Stuff we liked

As the crisis moves and changes, a sense of resilience is creeping into publications. This week’s reading list looks at the different ways this resilience is manifesting around the world.

1. All dressed up and nowhere to go

We should never underestimate the importance of clothes in our lives. The crisis may have left more of us in leisure wear, but this article illustrates how the simplest act of getting dressed up can be a form a pushing back. It’s a great reminder of how good it feels to throw on the glad rags.

2. The word of recovery

Buzz words have shown their value time and time again. Remember when we hadn’t heard the word Brexit? Or how Obama successfully owned the word ‘hope’ through the iconic Shepard Fairey portrait? This piece by the United Nations posits that the buzzword for Covid-19 will be resilience. Which is something we can take comfort in.

“In the same way that austerity became the motif word post the financial crisis… I think the motif word of post-COVID is likely to be resilience. What does resilience imply? Shared burdens. Solidarity. Community over individual enrichment.”

3. Kantar’s six points to remember

This piece from Kantar is just a really simple checklist on how leadership brands can help ensure resilience. They’re very simplistic, but I want to hone in on one in particular – create magic moments. They’re referencing CX journeys. That struck me as a space that can deliver wonder, but in the most fleeting and domestic manner. It may be one second of someone’s day, but it’s still a space for magic.

4. In it together

Does a nation’s past inform its strength of resilience? This piece by the New York Times looks at how current resilience is influenced by the past. With VE day only last week, the article poses questions around the importance of the national psyche and demonstrating resilience.

“I was a kid, I remember playing soccer and seeing mortars falling out of the sky,” he said. He believes the disciplined, collected way in which Croats have responded to the pandemic harks back to wartime and the legacy of communism.”