In March 2020, our industry switched off. Not slowed down — switched off. Events were our core, and suddenly there were no events, no timelines for their return, and no playbook.
Agencies around us struggled. Some closed. We were scared too — I will not pretend otherwise. But somewhere in those first weeks we made the decision that defined our next five years: we would not wait for the old world to return. We would learn a new one.
Upskilling as survival
Upskilling stopped being an HR initiative and became our survival strategy. We strengthened digital. We learned virtual and hybrid experiences. We built muscle in content, campaigns, audience acquisition, demand generation, and B2B strategy. People who had spent a decade in event production learnt performance marketing. Designers learnt motion. Everyone learnt something.
My view then, and now: intelligence and hard work are not enough. However smart you are, without upskilling, the journey to your next milestone becomes much longer.
What we became
When the world reopened, we were no longer an events agency that had survived. We were an integrated B2B marketing organisation — flagship events, activations, exhibitions, films, digital and demand generation — with experience design at the centre of all of it. The scale Fervent operates at today, and the kind of mandates we execute, exist because of what we chose to learn in the years nobody was watching.
Every business will face its own COVID — a moment when the ground disappears. The question that decides everything is simple: will you wait to get your old job back, or learn the job the future is hiring for?