The impact of Covid-19 on our lives and businesses has been enormous – and sometimes, let's face it, downright bizarre. Who'd have thought three months ago that half the nation would be running. For fun? For the media, already trying to combat so many changing aspects of our industry, journalism as a whole has been a source of immediate reaction, constant change and a hope that we're hitting the right note by trusting our intuition and listening to our readers.
For Team Tempus, the news that we were set to be working from home on our latest issue (and possibly more) necessitated a quick change of set up – both in terms of our communication with each other (none of us are fans of having meetings for meetings' sake) and with our readers, making sure we were sticking to our positive news ethos while still producing content that was relevant, useful and made sense to our situation.
Our biggest issue was, perhaps not surprisingly, our print issue. Normally, Tempus' coffee table-style magazines are proudly distributed across London to five-star hotels, private members' clubs, airport and Eurostar lounges and family offices. With London in lockdown, however, this was not only impossible, we felt it was also a potential danger to our readers and distributors.
Instead, we made a quick decision to provide the magazine for free digital download, until such a time that we could print as usual. In doing this, we felt the pressure to make the issue even more spectacular, with the very best of luxury brands, exclusive interviews and automotive photoshoots showcased in its pages, knowing that we needed to capture the truth of what our sector is facing, while also ensuring our content is timeless and readable for the months to come.
While I can't wait to finally see a print copy of this issue, I hope our automotive special can provide a mental pit stop for all our readers in these tough times.