How is business continuing for the industry now working from home is the new normal? Source talks to Nicole Bridgham, marketing manager, about how MyMediabox has adapted.
With the licensing and related industries all working from home due to COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns, Source talks to key companies across the spectrum to find out how they are keeping business going.
Today: Nicole Bridgham, marketing manager, MyMediabox.
How is the team’s day now structured, with everyone working from home?
It’s funny to say, but our day to day business hasn’t changed. We’re a technology company that uses our own products, so it’s easy for us to stay connected and collaborate. For example, our teams based out of the Atlanta and Cincinnati offices – as well as our support staff who always work remotely from Los Angeles, Reykjavik, Paris and Tokyo – all have easy, 24/7 access to our contracts via our own, internal instance of Mediabox-RM (contract management). As the marketing manager, I collaborate with the sales team and get my creative approved within our internal instance of Mediabox-PA (product approvals). With an internet connection and cloud-based platforms, we’re fortunate to be able to conduct business as usual, even in these very unusual times.
Could you provide a rough timeline of your day?
My day used to include a 1.5 hour commute to the office. Though my days still start at the same early hour, I now begin by sipping a cup of coffee and going through my email and calendar, to plan out my day. Then I close my computer and head outdoors with my husband for a three mile run with time afterwards for a nice long shower, before settling in at 8am to begin tackling my to-do list. There was never time for such luxuries before the pandemic!
How is the communication with licensees/retailers/partners continuing? How important is it to continue keeping these lines of communication open during this time?
Open lines of communication are always critical, and that’s especially so during these unprecedented times. Many of our partners have extra time in their work from home schedules to accept our offers for special training events. We’ve also ramped up the frequency of our newsletter releases, providing our partners with relevant advice such as how to adjust the minimum guarantee schedule in Mediabox-RM, in order to push a licensee’s MG payment due dates out a month or more, or waive MGs entirely through the end of the year.
Which projects are you able to move forward on right now?
We’re super excited to have implemented 16 new Mediabox sites so far in 2020, with contracts out for signature that will add eight more sites to that count. The demand for our hosted, online platforms continues to increase as leading licensors and agencies seek the most trusted, efficient solutions on the market for their licensing businesses.
What piece of advice would you give about how best to continue to feel like a team while WFH?
We love our video get-togethers, of course. But as the novelty of virtual coffee time and happy hours wears off, we’re getting more creative. Plans are in motion for a team building event that will include a virtual scavenger hunt, where we’ll team up and compete to be the first team to find in our homes all the wacky items from our list.
How are you keeping up morale?
We’ve loved collaborating on projects to spread and inspire gratitude, like the ‘MyMediabox Says Thank You’ project. We reached out to our clients to ask for their help on it. The result was a video we produced that combined well wishes submitted by our team members and our clients, to thank coronavirus front liners for their incredible bravery and service. We linked the video on our Facebook page and invited people to share it with the healthcare heroes in their lives, who have been on the front lines during the pandemic. It’s also on our YouTube channel.
Best thing about WFH?
I polled the team for this one! Their top responses included: being able to hug spouses, children and pets anytime, sleeping in a little longer, not fighting the traffic, being able work in their pajamas, and enjoying the versatility that comes with working from home.
What’s the one thing you’ve discovered about each team member since WFH that you didn’t know before?
Members of the MyMediabox team have an absurd amount of hats and costume masks that they love to don just before hitting the Join button for a virtual team meeting. The first time to unexpectedly come face to face with a demented clown or a wolf is certainly an hilarious shock, and for a team like ours… it doesn’t take long for the trend to spread!
If you have children, how are you managing keeping them entertained/educated while you work?
When the schools closed and remote learning replaced the classroom setting, my colleagues with smaller children were suddenly faced with additional challenges. As a company, we rallied around them, offering to take on tasks to lighten their workloads so they had more flexibility to tag-teamed with their spouses and keep the kiddos engaged.
What advice would you give to people in the business who are worried about the future?
Things will get better. A business must be adaptable in order to succeed in any climate, so during this time it’s best to spend your mental energy on things in your business and your life that you can control. Worrying about what you cannot control will not add to your success; it will only make this time feel unbearable. The Beatles said it best: Let it Be.
If you or your team would like to take part in this feature, simply email Samantha Loveday on saml@max-publishing.co.uk.
