2020. The year that will be almost impossible to forget. The year that already has a Netflix series documenting its events and without a doubt will grace Hollywood and the big screen in the near future. 2020 also saw significant change for us, with the launch of En Avant in November and we would like to extend our thanks to everyone that has supported us during these first two months. We are very much looking ahead, as the name of our business quite literally states with ‘En Avant’ meaning ‘to move forward’ in French and we join everyone else in hoping that 2021 will see some form of normality restored (whatever that is these days) and that it will continue to offer positive news and progress.

As we are one month in to 2021, it is safe to say that January has not been without its challenges. Covid numbers continue to remain high and restrictions remain tight across the globe, whether in the form of national lockdowns, curfews or other specific measures to try and control the spread of the virus. The second largest news story that crossed our screens was the storming of the US Capitol building in the United States, in an attempt to overturn the election outcome. A week after the riot, which resulted in five deaths, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection”, making him the only US president to have been impeached twice.

The storming of the Capitol offered a perfect example of how social media can be misused and quickly saw Donald Trump permanently suspended from Twitter, due to the risk of further incitement of violence, as well as being banned from Facebook and Instagram for a period of at least two weeks. This being said, from a marketing perspective January has also provided further evidence of the importance of social media and how it can play either to a company or individual’s favour. In January we saw the continuation of pop stars and influencers rising to fame from their bedrooms during lockdowns thanks to social media platforms, as well as businesses continuing to invest in the ever-increasing virtual world in which we now live, with no immediate sign of lockdown easing in several countries around the globe. For more information take a look at our recent article on ‘the business of staying social’.

2021 has also delivered significant change already, despite only being one month in. The biggest vaccination campaign in history has begun. More than 86.4 million doses in 60 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 4.19 million doses a day, on average and there continue to be regular news updates of additional vaccines being approved and introduced.

January 20^th saw the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46^th president of the United States at the US Capitol, the very same building that had been stormed two weeks prior, and Kamala Harris as Vice President, making her the first female, first black and first Asian Vice President of all time. Talk about progression and significant change.

As we looked forward in January, we also remember those that have been lost, both due to Covid-19 but also January 27^thmarked Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK. Holocaust Memorial Day is the day for everyone to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi Persecution, and in the genocides which followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. The theme for the day this year is ‘be the light in the darkness’. This theme asks us to consider different kinds of ‘darkness’, for example, identity-based persecution, misinformation, denial of justice; and different ways of ‘being the light’.

As we enter February and continue to navigate these challenging times across the globe, we also hope that 2021 will continue to offer light to lift the darkness and that future monthly reflections will be outweighed by positive change and news from around the world.