CALGARY – You’ve been hearing it for a while from the media, politicians, and around the office: Times are tough, companies are cutting back. But one digital video agency wants to give people solutions and support during the current economic downturn—as well as a place to share their own stories of survival.
“So much of the focus is on the number of layoffs, the dollar, the price of oil – people are going to get laid off, companies are going to suffer…there could be some that go out of business,” said digital video agency V Strategies president and CEO Jeff Bradshaw. “So what do we do? How do we support each other in this? What advice can you give to them?”
The “InItTogether” website launched Tuesday, and is a way to provide such support and advice. It features many notable Calgarians: Mayor Naheed Nenshi, George Brookman, president and CEO of West Canadian, Steve Allan, current chairman of Calgary Economic Development, as well as various local business owners.
Mayor Nenshi shared a personal story in one video, saying he’s been middle-class, poor and “very poor” throughout his life.
“My parents lost their business in the early 1980s, we moved back to Calgary without a penny to our name, and sure—we relied on the generosity of a lot of people,” he says in a video on the site. “It’s important for us to remember that we are all in this together, and so reaching out to our neighbours, helping them through the short-term, catching them when they stumble. We have enormous power…to be able to help our neighbours through this.”
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Shannon Bowen-Smed, president and CEO of Bowen, said she met with her entire organization to come up with solutions that would prevent layoffs.
“We gathered our folks and said, ‘We’re going to do things differently; we’re going to look at subletting some space, we’re going to ask you to buy an extra month’s vacation, and if I can get everyone’s commitment behind me, we’ll come out of this better and stronger.’
“This is a huge opportunity if we take it as such, so let’s get our house in order and let’s come out of this a bigger, better stronger company.”
Billy Friley, owner of the Village Ice Cream, told his own story of how his business survived the slow times.
“I got my dad’s fishing bag, his fishing cooler and loaded it up with little individual sample sizes of ice cream and went up and down every building in downtown Calgary,” said Friley. “I would sell ice cream socials to law firms, oil and gas firms, anybody who would take me. I would give a sample to the secretary, she would taste it, she would pass the message on to the powers that be, and maybe a couple weeks later I’d get a gig. And that’s what allowed us to survive the first winter.”
The InItTogether site also has a contact form where people can submit their own stories or advice in the form of a message or YouTube video link that Bradshaw’s team plan to share. They’re using the hashtag #inittogetheryyc on Twitter and Instagram, and inviting Calgarians to participate. Visit the site here.
“We just want people to share their ideas, share the site, focus on the positives,” said Bradshaw. “We still live in one of the best places in the world, and people tend to forget that.”
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