Nevertheless, they persisted
You know the story. Covid. Lockdowns. Uncertainty and struggles at every level. It’s enough to make you lose hope.
Nevertheless, like so many of you, we persisted.
And we’re happy to report that our 2020 finished stronger than we might have expected in April.
A lot stronger, as we grew revenues by 5% over 2019, our best year ever. And we were picked by Facebook to be one of their select EMEA creative partners.
To find out more, here’s our 2020 Year in Review.
Lessons from Covid
Italy was hit hard and fast by Covid-19, and on 25th February we closed the office and shifted to working remotely. Meanwhile, we invested in portable technology, our servers and security, to make sure the transition was as seamless as possible. We thought (a bit naively, I’ll admit) that we’d reopen the office in July, no wait, August, no, sorry, September, which we finally did. To make this reopening possibile, we installed the whole gamut of health and safety precautions, going above and beyond the best government recommendations.
And within a few weeks, with the second wave surging, we shuttered the office yet again. It’s funny to think that at this time last year we were showing off our newly enlarged office, but to date we’ve spent nearly a year working without one.
But as we amply proved this year, remote working works for Moskito Design, and even though one day we’ll go back to the office again, there’s no real going back. It’s not the end of lockdown as we know it, but we feel totally fine.
New (and fortuitous) arrivals
Beyond the health impact, Covid-19 has presented massive communicative, community and bureaucratic challenges to businesses. One of our biggest assets in facing them has been our new HR Manager Elena Cavalieri d’Oro, who as luck would have it arrived in January 2020. She’s a first for Moskito, and is setting the template for what an HR manager should be.
Elena was there to hire and welcome many of our new arrivals in marketing, copy and design including Marek, Valeria, Martina G., Emanuelle, Olga, Beatrice, Massimiliano and Alessandro.
And we’ve also pursued a strategy of strengthening our network of regular, proven freelancers, who were instrumental in handling the huge autumn rush. Together we smoothly tackled a company-wide 30% increase in work during that period.
Growth (and taxes)
All this leads us back to that 5% boost in revenue this year. And not only that, we’re proud to say that we’ve been cited by the Ministry of the Economy (and made a special appearance on Italy’s Rai3 program Agorà) for having voluntarily renounced a government-offered tax extension and paid our taxes on time. When taxes are going to fund vaccinations, medical services and financial support for ailing businesses, we’re happy we could do our part.
Our clients get choosey
As always, what made our year so exciting work-wise is our wonderful roster of clients, especially those who’ve entrusted us with even bigger continuous projects and challenges.
Facebook chooses Moskito for EMEA
After a detailed review process of our previous collaboration, Facebook officially picked Moskito Design to join its very small group of official creative partners in the EMEA region. This has already opened new doors for us with some exciting projects in progress. And we ended the year by completing a project involving long-form copy, video and a minisite for Facebook Business Israel, Hockey Sticks & Base.
Agos chooses Moskito for social media
After a competitive pitch process Agos named us their 2021 social media manager for their Facebook and Instagram channels.
Sodexo chooses Moskito for social media and communication
Based on the strength of our previous work for them, Sodexo Italy chose us to handle internal and external communication for them including social media, their corporate blog and newsletter, Soluzioni.
eBay takes us to Brazil
With Brazil, we added one more country to the over 111 we communicate to for eBay. Brazil’s market potential means we’ve welcomed Patrícia, a dedicated Brazilian copywriter, to communicate in her native language.
Branding Diners Club and Elior
We closed two great branding projects this year. Diners Club was the world’s first credit card, and the first in Italy, and 50 years later the company chose us to redesign and relaunch the brand here as a global test case. And we won a pitch to brand a new product line of ready meals for Elior, iCOLTi. Look out for our case studies on these projects, to be published soon.
Now more than ever, thank you
As we welcomed our 2020 newcomers at the beginning, we’d like to thank our colleagues and friends who chose this year to move on to new adventures. Once you’ve been bitten by the Moskita (yes, our friendly little mascot is a she) you’ll always be part Moskito to us.
And now more than ever we want to thank all our families, friends, clients and partners who’ve meant more to us, in many different ways, this year.
Lastly, in a dark, crazy and chaotic year, we want to celebrate the many many stories of altruism, resilience, personal sacrifice, courage and optimism we heard throughout the first lockdown and this second wave. These stories – your stories – continue to inspire us and give us hope.
Nevertheless, we will persist.
Have a great 2021!
