Just on nine out of ten ad agencies are working on Covid-19 related campaigns at the moment and nearly two-thirds are working on brand new campaigns.

According to trade body IAPI, agencies Core, TBWA and OMD are some of the agencies involved with HSE and government agency information and awareness campaigns.

IAPI chief executive Charley Stoney (pictured) said two thirds of respondents in the Institute’s survey of ad agency executives report that creative ideation and production is the same as under normal circumstances.

“This reflects the agility of the industry to adapt to new ways of creating communications for their clients, and we can see the results of this problem-solving ability in recent campaigns,” said Stoney.

“For example, the recent Vodafone work created remotely by JWT Folk and the domestic abuse awareness campaign for the Department of Justice & Equality also produced remotely last week by TBWA.”

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Sixty per cent of agencies have won new client business in the last month, according to IAPI, and 90% are actively engaged in pitches. However, agencies say that timelines and the level of creative required for pitches should be re-assessed in light of the restricted circumstances.

Patrick Meade, managing director of Boys + Girls, commented: “The current crisis is a chance for agencies to really prove their worth to our clients. We should help them understand if their brands should be active in the market before we help them work out how."

However, with ad spend forecast to shrink by c.30% this year due the Covid crisis, one in three respondents believe that the crisis will result in sector consolidation i.e. some agencies will go bust.