Advertising has come a long way since the first TV advert on July 1, 1941, for Bulova Watches. Fast forward 80 years and you’ll find yourself smack dab in the middle of a dizzying array of advertising. From print to digital and everything in between, it’s a never-ending game of getting your product or business out there to the masses—a game that’s not slowing down any time soon. 

It’s 11pm. You’re in bed, about to fall asleep. All of a sudden, you realize you forgot to grab the side dish for tomorrow’s dinner with the in-laws—and you’re hosting. Between meetings and picking up the dog from daycare, your “tomorrow” is fully booked. Luckily, it’s 2021 and you can just open your favorite grocery app and get your forgotten item delivered, at a time of your choice. Dinner is saved. 

In early 2020, many businesses struggled with how to react and respond to the pandemic. It was hard to seem empathetic without being disingenuous; humor didn’t feel “ok” until recently; and appearing to want to make money off struggling consumers just felt plain wrong. 

For some organizations, though, it took little time to find the right thing to do, like when well-known restaurants pivoted to feeding the community when they couldn’t serve patrons. For others, there was no playbook for operating outside business as usual.

Why was that? It’s all about values.