and maybe most of all, unbiased content of high quality, with an effect that we daily get evidence for works. We also see cross-media as a natural development for us, with both printed products (books), conferences (will soon be announced), film, news, podcasts, and micro-services like calc, trend, compare, and other projects under development. Being able to deliver stories in different languages is, of course, one thing. Another is how we will be able to provide stories into countries represented by INKISH. We are also developing services that can provide communication FOR customers, similar to PR-companies, Design-agents, and production companies. We are even working on models where the paid-for distribution of press-releases targeted to different media, different audience; different decision-makers will differentiate our services from what most already have. We are ready!

Back to the casualties of the crisis: Airlines, hotels, will also for some time have difficult times, and it's most likely to see bankruptcy's if the crisis last long. A European analyst wrote that most airlines couldn't survive three months without financial support from governments. Isn't that crazy to imagine? Never has it been cheaper to fly, so maybe legislation should force airlines to build a better balance sheet similar to the demands most countries have to their banks today?

When is the time to start communicating, and what should be delivered?

In a crisis, the first steps are to say: "hey - we are alive and good."The second step is to reach out and say: "hey - do you need any help?"The third step can be to reach out and say: "hey - we want to give you something to help you!"The fourth step could be: "hey - we would love to work with you, reach out when you have time.!

And so on. At some point, companies and individuals that have been communicative and honest will be rewarded - it not with orders, then appreciation the support, that many companies need. A couple of days ago two company's reached out to me and said, if we can support you, please let us know. I was overwhelmed with that surplus, especially since one of these messages came from Milan in Italy. Most likely a place worth than Denmark, right now.

INKISH has been both appraised and criticized for developing products, and services extremely fast. We have, however, deep respect for the mechanisms described above, but believe that media like ours should be agile and responsive to changes since it will stimulate demand, and hopefully get the printing industry through the crisis faster. We have also decided to develop even more services, because, if we can't deliver anything soon, we for sure want to be ready when things return to be at least healthier.

How the world will look after corona is a matter of how we want to embrace the challenges, and how we see the opportunities. INKISH is ready - or well, we are working on that part. If you need help, reach out.

Stay safe!