Q How do you feel Torque as an agency has responded to all the challenges 2021 presented?

Working with our team throughout the pandemic has actually been one of the most rewarding aspects of the past 18 months.  It’s hard to put into words how proud I am to work with such committed, passionate, and capable people.  Aside from the way everyone has pulled together to support the company and clients, we’ve supported each other on a personal level too – it sounds cliched, but we genuinely couldn’t have got through it without them.  Working in an agency tends to attract people who are resourceful and enjoy variety in their working day. If we couldn’t work around an issue, we just got creative and found another way.

Q Have you seen Torque’s client base change over the course of 2020-21?

Interestingly enough our client base has changed quite significantly over the last 18 months, it’s hard to put that down just to the pandemic, although that may well have sped things up.  We’ve purposefully moved back towards our core market over the last year or so, focusing on new technology, electrification, the commercial vehicle sector, and supply chain clients. These areas in particular tend to have fascinating and innovative communications objectives and of course highly significant roles to play in the coming decade.

Q Have you noticed less of an international agenda from your clients during Covid?

Completely the opposite in fact, clearly there have been, and continue to be significant supply chain issues across the globe for a variety of reasons, but we’ve been working with our international partner network more regularly than ever.  It’s been imperative for our clients to keep in touch with customers and their supply chain as never before, so our partner’s market knowledge and expertise has been instrumental in supporting European product launches and other regular communications.  Again, we’re very lucky to be working with such an amazing international team – celebrating and commiserating with each other as we have gone through COVID lockdowns and the resulting issues in our markets has been incredibly interesting and comforting to see the UK is not alone in its challenges!

Q What are you most looking forward to, coming into 2022?

On a personal level, it would be nice to hope for the opening up of everyday life without too many more obstacles in our path. I’m sure we would all agree that a stable business environment and a general sense of normalcy would be welcome.  Professionally, I hope we as an agency continue to build on the resourcefulness and creativity we’ve cemented during these challenging times. And finally, that the automotive sector both here and around the world can move forward and find some stability, as well as to continue to find ways to promote the carbon neutral agenda.