Because of the coronavirus epidemic, the past spring and summer have been an exceptional and challenging time for us all, with many worrying about their own and loved ones’ health and livelihood.
The beginning of the corona outbreak startled us here at Manifesto too, but to everyone’s relief, we have coped well with the situation so far. Our business has continued to evolve in a positive way during past six months. We have grown our revenue approximately 15 percent year-on-year, attracted several new clients and recruited excellent new staff members.
These positive developments reflect the fact that our clients in our key sectors like technology, retail and the public sector have maintained and even increased their communications spend during pandemic.
Another important factor is that, during the spring and summer, we have been successful in attracting new clients and projects, including tech giant Lenovo, global applications vendor Concur, sustainable forestry projects Metsien Suomiand Uusi Puu, along with plant protein (pulled oats) manufacturer Gold&Green and a reputation survey for the Finnish National Library.
Our showroom has remained open throughout the pandemic in a virtual format. Recently, we’ve been delighted to start again in-person visits to showroom, with the appropriate health precautions in place of course. We’re grateful to the journalists and social media influencers we work with, who so willingly embraced our virtual showroom visits and product demos.
We’ve also welcomed four new colleagues to our team. Riitta Säteri, a highly experienced PR communications specialist started with us at the height of the coronavirus outbreak in April. Following an internship, Iiris Maijo joined us as a permanent member of staff in July, while Hanna Schneider joined the technology communications team in August. And finally, Veera Hautamäki started her communications internship with us in August.
The coronavirus pandemic will continue to be a source of concern and uncertainty for us all over the coming autumn and winter season. Let’s all continue to pull together to defeat it. At Manifesto, we will keep doing what we do best: delivering impactful and quality communications services for our clients.
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a wonderful autumn – stay well.