That's It for Another Year

This is the last edition of DRNO for 2021 - we'll be back on Tuesday 4th January. From all of us at MrWeb to all those of you celebrating it, a very Merry Christmas; and to all of you, thanks for reading this year and best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2022. Here we look backwards and forwards briefly...

We had hoped for a sustained recovery in 2021, and a return to 'normal', either new or old, and despite being natural optimists would probably have to agree there is a disappointing lack of certainty still about the future - this is one of our big wishes for 2022. For business, however, and certainly for the insights and analytics world it's been a much better year than 2020: we no longer hear daily reports of insights firms closing down; our associations have long since stopped asking governments for industry-specific disaster relief; and inasmuch as they're a bellwether, the big agency groups have generally made up the ground they lost the previous year, in both profit and revenue terms. Job ad numbers have picked up substantially since the ridiculous lows of Spring 2020, DRNO finds itself reporting on booming tech research companies, mega-mergers and very large VC funding wins again; and there are plenty of reasons to look forward to the New Year and to enjoy the Christmas holiday.

What hope that we'll be talking about something different next year, and not Covid? Whilst the current crop of vaccines really have not stopped people catching the virus and passing it on, they have apparently done half their job well and greatly reduced the severity of illness, while breaking news stories this week seem to confirm a trend seen in previous pandemics: the emergence of a milder variant which is out-competing the others. With luck the question will shift in 2022 from how we prevent catastrophe to At what point do we treat Covid like other diseases and stop running our lives around the daily ebb and flow of its statistics? If it does, will governments find it hard to drop the tighter reins they have taken, and continue to claim a state of emergency which justifies them; or will they tell it like it is, keep their word and restore the freedoms that were meant to be much more temporarily suspended than they have been? Hopefully our industry will play its part in ensuring that the right figures are presented accurately and in context, generally hold feet to fires, and help restore normality as soon as possible.

Now we are looking forward to eleven days without having to worry about daily publishing deadlines, and hope you're able to relax completely as well, and can return fired up for the New Year. We'd particularly like to thank our advertisers, of whom there have been a good number again this year after a slight dip in 2020 - thanks for supporting our content and keeping it free to readers - and to the rest of you who like DRNO, please both look at the companies who advertise, and their services; and consider joining their number.

Thank you also for the fantastic feedback we've had this year, from a very large number recently who have emailed to tell us they've been reading for fifteen or twenty years, to the usual mass of people who send kind words having 'just discovered it'. Please help us spread the word to those who may still be unaware that there is a comprehensive and detailed daily paper for the industry, and help to keep it running and keep it free to read. We love working with the dynamic, intelligent and friendly people who make up this sector, and look forward to another year of it.

All the best from Mel, Ian and myself: have a great holiday.

Nick Thomas

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.