The Corona Diary, a social closeness experiment by BR-ND People

Social distance? Colourful days!

Welcome to the Corona Diary, a social closeness experiment by BR-ND People. We hope to inspire you with the efforts that we, as a team, make to fight not just Corona, but also the social distance that comes with it. During our virtual week kick off on Monday morning March 16, we concluded:

1. We are specialised in involving people in the collective challenges organisations face. Whether it’s creating a new brand strategy, bringing together the purpose of individual employees with that of their organisation, or boosting employee happiness. Many organisations - including our own - are now facing the challenge of teamwork in times of social distancing.

2. We have 15 years of gathered knowledge and a wonderful method, 23plusone, that helps people, teams and organisations to support all of the above. The five colours of 23plusone are key for happiness, so let’s paint colourful days!

3. For our team, our office in Amsterdam is our second home. We work, laugh, create, eat, and sometimes even dance there together. Like many other teams that are used to meet each other daily, we have little experience with working together virtually. How does that work? How do you communicate collectively? How do you divide your attention between work and kids, while staying at home? How do you stay connected while physically disconnected?

4. Let’s combine our knowledge about happiness with our inexperience on virtual teamwork. Let’s experiment. With ourselves as the subject of the experiment. Maybe we can inspire others who face the same challenge. Let’s make this work!

How to do that?

• By doing a video call check-in and check-out every morning and end-of-afternoon.

• By inviting people to join us during one of those calls (Wanna join? Let us know!)

• By creating a diary, a logbook, in which we individually share our personal stories, complemented with a weekly summary in which we share tips and tricks based on the knowledge behind 23plusone and our own collective experience.

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If you a chronology type of person, start reading bottom to top ;)

Day 65: WEDNESDAY 20 may

Maja Anđela Šimundić

My last entry was quite emotional and heavy and since then my life turned upside down. But, you know what? I feel like I'm flourishing like the rest of the nature and also all these bars and restaurants that are being cleaned and repainted while being closed. Also, I remember hearing from some BR-ND friends that the diary and our interactions are missing some cocktails and entertainment in general so I decided to take care of this one. Sure, being stuck at home terribly blocked my creativity juices flow (I'm sure I'm not alone in this!!) BUT it still happened here and there and I figured some other ways to have fun in life and overcome the obstacles of the isolation life.

1) Not allowed to meet friends in nature? No problem, I got this. My friends and I are big nature lovers and we were considering a little day trip to nature, but every time we concluded that it is too stressful to worry about the distance and risk the fine (even though we’re the same big household). So we decided to bring the nature to our home and create a little indoor jungle. We united all plants, blankets and pillows of the boat in my place, we played documentaries about nature with a beamer on the wall, and played some dancy upbeat music- resulting in the ultimate indoor camping experience. We had beers, but didn’t want to risk setting the boat on fire with a bonfire and munchmallows :D

2) Games! It was such a standard thing that on weekends we go out, sometimes to some specific nice event and sometimes just for the sake of leaving the house and spending some money in a bar. Fortunately, this crisis forced us to focus more on alternative ways to have fun- and we’re loving it!!

One night, my wonderful neighbor Eric organized and hosted a Mystery Murder Night, super fun role-play game. Eric gave each of us a role in advance so we can dress up accordingly (first time in 2 months I put make up on!). Then he narrated the story, giving us new info and cues in few rounds, and he stimulated discussions in which we had to figure out together who is the murderer. This game requires some thinking so go slow with wine until you get into it! Also, you don’t have to buy this game, just google mystery murder and internet will provide you with many different variations for free.

The next game discovery is Jackbox game- Fibbage (https://www.jackboxgames.com/fibbage/). This one works for older crowd that speaks good English. The group is given unfinished sentence; some very random fact, and everyone has to think of a potential answer that sounds both believable and ridiculous. Next, everyone’s answers are presented on the screen, including the correct answer. You get points when you guess the correct answer, and if people chose your answer as what they think is the correct one.

I used to be quite critical towards the idea of playing games, but I’m glad I gave it a try because they are really a lot of fun, and I’m sure I’ll be fine with staying at home some weekends in the future for games nights, even after corona crisis is over.

3) Lastly, cocktails! My first suggestion is a twist to the beloved classic- gin&tonic. Try to make it with ginger ale instead of a tonic. I thought I was the first one to think of this, until I learned from some bar’s menu it’s a well-known cocktail called London mule. For those who enjoy more spicy cocktails- your next favorite is called Dark&stormy. For this one you will need dark rum, ginger beer and a splash of lime. My latest discovery is Mimosa! I heard about it many times but never tried it. Simple, light and tasty cocktail made with prosecco and orange juice (I like to put some lime, too), perfect for lazy summer days!

Even though corona situation is getting somewhat better (at least in NL) and people are slowly opening to socializing, the government is still asking us to stay patient a bit longer. I hope that I gave you some ideas to keep you busy and entertained for the time being.

Day 51: WEDNESDAY 6 may

Kim Cramer

Feels like the last few days have been a bit of a holiday compared to the last few weeks. Which is good, because the kids have their May Holiday and deserve some attention. Today they both could do their sports training, with Kai playing soccer in a new team and Milo playing baseball for the second time since the Corona crisis. But the day started, as always, with our morning call. We we’re all in a sunny mood and shared what our local skies looked like. Rotterdam, Nieuwegein, Amsterdam and Rijswijk, all blue skies. The start of a nice day! Worked a bit but not too much.

Alexander Koene

Here I am again, been away for over a week. I was very busy with finalising a client assignment last week, which took the good part of my days and some nites. But in co-creation with the client we met the deadline and the result is exceeding even my own expectations. We created an 100+ pages Brand & Culture manual with the purpose, values, services and behavioural principles for one of our clients Nextview, an appreciated fellow B-Corp. This core branding document now will be brought to life in a new Nextview website, and in Trailhead training modules for their current and future employees.

How I feel

Am excited as the Brand & Culture Manual for Nextview is probably one of the most comprehensive and inspiring branding manuals we have ever created. Am convinced this format could support many of our clients with transforming into purpose-led organisations with happy culture. Also I am looking forward to seeing more and more people again in town. The skies are steel blue, the sun is bright, shops are opening up and maybe soon we can sit on the terraces again. Isn’t life wonderful?

Day 50: Tuesday 5 may

Kim Cramer

This morning at 9.30am, I knocked on everyone’s door in Houseparty, surprised to only get hold of Alexander who was still snoozing in his bed. I hadn’t realised people took a day off because of Liberation Day! As I had planned to work anyways, I used the quiet idea that most people we’re not working to get some admin done. Also, I supported Alexander with delivering a research report for our regional cancer network client. I got a nice surprise when my friend Sabine came by. We had cappu in the sun and talked about our businesses and families. I’m happy and thankful to have lots of entrepreneurs in my group of friends, as we all face the same challenges. And maybe, BR-ND and Sabine’s Dotbusiness can find a way to work together. At 5pm, I had another Messenger call to celebrate my friend Mascha’s birthday. In the evening I cooked a nice meal while the boys played soccer in the park. We had dinner at Mediterranean time and after that I bingewatched 4 episodes of my guilty pleasure Grace and Frankie. Love those girls <3

Day 47: monday 4 may

Kim Cramer

After a lovely weekend with boat riding and biking through unexplored green Rijswijk, today wrote a plan to continue our support for a client. This ’Phase 3’ is all about bringing strategy to life and making sure it is understood and embraced by all co-workers. So that they’ll know what action to take to really change things for the better. Exciting! At 5pm I skipped today’s team call to celebrate my friend Lisette’s birthday on Messenger. We laughed our asses off after we discovered the fun filters and games. I was sitting in a crowded park where the boys we’re playing soccer with some other kids and I felt all eyes we’re on me for laughing out loud. Later, impressed by the Remembrance on an empty Dam square and surprised by the personal speech of King Wim-Alex. Even more impressed by the speech of Arnon Grunberg (watch from 0:23) a few moments before. Watched the movie The Boy In The Striped Pyamas. Read the book and saw the film years ago, now watched it with the kids. I guess that was the most impressive thing of the day.

Day 47: saturday 2 may

Kiki Hartmann

Big day today… First I managed to finish off my 1000-piece puzzle that I started at Easter, and we just had to celebrate that!! We also discovered this really great French DJ (Bob Sinclar) who is doing 1 hr sets every day from his home. He’s super charismatic and fun to watch and plays fantastic upbeat music - today he did all 70’s music and we ended up dancing around the house and singing for an hour around the house, too much fun!!  

Day 46: Friday 1 may

Kim Cramer

Operation at the dentist. Ieuwww. Just ready at 9.30 but couldn’t really talk so kept it short. Rest of the day kept it nice and quiet. Big dopamine shot from client’s compliments about our work. Yes.

Day 45: Thursday 30 April

Kim Cramer

Made the deadline of the brand & culture manual for Nextview. Really proud of the end-result and of our team! We worked so hard and passionately on this. Happy.

Day 43: Tuesday 28 April

Michael Cortino

After a weekend with lots of sun, sports and a celebrating our King’s birthday #woningsdag with neighbour friends… I looked forward to a week filled with client work, community contact and working on our 23plusone Academy proposition.

Today I spoke to Frederik and Carmen and sent out the concept presentation for a webinar Victor and I are giving somewhere in the coming weeks. I’m noticing that the 23plusone community is more in contact with each other than before. It’s good to how likeminded people find each other in this time of social distancing.

Day 42: Monday 27 April

Kiki Hartmann

So… Koningsdag today! Slightly different than usual. First of all our neighbourhood was soo quiet compared to how it usually is. I live practically next to the Olympic Stadium where there’s usually a big dance party on Kingsday so it is always very busy and noisy… This year you could hear the birds chirp and the whole neighborhood was quiet (I didn’t mind!)  Luckily we have a big terrace in the sun so we made the most of the day with good food, bubbles and our own little home dance party! 

Day 41: Sunday 26 April

Kiki Hartmann

The horse riding schools are now allowed to open up again and give lessons to kids under 12 and private lessons to the rest of us, which is fantastic…  That’s one thing I’ve really missed these last weeks. So this morning I went out riding in the Amsterdamse Bos for the first time in ages, with my riding instructor. It was absolutely beautiful and quiet and so nice to just ride with one other person like this. Afterwards I had a huge smile on my face all day and felt full of happy hormones. 

DAY 40: Saturday 24 April

Kim Cramer

I could’ve never imagined that having dinner and drinks with friends would be something ‘new’ and special. Still today was the first time in weeks that we spent a full evening together at our friends’ house to eat roti and drink wine & GT’s. Old-fashioned fun. Btw, the roti was made by another friend, as our weekend-cooking for friends is still a ritual. Next week poke bowl to be picked up around the corner.

DAY 39: Friday 24 April

Kiki Hartmann

The last week and a half has flown by and I haven’t had time to write much. This week started with me being sick with a terrible headache - it kept me awake all night and I couldn’t help wondering if it was the beginning of Corona… I’m not usually a hypochondriac but these strange times kind of screw with your mind. As it turned out it was probably just a (heavy) headache and on Tuesday I felt fit to work again. I went to the office and surprised Alle who has spent weeks there on his own now. I had a productive day and very nice lunch in the sun (soup and bread on a park bench) with Alle. In the evening it was announced that they will start lifting some of the Corona restrictions - mainly for kids and youngsters, but that’s always a start and a beginning of the return to normal again! I was selfishly excited about the fact that I will be able to start with my horseback riding lessons again. Not in a group yet, but as private 1 one 1 lessons - I’m super excited about that since I really missed the manege and the horses. My very cool Swiss-made (by Anne Treichel) face mask arrived in the mail today. I’m pretty sure we will all be forced to wear them soon so why not wear them in style!? ; ) 

The rest of the week I worked from home on the brand book project. It was fun to co-create with Alle and Kim in the same Google doc - all at the same time. On Wednesday and Thursday we presented the work in progress to the client, who also added their own ideas live. I ended the week with a relaxed day on Friday, that I mainly spent in the sun on the terrace, going for a walk in the Vondelpark with a friend, talking to my mum (who is finally getting the hang of Facetime ; )) and catching up with everyone on the usual Friday night vrijmibo.

DAY 38: Thursday 23 April

Alexander Koene

My day

Its the 23! But that’s for insiders. Frederik was around, nice! All day in video calls again. Square eyes. Came home and took my bike out for a long fast ride to Kopje Bloemendaal, trip through memory lane. Came home and collapsed. The light in my brain went out and next thing I find myself laying on the concrete floor with lots of pain, blood spatters on the white floor. Stood up, got hold of myself and got the message. Too much workout with too little food. That killed the engine. Result is a blue swollen right face, brows, cheeks and chin.

My feelings

Exhausted. Need some rest.

DAY 37: Wednesday 22 April

Michael Cortino

In our BR-ND group app we share lots of fun and cool stuff, but lots of serious stuff as well. Sometimes ideas, articles or video’s that just shake up the way you see the world. Today, Alexander shared with us a Michael Moore & Jeff Gibbs documentary called Planet of the humans. Long story short, it’s about how capitalists benefit from the transition to green renewable energy, which is not so sustainable as I thought it was. Watch below.

Alexander Koene

My Day

Started the day with a short video call in with BR-ND People. Expressed my thoughts that the press conference and theprolonging of the corona measures are bullshit in my opinion. As entrepreneur and company-owner not eligible for government support, this is not what I want to hear, this is not at all in the interest of my own company. Hope business in general will soon restart responsibly. Today was further a wall2wall scheduled day with writing, researching and lengthy video conferencing with a client and Kim & Kiki. Outside the sun was shining, inside I was working like a horse. Was so busy I did not even notice I was alone all day in the office.

My feelings

Exhausted. Just had diner with my two homies. No time for clear feelings related to work. Time for a deep rest now.

Maja Anđela Šimundić

Dear diary, I’m sorry it’s been so long. I feel like I lived a few lives since my last appearance around here, and I can tell you, I’m not having it easy, but it is getting better. I started this entry some days ago, which almost turned into a book about a journey through every possible human emotion to get out of my dark place alive (imagine something like movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks stuck on the island alone)-  it could be a bestseller. However, I will provide you with a summary instead. As I’ve been quite away from BR-ND, drowning in thesis, exams and other, I will write about feelings, and what changed in my life. After all, BR-ND is about emotions, especially as a tool for transformation, so I hope this will be allright.

I have been following the corona situation closely from the very beginning, so when the lockdown finally started- it wasn’t a surprise, I kinda saw it all coming. In the beginning, it felt almost like a vacation- enjoying the beautiful weather from the comfort of my home. I was sure I would easily fulfil my time with activities I never have time for (at home). Obviously, life goes on, and the following week the reality check got me good. I did all of my studying and work almost exclusively in the library (& other non-home places) my whole studies, as it helps with my easily distractible nature- and now I was stuck at home 24/7. In the most dreadful weeks that followed, I submitted a very mediocre 1st version of my thesis and had partial success with exams. Possibly part of me thought everything will be postponed, and I stopped caring as much. But I do care. I really don’t know anymore. I would open my laptop and things were just not happening as planned.

My motivation was gone, and I was increasingly feeling the weight of responsibilities on stand-by. I did a lot of introspection these days. I felt uncomfortable sharing my negative energy with the world, so I just distanced myself from everyone. Then it hit me- I am a psychology student on a life mission to fight mental health stigma. And look at me, feeling guilty of what I’m feeling, struggling to express it.

I live in a lovely home with lovely people with a sunny terrace, everyone in my life and myself is healthy- I feel like I don’t get to be distressed, if I already have so much. Unfortunately, that is not how emotions work. They are not right or wrong, they are how they are. It is okay not to feel okay. I cannot ignore the empathy for the suffering people around the world, sadness about the earthquake that hit my hometown and all the people that became homeless, fear of my super vulnerable grandparents catching the virus, and the insane uncertainty the situation brought to every aspect of my life. However, I did my work on finding the silver lining of this new reality.

Every morning at 8.30 I have a short video call with my 2 best friends where we tell each other what our goals are for the day, followed by two updates at midday and late afternoon. We help each other stay motivated and discuss setbacks when they happen. As I struggle with falling asleep a lot, sometimes I join later or use the morning talk to help me wake up.

I fell in love with plants and gardening. This new hobby is making my home beautiful and it pushes me to actively care about something. I often call my grandma for gardening tips, and seeing her happy about the two of us sharing the same passion keeps her close in my heart, every day. 

I have never been eating so healthy! Every week we buy a lot of colourful fresh foods. Sometimes I surprise myself by making a big veggie bowl for breakfast, exploring vegetarian/vegan options, and trying to replace pre-dinner snacking with a smoothie. My immune system must be doing great.

This seems to be the time for learning new skills. I made a weekly commitment to choose and master preparation of one meal that I never made before (and usually often eat in restaurants). Last two weeks that were Pad Thai and Pho Bo soup.

I’m trying to appreciate small things in life, such as a beautiful sunset, good hair day, morning dance with loud music on, dressing nicely, reaching out to an old friend and game nights with neighbours.

Acknowledging the range of emotions I’ve been dealing with, including the negative ones, served as inspiration and direction for my proactive nature to start a positive transformation. It is not easy, but it is getting better, and I’m highly determined to come out of this chapter as a better me.

I know, there is painfully lot of plastic packaging :(

Day 36: Tuesday 21 April

Alexander Koene

What I did

Walked to our office in Amsterdam early in the morning, got myself a nice cappuccino and was prepared for another lonely day at work. To my surprise Kiki showed up early and not long thereafter Kim informed me that she could work all day with me digitally from our office in The Hague. That was quite a surprise! Worked all day long on writing with Kim on a brand and culture book for one of our clients, with an ‘in between’ deadline later this week, so the pressure is mounting. Had nice healthy lunch in the sun sitting on a bench outside, with Kiki, while we ate a vegan hot soup and salad. Been writing the rest of the day and also worked on the setup of an online survey to test the new brandname and story with patients for a new medical brand in oncology. Walked home in the sun and went out for a 10km run with a friend. Continued writing on the brand and culture book till late.

How I felt

I felt really grumpy on the way to the office. Did not sleep really well and had cotton wool in my head. Was not looking forward to another lonely day at the office. To my happy surprise Kiki was around in real person and Kim was around via video calling. Had a nice productive day. Felt much better at the end of the day! Happy

Michael Cortino

In the morning Johanna and I viewed our potential new home, but it turned out not the be the right fit. Too bad… “just keep swimming” #dory… After coming home there were teams waiting to receive their customized Purpose Accelerator. So I set up my balcony office, once again in the sun to support them. It feels good knowing that we are still able to contribute to the happiness and meaning of teams in these times.

In our house, we embrace sitting at the table to eat dinner together. Tonight we swapped table for couch to watch the government announce the adjusted measures. Most of the measures are extended until 20 May. Message was clear again. Numbers are looking good because most of the people follow the advice. Still wondering though, if we can be more opportunistic in our approach or should we better be safe than sorry?

Day 35: Monday 20 April

Michael Cortino

Started the week with our digital meetup, looking forward to launching our Purpose Accelerator, client work, brand movie development and contributing to student development at Fontys University. Also, viewing another house is on the agenda.

After our digital meetup Kim, Alexander, Fried-Jan and I discussed the concept of our Brand movie. With all these creative minds it looks like there is a lot of directions to choose from, so we decided to just start asap with development of the movie and take it from there. Let the creative juices flow during the process.

Launching the Purpose Accelerator led to a lot of positive reactions. Already 7 teams signed up which is very nice to see. Hope that we can inspire more teams to find their collective spark during these times. After work Johanna and I enjoyed a nice home cooked meal to celebrate our 13-year anniversary.

Alexander Koene

My day

Last Friday and today Monday I was again alone in the office. And I notice being alone has a negative effect on my mood. Despite the many video calls trying to maintain social digital interactions, I fear my work in isolation is not as satisfactory as it normally is. It starts feeling bit like ‘work’, something that has to be done ‘for the money’. Particularly the creative side of my work is affected. It is not that the quality of my creative output drops, but it simply takes me longer to be productive in analysis, creating concepts and writing narratives. The kind of ‘creative’ work I have been doing for the last decade or longer is highly dependent on social interactions. This essential creative ‘tension’ and ‘friction’ is currently not so easy to organise. This afternoon Kim and I managed to work together again. While video calling, Kim had to juggle a bit between the home schooling of her two young boys and trying to discuss and co-create on client stuff. But it went quite well and it was nice to create a bit together again.

My feelings

If there is one thing this corona crisis is teaching me work-wise, is that I am not good as a lone wolf. Alone is very alone. I am grateful my day was cheered up in the evening with my two homies and a long video call with my mother now for six weeks in isolation in Brittany.

Day 31: Thursday 16 April

Alexander Koene

My Day

More people in that house! Today I was together with Frederik and Kiki in the morning and in the afternoon Jouke joined. Drinking coffee together and just being around in a relaxed setting, without saying so much tells a lot about the quality the connection. I had a 2.5 hour video call with one of our clients talking about culture, behaviours, value propositions and their future. Heard many cool things not mentioned before by other leaders from the same company. Went out with Jouke for a sandwich and a long stroll in the centre again. This time not alone but together is better. After lunch took Jouke through one of our client cases from last year and explained how to create and program an Insider with 23plusone. Went home bit earlier than normal and biked with Robert a two hour loop North of Amsterdam.

My feelings

Was another positive day because of all the work, being able to help people and being in touch with people in real life and work again. Now feel my legs tremble from 2 hours spinning against the cold Northeasterly.

Day 30: Wednesday 15 April

Kiki Hartmann

Today was the first day back in our office! I doubted for a long time if it was wise to go in but decided in the end that A) I bike to work on very quiet and empty bike lanes and streets, so I don’t really come across a lot of other people, B) Only very few people are in the office so it’s not exactly crowded, C) I’m going a little bit stir crazy, just staying at home and D) I missed working on my big screen… So… I convinced myself ; ). Had a lovely day, first unpacking stuff that has been in boxes since the fire, then working on a brand book and some new ideas for br-nd! For lunch Alle and I grabbed a sandwich at Stach and wandered around the quiet streets.. It was quite something to see Leidsestraat completely empty in the middle of a Wednesday! The sun was shining and the sky was blue and we strolled around looking at buildings - something you can normally never do in Amsterdam since you constantly need to look out for bikes and trams and tourists… In the afternoon we had a glass of wine to celebrate another project win! All in all a great day ; )

Michael Cortino

The day started with our digital meet up, this time Alexander and Kiki joined from the office. Right after the meetup we spoke about the future of our client with two of their key players. Interesting views, new perspectives. In the afternoon I spoke with Carmen and later on with Victor about training and facilitating a meaningful conversation for teams and organisations on collective drives and purpose through the Purpose accelerator.

And we got the bad news about the house we bid on. Too bad, peanut butter. Looking forward to finding the right one for us.

Happy to hear that the sacrifices we’re making with social distancing are paying off and that the government is preparing us for the 1.5m society. But the message was clear. Hold on just a bit more.

Alexander Koene

What I did

After 30 days working alone at our office, our charming Kiki joined me again. What a delight. After 2.5 hour video call with two female leaders of one of our clients, we went out in sunny Amsterdam for a healthy sandwich at Stach’s and we had a long stroll in the centre and studied the stunning architecture of the buildings in Amsterdam. And another Jeej, early afternoon we got a formal GO for the next phase of the creation of a medical brand for cancer care in larger region around Utrecht. Kiki and I celebrated the end of a nice day with a glass of white wine. Cheers. Upon arrival back home I ran 8.2km in the sun and ate with Merel and Sinyo a spicy Mexican vegetarian meal.

How I felt

Simply awesome with Kiki back in the house and another go on a client project. And the sun and extremely clear blue sky were the cherry on the cake.

Day 29: Tuesday 14 April

Kim Cramer

Traditionally, we spend Easter Sunday with my parents in law and all children and grandchildren. They prepare a huge breakfast, hide chocolate eggs in their garden and enjoy the grandkids’ egg hunt. This year was supposed to be extra festive because they’ve just moved house and it would be the first celebration there. Obviously, this was not happening, so we opted for a creative alternative. That’s why you could have seen me on the streets with a big easter bunny to surprise grandma and granddad. We drank coffee on the lawn in front of their terrace and the bunny hid chocolate eggs that we’re later in the afternoon found by his nephews and niece.

Michael Cortino

Had a relaxed and sunny Easter weekend with some quality time with family, sports, preps for client work and fulfilling our quest in buying a house. We made an offer and tomorrow we will hear if it was the right one. Crazy times… This short work week I’m looking forward to do client work, 23plusone community activities, launching a digital proposition and working towards our brand movie.

Today we had a video call with a client in the morning, after that a video call with Kim, Alexander and Kiki to reflect on the session. In the afternoon I spoke to Nanda about a Mural template for digital session for the 23plusone friends. A good day to start the week with.

Alexander Koene

Cold grey day in Amsterdam. Received a message from our landlord that our office should not be occupied by more than three persons, normally we are six! This to keep the 1.5m physical distance into account. No problem, I am alone! Looking forward to again see some more people in our office. Kiki will join me tomorrow and Frederik on Thursday. Also Jouke will join us in the afternoon. Looking forward to having people around and get the creative juices going again.

Today worked on updating a brand culture book for an existing client, including a 2 hour video call with a group of seven. The story is gradually taking shape. Love to create!

DAY 26-28: 11-13 April

Kiki Hartmann

I was supposed to be in Sweden for Easter but obviously had to cancel that trip and stay at home… Luckily it turned out to be both beautiful weather and a very relaxing weekend (for the most part).

Good Friday- Went for a long walk with a friend and enjoyed the sunny warm weather. Finalized the website for Kenneth. Got a new small little project - art directing a website for an old client. We had a fun dress-up VrijMiBo filled with laughs and silliness - much needed right now!

Easter Saturday- Primo came over, and I spent most of the day preparing a nice Easter dinner, getting flowers, cooking, eating and drinking. Felt very nice and traditional, like what normal families do (I think ; ). 

Easter Sunday- After a long lazy Easter brunch, we cleared the dining table and launched in to a 1000-piece puzzle. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but was hopeful to get it done during the day (which turned out to be extreme wishful thinking). This is how it looked after Hours of work ; o

DAY 28: Monday 13 April

Alexander Koene

Isn’t it funny that we only seem to write on ‘official’ working days? As if keeping a diary is part of ‘work’. My belt holds up my trousers and my trousers have belt loops that hold up the belt. What the fuck’s really going on down there? Who is the real hero? My trousers, my belt or what is hanging between my legs? Why wear trousers with belt loops and a belt anyway, while being at home, isolated? Just some thoughts more related to my private life and not to my ‘work’. Anyways it was Easter yesterday and we ate eggs. Hard boiled eggs with mayonaise. And I discovered that white eggs are better than brown ones. More sustainable and much cheaper. Watch this broadcast to learn more about price differentiation based on color. Dutch retailers are filling their deep pockets with cleverly misleading the people to make them pay more for an inferior egg. And I got my Easter present, a fabulous Indonesian style face mask. I will wear it with pride!

DAY 26: Friday 10 April

Kim Cramer

Highlight of the day was our Fabulous Friday call with funny hats, wigs and feather boas. We had lots of fun and stayed on the line forever, it was my longest day closing since we started our daily chat sessions. From serious talks, to silly jokes and even a home concert by Ivo and his daughter Flore, this was one to remember. How good it feels to be totally ‘unserious’ every now and then. Bringing back the child inside you, makes happy (Yellow)!!!

Alexander Koene

Today is Friday, last day of this 4th Corona workweek at the office. Finalised a next phase proposal for a group of hospitals, specifically to building in the process that this new proposition in oncology will be sufficient patient focused. Also worked on the content of a brand culture book for one of our international IT clients.

My daughter Ming (12) came to the office for lunch and together we had a nice stroll in the centre of Amsterdam. We ate an avocado and mozzarella sandwich sitting on a wooden bench on sunny but deserted Rokin. Ming was wearing a trendy mask made by her mother Luz, who started a little home industry in batik pattern face masks. I want one too!

End of the day we had a crazy fabulous outfit drinks session with the BR-ND Team and Friends. Nice to see you all! Happy Easter, folks!

DAY 25: Thursday 9 April

Kim Cramer

During our daily Houseparty, I challenged the guys and dolls to do Fabulous Friday Drinks tomorrow. Dress up for the end of day meet. Can’t wait to see their outfits!

Michael Cortino

Happy to enjoy a beautiful day, from home again. The news that flattening the curve is happening is fantastic. It makes the sacrifices we have been making for the last weeks worthwhile and tangible. Having thoughts about sitting here for three more weeks and the impatience of not only myself, but a lot of people. The positive news makes it a little tougher to keep on sacrificing despite the clear message from our prime minister “hold on a little longer!”. What will happen if people already start returning to their normal routines? What will happen with the curve? How will it impact the wellbeing of people and the economy? Or is selflessness more important than ever in this periode of time? So many questions, so little answers.

Today I spoke with Rosa, one of the licensed friends. We had a great session about leadership, branding, culture, innovation and tooling. We inspired each other which was the highlight of my day. Later on I worked on preparations to collect feedback on brand strategy for a client and spoke with them about next steps.

Alexander Koene

The city of Amsterdam felt quite different today. More and more happy people in the outdoors. I saw smiles on the faces and some more shops were opening up again. Is it the sunny spring weather? Is it the realisation that the curve is being flattened? Or is it the resilience of the people in the city who have been hiding in their apartments for about 4 weeks and are fed up with all the social distancing? Anyways, for me it was again another day alone again at our office, busy with various video calls with clients and our team. Decided to go home early, jump on my racing bike and speed to the beach and back. Unfortunately no boobs on the beach these days. Am getting bit recalcitrant with all of us waiting for a go from ‘above’ before we can start taking action. The world of business needs repair, can’t wait making it happen, folks.

DAY 24: Wednesday 8 April

Kiki Hartmann

Today was my mum’s birthday who is celebrating at home alone ; ( She has just discovered Facetime though so we made a family call and managed to surprise her and ended up having cake and coffee together, so all in all quite nice despite the distance! I worked most of the day on Kenneth’s new website.

Kim Cramer

The third time joining Tamara’s weekly training in out back yard. I’m starting to get the hang of it. Missing the Thursday morning sports sessions Alexander and I use to catch up and make plans though. Guess it will take a while before I can go to the gym in Amsterdam. Decided to get fit and strong so I can impress Alex when the time comes ;) Blue and purple at the same time haha!

Alexander Koene

Another day at the office in Amsterdam. Alone. Luckily the city was a bit more lively today. More friendly people outside. More shops opening. Had a nice talk with Jouke, one of the licensed friends. With his wife they suffered from corona and both recovered. What a story! Jouke will visit me next week for a half day to dive into programming of a 23plusone insider. Happy to help him. In the afternoon while walking back, many people sitting on the pavements, drinking a beer or a wine with the neighbours. I could feel the relief, the tension seems to fade somewhat. Is it the lovely warm sunny weather or the start of the decline in the corona victims?

Day 23: Tuesday 7 april

Michael Cortino

I was a good day where I got to speak to Xandra from Totta and Joris from Jacobs&Kars about how to use 23plusone digitally. We spoke about the effects of the corona crisis but luckily we were in a situation where we could also talk about current client work, innovation and the future for most of the time. Positive vibes:) While having good discussions about tooling, I realised that the most important part of a tool is the person using it. That having a clear vision on which direction you want to go could make it easier to navigate through tooling and technology.

Fried Jan, owner of Crossmark Pictures and husband of Kim, Kim and I had a nice conversation about how the BR-ND movie could look like. Next week we will be discussing concepts. So excited!

In the afternoon I read about the possible corona effects on the economy and came across an interesting view of Jan Rotman on not only the economy but also on climate. That apparently these crises are necessary to make way for change, but only if we start paying attention to the lateral thinkers, start ups and scale ups in stead of the establishment. (Dutch)

Kim Cramer

Going out of home for work! Something so normal I used to do every day has suddenly become the highlight of the month! I wish I could go to the office now and then, but like so many other parents out there, I’m captive at home to take care of the kids. Not just out of egocentric reasons, I still believe ‘we’ should have kept the schools open. But I don’t want to complain, as I know there are other parents who are having a real hard time, while I’m coping fine. Still, going to Eindhoven today was great. A long drive in the car, beautiful weather and Alexander to join me! Poor Alex, he wasn’t so happy to sit in the back of the car, at 1.5m distance. I’m not afraid of getting ill, I just want to minimize the risk of contaminating my mom of 82. I want to be able to visit her, knowing that I’m in control. Anyway, we had a long chat with our client in Eindhoven and after that I brought Alex home, before I drove home again. I think I’m gonna spend some more time driving even without a destination ;)

Alexander Koene

I went to Eindhoven to visit a client for a vision interview. Tried to take the train Amsterdam to Eindhoven, but to no avail. All trains cancelled. So I took the slow train to The Hague. And asked Kim if she would be prepared to fetch me from the train station and then drive together down south to Eindhoven. Kim was first a bit hesitant and did not want me to come closer than 1,5m. A bit neurotic I thought, but for sure she has her reasons. So I had to sit in the back of the car 2 rows behind Kim. Not so nice. But she brought me some nasi goreng for lunch, which I ate in the car, while Kim was driving. That was kind of her. And the car, a young-timer from 2007 with over half million on the meter, drove like a high speed TGV, fast, silent and comfortable the French way. And after our work visit all the way in the South, Kim brought me back to Amsterdam later that night. Because again there was no public transportation. That was very kind. Again me sitting as far as possible in the back of the car. With Kim as my chauffeur. Distance is a tactic to create silence; ‘strategy is action not executed’.

Day 22: Monday 6 April

Kiki Hartmann

After a beautiful, sunny weekend where I managed to spend most of the time outside despite the lockdown, I was ready for week four of corona social distancing and WFH. After our usual morning get together (where the house in Houseparty actually got too full at one point), I cleared out the cobwebs in my ‘summer office’ (which technically is a loggia so you can only work there in the warm months). I then spent most of the day working on a new design project. I realized how much I missed actually doing creative work and how much energy and happiness it gives me.

Alexander Koene

It’s spring time suddenly. Lot’s of sunshine and very nice temps about 20 degrees. While walking to the office, I decided to work only half a day and take the afternoon off for some race cycling with a friend. The last 3 weeks I have been completely alone at the office, did not skip a day and worked from early morning till early evening, so maybe I should slow down a bit this week with all this super weather. Not sure if this will succeed as I do have vision interviews with clients scattered around over the next couple of days. Will try to block the afternoons for sports in the outdoors. In between I took a pair of scissors and cut my hear short again. Did admin chores in the evening, seeking numbers for tax purposes and for the bank re a mortgage for a new apartment I have recently bought. Hope the bank is happy enough with my financials.

Glad the measures of social distancing now seem to be effective. It looks like we are collectively able to push corona somewhat forward, instead of getting it all at the same time. By pushing it forward it will stay around for a long long time, but at least we relieve the healthcare workers and capacity a bit. Hope most people soon will be able to get back to work again. It’s lonely at the office and I miss working together with my team and clients.

Kim Cramer

Had a hard time getting into work mode after a lazy Sunday. Fortunately, we have our morning kick offs. Sunday, I rediscovered a milk frother from a holiday in Italy, which can replace the super-coffee-machine-milk-frother-which-is-broken, so I made myself the first latte since I left Spaces Vijzelstraat. This morning, I drank my latte on a bench along the Vliet, the canal in front of my house, while talking to Kiki, Frederik, Carmen, Ivo, Michael, Alexander, Piri and Maja. Full house in Houseparty! We even had to switch to Google Meet again because Houseparty only hosts eight. Weekend stories about parents, birthdays, and the latest news. It seems that we are flattening the curve, or is it too soon to say so? I shared with the team my enthusiasm about the Tegenlicht episode of Sunday evening, with Lidewij Edelkoort and Dirk de Wachter. They share their predictions and hopes for the post-corona world and lifestyle. Solidarity, creativity and less desire for more, more, more …

And further? Can’t really get my head around this: are we over-reacting with draconic measures to save an handful of weak people, while we let future generations plunge into misery? The public debate is just about to start, why don’t we have a vision on this yet? Why are we so afraid to have a serious discours about this topic? This Volkrant article tries.

Michael Cortino

Start of the fourth week of social distancing. Quick weekend highlights: On Saturday night I binge watching the entire S4 of La Casa De Papel. On Sunday I tried to prepare a dish I fell in love with in Italy. Parmigiana di Melanzane. With a little inspiration from YouTube it turned out to be something I would definitely be serving when people come over for dinner.

So this week I’m looking forward to do client work, 23plusone community activities and working on BR-ND innovation. And lots of sunshine.

Day 20: Saturday 4 April

Kim Cramer

Now that weekdays and weekends seem to become interchangeable, I tried my best to really celebrate two days off. Started the day with late breakfast and went grocery shopping in The Mall of the Netherlands. This mall with its pretentious name is just the mall in my town of birth, Leidschendam, where I’ve done my shopping for the most part of my childhood and grownup life. It’s being rebuilt and will be quite big, with a movie theatre and all, but momentarily, half-built and corona-proof, it’s a bit of an eerie place. Luckily, I didn’t have to stand in line and everything I needed was available. I needed a lot because today my kitchen would transform into Toko Kim, where Indonesian food like nasi goreng and sateh was being prepared to be picked up by family and friends. Every now and then, a friend’s kitchen serves as a kitchen for all, so that the burden of everyday cooking is a bit relieved. It was a great evening with lots of happy faces and - why not compliment myself - good food!

Day 19: Friday 3 April

Alice Muurlink

Over three weeks in crisis. I see nice new opportunities rising, but once in a while I get a panic attack, as all there was is unstable. We’re changing business to new hybrid concepts with virtual and (for the future to come) live elements. This shift gives me energy as the event industry has always been mainly focussed on live meetings, now for the first time hybrid events are seriously embraced. Maybe this crisis finally brings us to year-round connections. 

Socially I see it brings mandatory patience - rush hour is over. We all have to wait with a distance of 1,5 meter to order or enter the supermarket. 

From a family perspective I see my children are very relaxed. Which pops the question: “Are we over-demanding in normal times?” A new boredom seems to bring new creativity … something to remember ...

Day 18: Thursday 2 April 

Kim Cramer

Happy vibes during the third session with our extended team about our own brand and culture. Also happy to be in contact with our client Volksbond Streetcornerwork. They work for and with vulnerable target groups that need special care, always, but especially in these times. They’ve just launched a nice initiative to share stories, called verhaalpermens.nl. We’ve asked if there’s anything we can do to help, free of charge. Glad that at least we can support them with some communication challenges. But if running errands would be needed, we’d also accept the job!

Alexander Koene

What I did

Walked to the office and while I was making calls with my earbuds in, I managed to upset a fellow Amsterdammer as he believed I should not talk so loud on the streets. Now I’m sure I didn’t speak loud, but in a deserted town with no cars and people, a normal voice might indeed sound loud. And the man was probably stressed and fearful of the corona crises and our ‘intelligent’ lock down. Worked all day with Kim, Mike, Victor and in the afternoon with most of the BR-ND People on our new branding strategy and narrative. Cool! We collectively decided to make a next step in our transformational path from being a brand positioning consultancy 15 years ago to a hot-shop specialising in brand-driven and purpose-led culture development, what we are nowadays. That’s also where our ambition is. And over the last couple of years we are increasingly being recognised for the work we do in that field. We believe business is entering a new phase from shareholder to stakeholder capitalism. We expect supporting local communities will be of much more importance. Successful organisations must change their thinking, focus, principles, purpose, rituals and actions to prevent from becoming irrelevant. The Anglo-Saxon drive for more money and power will be replaced by a good old Low-Saxon way of working. Companies must change their inner operating systems and start contributing to the wellbeing of communities and their workforces. That’s where we can help them with. Brand driven culture.

How I felt

Felt great again. No stress or corona fears otherwise. After all the creative stuff at the office, I walked home, ran 10km with a buddy and took up work again in the evening. Looking forward to tomorrow, time to do more client work.

Day 17: Wednesday 1 April 

Michael Cortino

Today was a day where the happy juices were not flowing as usual. Don’t know why but shit happens I guess.

Alexander Koene

What I did

Our office has been officially released after the fire damage. It’s all fresh and clean again. Started the day with rubbing our large wooden working bench with fine oil. Lovely natural smell and the table looks awesome again. Worked most of the day on various chores mostly using video calling. We had a nice long and thorough session on redefining the emotive dynamics of our own brand and corresponding culture. Based on this Kim and I rewrote our narrative for our website and marketing collateral. And as a briefing for a new BR-ND People brand movie. On Thursday we will discuss it all with the team, see how they react and based on that we will finalise it. For diner Ming (12) joined us and Merel made pancakes! Yum

How I felt

I felt great! Must be the effect of entering the creative flow again. Lots of stuff to be done for clients and our own company.

Day 16: Tuesday 31 March 

Michael Cortino

The weather was amazing today. As always, started the day with a digital meetup and worked on my balcony office. Feels like a routine now. It was a day with excitement, pride and happy vibes. One of our previous client returned with a new assignment. Kim and Alexander made positive impact on a MT meeting with a client. I worked on further analyzing the content of the creative meetup and together defined the deadline for this internal brand movie briefing. And Kim told me she was inspired to work on her table because of my table project. Awesome! We had a good afternoon call. All sitting in the sun and reflecting on this day. Then Kim van der Brugge shared a link in the group. A quick analysis of your creative spirit, by Adobe. https://mycreativetype.com/. I came out as the innovator.

Kim Cramer

Business-wise this was a good day. I was a bit nervous about the MT presentation we had to give, first time virtual via Zoom for such an important moment in the branding process. It went quite well, but it was strange to experience little interaction as 16 people were listening with their mics off. Also, because I had to look at the slides I was presenting, I couldn’t scan their faces for signs of appreciation or maybe disapproval. Good that Alexander was also in the meeting so he could second me and pay attention to the responses. I felt connected and disconnected at the same time.

After good news about a new assignment, I decided that I had worked long and hard enough the last few weeks. Relax time in the garden with sun, wine and at 5 ‘o clock our lovely daily checkout. We talked about how things you let in, start defining your mood and that it’s important to let the positive stimuli in, especially when your feeling down. I posted this article about it last week. It’s all about being conscious about your happiness hormones. There’s actually a lot you can do to influence them, think of behaviours within the 5 domains of 23plusone! But of course it also helps to some times just accept that life sucks.

Kiki Hartmann

After a restless night with doomsday dreams (the result of reading too much online), we had some interesting discussions in our morning online get together, about how long we think this crisis will go on for and how our post-corona future will look like... After sharing those negative thoughts with the others, I felt much better already. Who needs a shrink and a couch when you have co-workers and Houseparty!? It was another beautiful, sunny day so after some mailing and organizing of my home office, I went for a long bike ride through Amsterdamse Bos. When I came back Alle called and told me that they had just gotten good news regarding a new project with an ‘old’ client - actually that was pretty amazing news… I don’t think many people or agencies are getting any new business in these crazy times. All in all it was a good day ; )

Alexander Koene

What I did

Super day with a deep blue clear sky above Amsterdam. Must be the effects of prolonged Northeasterly winds and zero airplanes in the sky. Had a nice Meetup with Kiki, Mike and Frederik. Worked the whole morning with Kim on preps for a video call with the Management Team of a large NGO. The meeting went well, Kim did a great job in taking the group through the process and in sharing the brand story we created for their organisation. At the end of the meeting we received a positive mail from a prospect confirming that our proposal from last Friday had been discussed and accepted by their MT. Then Kim and I had a call with the CEO of that company to align further and agree next steps. Walked back home again enjoying the blue skies. Closed the day with a video call with our team. Then went for another 10km run with a friend. Had diner with Merel, Sinyo and my brother and Els joined for diner from Bretagne using the Houseparty app.

How I felt

Working with Kim together (green, social connection) on the presentation and copywriting the brand narrative (yellow, self-development) made me feel connected and productive. The blue sky made Amsterdam really attractive (pink, attraction) The positive session with the NGO made me feel proud and acknowledged (purple), which was strongly amplified by the positive news on our new branding and culture assignment. Getting a GO on a new project during these strange times made me feel proud and confirmed my belief that our team is really good in the work we do. With a happy feeling I walked back home, to celebrate with a glass wine during our end day video call. Boosted my endorfines with running (blue, vitality) and a health Italian diner. A Happy day, indeed!

Day 15: Monday 30 March 

Michael Cortino

A new week. A not so sunny start as last week, but okay is April and it does wat ‘ie wil. As a Dutch guy I embrace every minute of sunshine. So I actually look like I went on a vacation last week. I didn’t. Just spent a lot of time behind the laptop on my south sided balcony. Anyways… After finishing my dining table last weekend, I looked forward to a new week. A week with client work, innovation on digital facilitation, contributing as a partner in education @Fontys and having remote fun with the BR-ND team. As little as I knew, Robert Essenstam, on of our firstwave licensed friends, contacted me for some 23plusone card sets. He’s sending them to a client in Nepal. Exiting! Due to uncertainty with PostNL he decided to drive to my place to pick ‘m up. All the way from Eindhoven. I’d do the same when I had my brand new Tesla. It was great to see him again. And I met his daughter, Isis. While they showed up, I was in a Houseparty conversation with Kim and Alle, so Robert and Isis got to see them too. We kept it short and held 1.5m distance. Felt a bit strange though. Today was a good day. Worked on the Dierenbescherming. Started my analysis on our creative meeting before the weekend. Ended the day with a nice workout. Below some pics of a fulfilling chore.

Alexander Koene

What I did

Started the week with my daily walking commute to our office in the centre. Cold grey weather, very different from last week. Arrived at work, we started the morning Meetup in Google Meet, but we all swapped to the Houseparty app. In no time the swap was made and it was decided to make that for now the new routine. Not clear yet how many can join, but the quality of sound and video appears much higher than other video solutions. After this Kim and I tried to cooperate with analysing and rewriting a brand story for a client. This took the main part of the afternoon. Moved back to our office at the 2nd floor, although it has not officially been released as ‘clean’ again after the fire, but it is very clean! Finished the day with a Meetup in Houseparty with Mike and Kim, the rest of the gang gave a no show. Walked back the 4km home, while talking in Houseparty about serious business stuff.

How I felt

Am completely confirmed that for me the pleasure of work depends on collaborative human interaction, both the informal crazy and ineffective stuff as the collective creative flow while under pressure of a deadline. Working alone for over 2 weeks now is definitely not my thing. And also the ‘pressure’ to be efficient and effective while in a video call is not my best. Different from all the whoohaaa how fun ppl find it to work remotely, for me this is not the case. I hope we soon can come together again and experience the pleasure of working and being together.

Day 14: Sunday 29 March 

Kim Cramer

The last week felt again like a rat race to me. In spite of the lovely weather and the much smaller amount of work than normal, I still felt quite stressed. Maybe it was the financial anxiety on top of everything else. From Friday evening till Sunday morning, I’ve been sorting out all invoices, payments and government measures to support entrepreneurs. Sending official letters, emailing creditors to comfort them with the message that their bills will be paid asap, and lots of mails to and fro with our bookkeeper and advisor about which steps to take and in what order. Crazy to think that all entrepreneurs are doing the same with the same stressed minds… A tiny bit of pride and self-confidence pops up now that I’m somewhat experienced with regard to this stuff. At least I can now share what I learned with befriended entrepreneurs.

So much for the Purple stuff ;) On to the Green! On Saturday we went to our friend Jelle Hidma, sustainable farmer in Twekkeloo (Where?! In the East of the Netherlands, close to Hengelo). Since 2015, he runs ‘Koeien van Jelle’ which supplies restaurants and consumers with pure and honest meat from Lakenvelder cows. With the restaurants closed, he finds support in many people that directly buy from the source. It’s always nice to visit Jelle (even while keeping our distance) as he’s one of the friendliest, loveliest, warm, honest, huggable guys I know. Hopefully we can hug again next time! After the visit we lingered on a bit with a walk through the fields, talking to the cows, and enjoying the beauty and the silence of the countryside. A portion of Pink ;) Social distancing is very easy once you leave the city!

On Sunday, I created donuts with Milo. Big fun with a Yellow touch! They didn’t really taste like donuts, but that didn’t prevent me from going to my mom and to my sister to serve them our creations. It was mainly because I miss them despite our calls and apps. It was good to see them, and especially to learn that my mom seems to behave more responsible than in the beginning of this crisis. She’s the most vital 82-yo I know, but also quite headstrong ;) Also gave some of the beautiful meat to my brother-in-law who’s a great hobby chef. Happy to connect with my family.

Day 12: Friday 27 March 

Kiki Hartmann

Today we had part 2 of the BR-ND co-creation session of the Brand Story. Good fun again and interesting to see how creation can still work even though we’re not all in the same room. In the evening we had our Vrijmibo drinks again with a bigger group - good fun! I think this is a habit we can definitely hang on to post-Corona!

Kim Cramer

I was really proud today of Michael, who seems to have mastered the art of online brainstorming all by himself. Part 2 of the BR-ND brand story brainstorm consisted of valuable discussions and lots of fun and laughter. Also, we evaluated and learned how to improve. Really glad that we take this time now to innovate. Make us all happy as we’re not the type of people to stick to the status quo. Makes me extra happy to see how many of our Licensed Friends are participating. Feels pretty connected. Purple, green and yellow colours combined!

Alexander Koene

What I did

Today I was more or less full time in video calls. In the morning first the Meetup with the BR-ND team, followed by a long session with an extended team to work on the SDG’s and 23plusone Trinity online with Zoom and Mural as main coms technology. Works fine, but requires very clear roles within the team, to get the most out of it. Thereafter I had a video call with Mike and Victor about the development of a new proposition for teams to discover their SDG’s and 23plusone profiles. After this I quickly went into town to score a sandwich and had a call with Kim about our ideas for a proposal further to a briefing of a client earlier this week. Then we started writing and creating the proposal with the aim to send it before the end of the day. Simultaneous with writing the proposal, we had our Friday afternoon drinks online with a larger happy group of BR-ND & 23plusone team members. Thereafter Kim and I finalised the client proposal and let the weekend begin!

How I felt

Short version. I felt exhausted and a bit edgy at the end of the week. So many video calls require a lot of energy. Also I noticed that so many people ask me for my opinion and ideas about what to do-lah. But often I don’t know and would prefer ppl to come with their ideas and solutions. This is also new for me and I don’t have experience with co-creative processes while working remotely. I felt the pressure that I am supposed to know how that works. But it could also be that this pressure exists only in my mind! Time for weekend ;)

Day 11: Thursday 26 March 

Kiki Hartmann

I surprised a good friend with a bunch of flowers at her doorstep today. It felt good to have time to organize that for her birthday, instead of just the usual Facebook birthday message. At lunch we went for our usual little walk in the Vondelpark. In the evening my yoga studio organized a live online session on Zoom for the first time. After a few technical glitches, we got going and it was almost the same as being in the studio, hooray for technology!

Carmen Phillips

Today was all about getting things done (morning) and doing some deskresearch as my reward (afternoon). 

Starting with a call with my ROC team. We're developing a course from scratch; an associate culinary degree for entrepreneurial cooks wanting to build an innovative business. The first of its kind in The Netherlands. From new tastes to cooking products to sustainability, it includes all kinds of culinary trends and developments. Including master classes on ideation, product development, mythbusting, design thinking, leadership development, and a strong foundation of practical management skills. All pivoting around cooks and cooking. Cool stuff and a strong team. Perfect ingredients ;-)

Various other calls with other clients filled a lot of my day. In fact I was in live meetings practical non-stop from 9am to 3.30 pm. Then finally, I allowed myself time to dive into gamification platforms! All this and a brisk walk were perfect ingredients for a fulfilling day. Should I be enjoying my days like this with so much going on? My guilty pleasure..enjoying life in spite of Corona. And I am sensing a huge relief that I am able to continue working for the foreseeable future. Grateful for this!

Looking forwards to tomorrow's BR-ND creative session!

Kim Cramer

What I learned today: 6 video calls in one day is too much. Although I have to say that video calling is a great way to connect to people you can’t physically be with and that it saves a lot of travel time, it is much more relaxed to meet each other in real life. No hassle about image and sound quality, actually looking each other in the eyes*, and much less distraction. I was quite exhausted after all the calls today, but also exited, as new things are coming up. Fell asleep early while reading bed time stories, which was the only quality time with the kids today. Interesting to realise that, while I never feel guilty for not being at home because of long workdays, being around all day but not having time for the kids makes me feel like a bad mom…

* I read somewhere that it helps to look in the camera of your laptop or phone while talking, instead of looking to your screen, so that it resembles looking each other in the eyes. Good tip!

Day 10: WEDNESDAY 25 March 

Michael Cortino

When we start the day and the sun is shining, I go out to sit on my balcony. It makes me feel good, vital en healthy. Enjoying it while connecting with my coworkers is a perfect way to start the day [Blue / Green]. After the call I started to look into the results of our last remote session. In order to find insights that could guide us to an evolved and future proof brand narrative. It was a creative task with some reflecting, thinking and writing [Yellow]. During the day Alexander talked me through a former client that reached out for guidance. A couple of years ago we helped them with their brand portfolio and rebranding strategy. What I found interesting is that three people that worked there and experienced the branding process, are now working elsewhere and they all reached out to us to help them with their brand strategy. I was proud at team BR-ND, delivering work that makes a lasting positive impact on people [Purple].

Later that day I received the newsletter of Factor Tachtig, a friended branding/marketing strategy agency in Eindhoven, led by Jeroen van Ijzendoorn. Their branding and content is always on point so I reached out to him to tell him that. We video-called afterward, and talked about quaranteened life and it’s potential positive impact. It was nice to see him again [Green].

Later in the evening I made some progress on our dining table [Purple/ Pink].

Kim Cramer

Today started with sports (BLUE). I joined the session of my husband Fried-Jan and his personal trainer Tamara. While laying on my back in the garden for sit-ups, I enjoyed the view on my cherry blossom tree. It stood in the shadow for the most part, but the highest branches with their almost blooming buds we’re catching the first sun rays. It was a beautiful sight (PINK) which softened the hardship my abs were undergoing ;)

I interrupted the session for a few minutes to join the morning Meet up with the team. We spoke about the other colours of 23plusone which we were experiencing or planned to experience today. For me these were:

PURPLE: Looking forward to client-work in the coming days. Thankful for the recognition we receive from former and new clients.

GREEN: Connecting with the team, with my sister and nephew who are celebrating their weirdest birthdays, and with the parents of Milo’s class as today all kids got to know whether they were allowed at their preferred secondary school. Celebrated that Milo can go to Lyceum Ypenburg, his fist choice, with ‘dinner’ at the beach.

YELLOW: Creating a summary of Week 1 of the Corona Diary!

Alexander Koene

What I did

This morning my daily walk to the office. Again a deserted Amsterdam centre. Called my mum in Bretagne on the way to cheer her up and listen to the story about the deer in her garden chased by the dogs. With no people and cars on the roads, game is coming to places never before. Started my office work with a cafe from John, and the daily remote BR-ND Meetup. Not many participants again this time. Mike, Carmen, Kiki, Frederik are the loyal ones! Finished my birthday blog about Renaissance or branding as it used to be. Mike picked it up from there and instantly send it around in a BR-ND Newsletter. Made nice mid day walk in the centre and ate a vega sandwich. Checked out our office after the fire and was glad to see things are clean again. We can get back to our own office this friday. In the afternoon a nice video call briefing by a returning client for further brand development work. Recorded a podcast and went early home.

How I felt

Wasoverall a lonely day with minimal human contact apart from some happy group video conferencing. Glad to be engaged with new client prospects, that adds to the challenge and excitement I need badly. Enjoyed the beauty of Amsterdam in the sun with no cars and no people/tourists.

Day 9: Tuesday 24 March 

Michael Cortino

Today we had a remote pilot session to create a brand story and brand communications through 23plusone and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. From the 11 people that joined, Nanda was the only one with experience. We began with a check-in where everyone talked about their situation at home, combining work with taking care and schooling of children etc. I prepared two breakout teams which we tested if it worked with Google Meet. It did, but requires a lot of things to keep in mind to have it run smoothly.

After everyone discovered and tested the whiteboard functionalities, we were good to go. And it worked out amazing. Lots of good discussions and ideas. Couple of learnings:

- two screens works better than one

- double check if integrated media (video, slides, links etc.) works

- the audio, internet connection and surroundings should be in the best possible conditions

- dividing teams or split ups beforehand works better

- don’t forget to dance

Carmen Phillips

Thank goodness for the sun!

Yesterday was a great start to the week, which began with Michael’s hosting an inspiring co-creation session. It was structured and chaotic and creative all at the same time. Ideas all over the place that were grasped, kneaded it to shape and sharpened. Wow. Seems to be in Michael’s DNA to be creative and stay focussed with the end in mind.

It is fascinating to observe how we live and work together and to see how the 23plusone colours really do inspire positive behaviour. We know this, but these times are really triggering me to practice what I preach, and reflect. Inspired by Maya’s list on living the colours, here is mine!

Green: the warmth of home, listening, taking care of the family, the safety of it. Staying loyal, connecting online. Missing my sister and sending a box of little gifts so nephews can open one a day. Whisky!

Orange: lots of laughing, learning, slowing down and reflecting. The freedom of walking outside in the sun, creativity and new ideas, and doing things more than ever when I feel like it! 

Purple: getting things done that are important, discipline and ticking off bullet lists, finishing an employee journey mapping guide for a client anticipating  appreciation, correcting a student’s assignment. Allowing perfectionism and picking the exact words for things, just a bit.

Blue: Brisk walks, breathing the cold air, watching which food I choose, drinking more (water!) Taking the time to make nice food instead of just having dinner.

Pink: seeing the beauty outside in the garden, blue skies, passion which is the result of this way of living.

Kiki Hartmann

Today we had a really fun remote co-creation session using Mural (first time for me). We could discuss, choose cards, add post-it notes and draw simultaneously on one big online canvas - very cool, and Michael did an excellent job facilitating! I can definitely see the BR-ND Kitchens be done this way in the future. Necessity really is the mother of invention! Straight after this session I joined my first ever webinar at The School of Life in Amsterdam. We were apparently 1300 people from all over the world listening to Karim Benhammar philosophising about what it means to be doing things radically different in these times of crisis. Great to listen to (using Zoom for this) and also to hear everyone else's experiences working together from home. In the afternoon I went for a quick walk in Vondelpark, noticing that the government press conference from yesterday has definitely hit home with people. There was a lot less people around and everyone made an effort to really keep the distance. Finished off the day with a long online yoga session.

Alexander Koene

Our team seems to find it a bit too much to call in for the video Meetup every morning and afternoon. I might be mistaken, but it is my observation that fewer people are calling in, people forget it to be in time, or are too busy with children related chores. It is understandable, but still I think for now it is a good idea to continu with this, until it has become a new daily habit. Again, the challenge is to set a trigger to call in, then call in, and after you have done so, reward yourself. I reward myself with a nice cafe. That’s all!

Further we had a very positive day! In the morning we had 11 people call in to collaborate on te development of a new brand movie for BR-ND. And while doing so, explore the possibilities of using online tools such as mural and google meet. Our co-creative session was splendidly prepared by Michael Cortino and we immediately started working together, exchanging views and ideas by using 23plusone and the 17 SDG’s. The session will be followed up later this week with rewriting our brand story and mandatories for the production of a new brand movie about BR-ND.

From the client front, I can happily mention that we continue our rapport with existing clients, although many of them also work from home, often distracted by kids in need of home teaching, and focussing on the essential processes. From a prospects point of view, I was contacted by a promising new prospect, being a former C-suite leader at a client 2 years ago, whois now in charge of business development for another large international organisation. Thursday a video call will follow, fingers crossed. Also we received a nice message from recent IT client and fellow B-Corp, for a request for help with adjusting and aligning their brand story to support further international expansion. It’s nice to learn that our business is still on the radar of existing and new clients in these uncertain times.

Day 8: Monday 23 March 

Alexander Koene

Today is my birthday!!! Was totally in awww this morning when my friends and co-workers has organised a surprise party during our 09:30 video meetup. What a craze of happiness, with hats, caps, whistles, candles, cakes, songs and smiles!!! Thank you for that, yo’all, lots of love for this.

Sunshine all over today with so many congrats from friends, family, co-workers, clients and even from some folks from 20 to 30 years ago. Including the caring personalised messages. I am aware it’s probably the surplus of time people have nowadays, which allows them to reach out to me this very special way. Let’s hope we continue doing so when the corona craze has subdued.

Further I spend my day at the office with various chores, went out for a lunch stroll chitchatting with a lovely girlfriend in a beautiful but deserted Amsterdam centre. Bought an upside down apple-pie from Holtkamp for diner tonite with my children. Life is wonderful thanks to you all.

Michael Cortino

Happy birthday Alle! Kim organized a little surprise party for him where +/- 20 people joined the daily digital meetup to celebrate Alle’s birthday.

Nanda Idink, one of our licensed friends, had gained experience in the last couple of days with remote creation through Mural on clients. Together, with Igor and Maarten, our friend from Malaysia, we came digitally discussed the possibilities with these tools. After the call I spent the rest of the day building the digital framework to facilitate the remote creation session. I enjoyed creating and discovering new possibilities so much that around 12 pm I realized that it was 12 pm. Something like a state of flow where times passes by as if it does not exist. A happy place. Tomorrow the first pilot!

And last weekend I worked on something that I started years ago just after we moved into our current apartment in Nieuwegein. Our dining table. We got it from Johanna’s uncle and aunt. It was nice dark brown but we wanted it to be white. So it had to be painted. After white primer we somehow decided to keep it that way and finish it later on… Well, almost 6 years later and it is still in the primer… I thought it would be done in the weekend, but it takes me a bit longer so I will continue this fulfilling task in the evenings during the week.

SUMMARY

16-22 MARCH

‘We’re all in this together’After one week of social distance, here are our tips, based on our experience.

Build a rhythm to stay close - Somehow it seems like we have more contact than ever by disciplining ourselves to our daily morning and afternoon talks. Whether you do this twice a day or twice a week, the fixed moments help to feel together instead of alone. We use Google Meet which is really easy, but any other video calling cloud service works as well.

Challenge each other - If your team - like ours - suddenly has less paid work to do, then inspire and challenge each other with internal assignments, innovation of new tools, and a boost of your marketing. Look for what is possible and jump on it!

Support your community - There’s lots you can do. From signing up to Ready2help to volunteering at your local medical center, to creating cards or doing grocery shopping for elderly people, to buying dinner at your favourite restaurant to something as simple as inviting people to virtual lunch or drinks.

How we stay happy & healthy in our daily routines.

Tips - Vitality

Take a walk outside, run, cook healthy food, organise a boot camp in the garden, drink lots of water, meditate and do yoga for some Blue vibes. Physical health strongly impacts your mental health.

Tips - Attraction

Although it’s tempting to stay in your pijamas all day, dress up and feel sexy. Also helps to overcome the video calling resistance you might experience because of seeing yourself all the time. To activate your Pink drives you can also enjoy the spring buds in every tree, or the beauty of everyday scenery in and around the house.

Tips - Basics Safety

Green is easy. Write, call, app with your beloved ones and people who need some extra attention.

Tips - Ambition

Purple: celebrate any little success you experience, whether it’s getting up in the morning, having the discipline to call in on your colleagues, guiding your kids through homeschooling, creating something, or just getting through the day. Award yourself and others with recognition. Make compliments!

Tips - Self development

Never stop playing. Now that we all have a bit more time, unleash the child in you! Give room to your Yellow drives: create, build, fantasise, write, draw, play games, discover and… relax. Take your time. Move a bit more slowly than your normal rat race. With all misery this crisis poses on us, it also brings the gift of freedom. If this is not the time to celebrate that, then when?

Day 7: Sunday 22 March 

Frederik Melchior

After a first week of school@home, Saturdays are supposed to be a relaxing day with all kind of weekend preparations stuff, going in and out the house, workout at the gym and being home already at 1100 for coffee…. But not this day … 

Not so much because of venues being closed, but much more given the fact that I start to feel and be aware of a sense of ‘collectivity’. Although contact and communication with friends and neighbours on the island is distant (much more than 1.5 meter), if feels as if many more people are connected: waving at each other, saying hi and especially making eye contact, really taking a moment to make a small and short connection before going on what they were doing.

And then two days at a row with perfect conditions for windsurfing, which is off course absolutely safe based on the distance between people on the water. Although water temperature of 6 to 7 degrees is quite a challenge, which I decided to leave with my junior-instructors, because they are all around 20-25 years of age. Only keeping this distance on the terrace of the surfclub (in the sun) was difficult, so today on Sunday we closed the terrace to be sure that we were not creating a space with too many people together. 

And then at the end of the afternoon I had an impressive experience. As some of you know, I suddenly lost my sense of smell exactly a week ago. And although I was told that changes were quite good that this sense of smell is usually returning after a while, I noticed that I started worrying, waking up every morning, running towards the bathroom, grabbing toothpaste, putting it in my noose and started sniffing intensely … and every morning there was this disappointment. Food was tasting lousy, coffee felt like a bucket of mud water, so little to enjoy … and also losing your appetite is a direct result, which is not the best way to keep yourself fit these days. And then at the end of the afternoon, I suddenly had my first tiny smell back with some coffee. I jumped out of my chair (on the roof terrace) and run into the kitchen, started smelling everything I possibly could try to smell, from cookies to (brown) bananas to ham… it was very slowly coming back … and I was so happy that while trying to hold back, tears were rolling down my cheeks ...

And I realised that these tears were partially a relief that my sense of smell was apparently (slowly) coming back, but also (and probably much more) it showed the tension and pressure we all build up inside, not so much for ourselves as well for all we feel connected to, and that number is growing every day.

DAY 6: Saturday 21 March

Carmen Phillips

I have a 20 year diary in which I write a few times each year. It's a big book and it has flaps for safekeeping photos and notes. Years ago, I added a few of my children's drawings to it, and from year to year I wrote about my dreams, wondering whether or not I would one day start my own business, wishing I could look into the future, 5 years or so away. Now I wonder what society will be like in the days, weeks and months to come. 

My week started off with long walks. I assumed we'd all feel quite isolated, but as it turned out, I reconnected with other licensed friends on our app, chatted  to Frederik (who said I should join the daily meet), and caught up with Jouke. 

I did - and do - worry  about the international students I teach, who are bored and lonely. Some have lost their jobs. They all miss their families. Feeling a bit down, I joined the daily Google meet with Mike, Alle and Kim, and found myself relishing the warmth and creative ideas. 

All in all an unforgettable week that I rounded off with virtual drinks and licensed friends, including Rumaizon and Maarten from Malaysia. What a wonderful end to the week...

Ivo Grupping

Just a peek in my diary today: did my first short run in over a year; only 2 kms to the IJsselmeer and back but feels like quite a leap in my recovery and a good thing to do in corona time... time for changes... about to leave for another two days in Nijmegen to help my mom move to her 'senior' apartment: loads of things to do now my brother isn't able to help. Can't do my weekly visit to my father though because the nursing home where he lives is in lockdown... Have fun this weekend!

DAY 5: Friday 20 March

Alexander Koene

The challenge of a new happy habit is creating a routine. It works in three simple steps. 1. Set a trigger (=reminder) 2. Do your new habit 3. Reward yourself. This is the 5th day for me writing in a diary, a practice I have never done before and always associated with teenage girls funny behaviour. Now a bit older and experienced in life (Monday 23rd will be my 56th birthday), I happily write down my daily stuff. I write it the end of the day, before going to bed (that’s my trigger), then I write my input in this diary, and then I reward myself. Will not share how the reward works, people with a naughty mind and some imagination will figure it out.

BR-ND NEWSLETTER FRIDAY 20 MARCH 2020

This last day of the week was again very lonely at the office with my team preferring to stay home, it’s completely deserted at the office, but very good for my productivity. Glad John is around for the espresso. I miss the lunches we always have as a team and the wonderful assortment of fresh produce. As the kitchen is closed, I have to go out on the streets to seek food and everything is closed, so at best I can find some carbs based food at the groceries store opposite the office or the bakery nextdoor but’s it’s hard to get hold of my vegetable-based diet. I fiddled around with the email letter technology to create a newsletter for which I set a target to be mailed end of the day. Got a bit frustrated how complicated they make Software as a Service stuff and a non sustainer would definitely fail. I succeeded in the end, but first fucked up with failing two links and even a major typo in the heading. Strange that such programs do not have automated link and spell checkers prior to sending. But in the end I figured it all out.

Had a long video call with Maarten and Rome, our 23plusone friends from Kuala Lumpur, about many things. Basically about how we can help each other and how the idea of Purpose before Profit can be accelerated in that part of the world. Proud of how Rome found her way in helping her big noodles client in solving a portfolio extension while diluting from the brand promise, I better not further elaborate. Cool that they are prepping in becoming a B Corp and want to lead that movement in Malaysia. Will do what I can in supporting them, even to be there ‘poster-boy’ from Europe if that would be of help. Looking forward to a trip to SE Asia when we are in post corona flu again. Finished my day at work with drinks (I bought half bottle of nice white wine) at the office while video meeting with a happy mixed team of BR-ND and 23plusone Friends from Europe and SE Asia. Then walked home, changed into running gear, picked up my friend Arno and ran a good 7,5 km. How nice my roomies cooked an amazing homemade fried noodles full with fresh veggies and lots of sambal. Happy weekend!

Kiki Hartmann

This morning I really missed my usual Friday morning horse back riding lesson. Some things are easy enough to do online, but nothing can replace the smell and feel of being around the horses ; ). After our usual team get together, I spent the day doing boring but necessary things like my admin, backing up work and cleaning up my laptop. After a fun online vrijmibo with the whole 23plusone team, I had some bad news; A good friend of mine has just been diagnosed having Corona ; 0… She’s been sick at home for about 5 days already. The good news is that she seems to be in good spirits and also will not need to go to the hospital but can sweat it out at home. This is the first case of someone close to me being directly affected by Corona but the fact that even though she was in pretty poor health before she got it, she still didn’t get sick enough to need to go to the hospital, gives me hope that maybe this pandemic can be manageable, and that most people will pull through ok.

Michael Cortino

I followed up on the research I’m doing for remote creation tooling. Had a good brainstorm with Kim and Alexander about how we could make this work. Conclusion: let’s build, then learn, then adjust, then learn again and slowly design it into perfection, whatever that may be. Starting with our own upcoming brand movie as a test case. On Tuesday we’re having our first remote creation session with the BR-ND extended team where we are going to use Typeform to collect inspiration and Mural to create with that.

Had a good chat with Xandra, one of our licensed friends. As a researcher, she is conducting a brand tracker with 23plusone for one of her clients to measure their emotional profile. After three years of monitoring, the client learned that their 23plusone doesn’t differs from the category they work in. So we talked about the steps to help them build a brand that emotionally stands out from the category.

We ended the day with a Friday afternoon drink together with a bunch of the licensed friends in the Netherlands and in Malaysia. Have a great weekend!

Kim Cramer

Today was quite a productive day. During our morning meeting, I was interrupted by a call from our client De Dierenbescherming. We had a nice chat about the feedback on the fresh brand story and the next steps to take. Also, to no one’s surprise, these next steps will be postponed as first priority lies with the frontliners in the organisation.

After that, I worked on tax stuff. BR-ND is so ‘lucky’ that we are part of a random sample of companies in Amsterdam that is checked by de Belastingdienst. We’ve been busy explaining not just tax topics, but our entire business operations, which takes a lot of time and feels useless. We are honest people with a tiny company and it seems unfair that instead of focussing on clients that pay our bills, we have to spent so much time on this unnecessary stuff. We’re a B Corp for God’s sake, we agreed long ago to celebrate each time we pay our taxes because it’s our contribution to society, to support the vital professions that are so badly needed today. Especially now, while the world is on fire and our government offers us delayed tax payment, it feels extra stupid to work on this tax check. But I want to get it over with and be in time to make the deadline.

I spoke to a client from UMC Utrecht who told me that the situation feels like the calm before the storm. Still, we try to go on with our project for as far as possible with professionals who are not in the frontline. After all, cancer patients (the project is directed at fighting cancer) deserve to get the very best treatment as close-by as possible, anytime. Some of the doctors we’ve been working with are now part of the corona crisis team and we wish them all the best. We’ve been able to directly contact some of the medical professionals, marketeers and management of the hospitals we work for to give them our love and positive vibes. It doesn’t help the crisis, but it’s the least we can do.

At 4pm it was time for some fun, during the crowded Virtual Vrijmibo. After that, another virtual ‘borrel’ with friends, so around 6pm I was quite tipsy ;) Not very healthy, but hey… nobody’s perfect. Oh, that reminds me of a mantra I created some years ago: ‘perfect is boring’. I’ll remind myself of that the coming weeks.

DAY 4: Thursday 19 March

Michael Cortino

Rise and… no shine. It’s a cloudy day. But like the past three days, the BR-ND daily digital meetup brings positive energy. I felt a little out of control. I just keep on wondering how it would be if the young and vital part of our society would voluntarily become infected. Get back in to quarantine and then build up immunity so we could be a protecting force for the ones that are vulnerable. Well.. maybe it is just a stupid idea.

After we got a digital MTV Cribs tour in Frederiks’ house, I worked on my quest for digital alternatives for our Schools and workshops. I came across Mural. Looked suitable so I tried it out and it turned out te be quite good actually. Kim, Alle and Carmen agreed. To the next days we’re going to prototype and find out how we can apply it. And some people at de Dierenbescherming gave some very positive feedback on the concept brand story. We’ll be iterating the coming days.

Kim Cramer

It was so nice to see Carmen in our daily call. She said she needed some uplifting and that is precisely why we are doing this social closeness experiment. In the morning, Frederik talked about how the news media have a big influence on people’s mental health. In normal times, but especially in these crazy times in which we are inclined to spend a large part of our time following the news. And probably a lot of fake news as well. It inspired me to skip the news for today. I only checked in again on nos.nl around 4pm and I have to say it was kind of a relief. Tomorrow I’m planning to also put off all notifications of Whatsapp. I’m all day long distracted by hundreds of messages coming in. Most of them fun and uplifting, but still totally distracting. Although I hear from people that they now have lots of time to spend on things that normally fall off the daily schedule, I don’t know how they do it. I’m hardly managing my tasks and I don’t even come close to the things I would like to do. Or maybe I’m just to strict for myself…

It was great to see how Michael had experimented with mural.co, a digital brainstorming and creation tool. Some of our 23plusone Licensed Friends are also trying out new tools and it’s cool to see how everyone is sharing experiences. Open. I just love that attitude. In the evening, we ordered and picked up food from our favourite Italian restaurant La Passione in The Hague. Our friend and owner Tellis Muca is trying to survive by offering a pick-up version of his high quality menu. We create our own home restaurant and video called with Tellis while having dinner. It was so rewarding to see a big smile on his face. #supportyourlocalrestaurant

Kiki Hartmann

Today I realized that one thing that this crisis has given most of us is Time! Time to connect, time to talk and time to actually listen. Time to read (I’m already on my second book this week - a new record for me), time to call your near and dear and time to reflect. This is all wonderful and I hope that once things get back to normal again, this sense of time will stay. Maybe this crisis is one big re-set button for all of us. After sending off a design presentation yesterday, I had a bit of a more relaxed day today. After our morning virtual get-together and a quick yoga session, I biked in to the city to run some errands. I was surprised to see that quite a few shops are still open, but the streets were pretty empty. How will they all survive? : ((  I popped by Spaces to say hi to Alle and have a coffee and peek in to our upstairs office to see how they are progressing with the cleaning up after the fire a few weeks ago (it was looking good). We also had a chat about what this pandemic actually means and how life after will look like.

Frederik Melchior

Within a few days, I noticed that while waking up in the morning, I already am looking forward to meeting you all digitally at our morning GOOGLE MEET session. It gives this nice comforting preview to start the day and also a direct way of reaching out to our inner circle of daily colleagues. The discussions during the first days went from serious news coverage to domestic details, apartment or boat showing video’s to jokes to business and working ideas (how to deal with these circumstances). Especially (ideas about) creative responses to how we could use our expertise and 23plusone in different situations right now, is a topic that is on our agenda daily. Just like an impulse to create a new BR-ND brand movie.

Although this daily rhythm and structure is a vital part of staying (mentally and energetically) OK and also staying connected with my dearest colleagues and people I love working with, I am already - within the first week - starting to feel another strong sense of urgency coming up, alongside the above mentioned: direct support in helping people out there with whatever is needed. So, today around lunch I spoke to my doctor for a specific reason bothering me since a few days (no smell anymore), and while talking to him I found out that Medisch Centrum Haveneiland (the OLVG dependence on IJburg) just had a meeting with staff and doctors on finding local volunteers for the coming weeks to do all kind of errands, help with the distribution of medical supplies and support with whatever might be necessary. 3 minutes later I happened to be the first volunteer on this list, which will be starting directly after the weekend. 

No idea what this will be like and if it will be of any real support, but I feel that it gives a very strong and direct translation of personal/medical help, adding up to the help we can offer to people out there, based on our skills and experience.

Off course, this mix of ‘workable options’ is very personal and subjective, so this, not a plea that everybody should make the same choices; it is just a thought worth sharing, that we can do many (good) things in so many different ways, especially if you look beyond your field of expertise or work. And who knows what will come out of this: a new career as ambulance driver!

Alexander Koene

Daily walk to the office in the centre, this morning in the rain. While walking again called my mum, isolated in Brittany, to cheer her up and give her confidence. Then another morning cafè from John, and a morning video Meetup with a much smaller team this time, just Frederik, Michael, Kiki and Kim briefly. I had a longer chat with Michael about the content and format of a new to be produced brand movie for BR-ND. Food for thought and we will follow up with the rest of the team. Mike took up the challenge to seek out a digital co-working thing called Mural so that we can do full 23plusone Trinity and Brand Story sessions with our team remotely. In the afternoon Meetup Mike showed us how it works…and it works!!! Feels like a breakthrough in innovative ways how to collaborate on a distance even on things like defining the emotive dynamics of a brand. We agreed that early next week we will organise remote sessions with the team to finetune the brand story of BR-ND.

Kiki passed by in the afternoon for a nice chat and a coffee and brought along nice snacks, thank you! We spoke about some creative ideas for a brand movie and realised that the previous BR-ND movie was created 10 years ago for the launch of our brand! A jubileum party should be organised, with a new brand movie for the next 5 years!!

From the commercial front a larger company active in the utilities infrastructure market called to share that after an agency orientation some weeks ago, BR-ND is well placed as preferred partner, but that further internal talks are needed about scope and timing, particularly given the uncertainties of the corona crisis.

DAY 3: Wednesday 18 March

Kim Cramer

On this third day I actually got some work done. We kicked off in the morning with creative ideas. One of them is to create a new brand movie for ourselves. We’ve made beautiful ones for our clients, but for the BR-ND brand it’s been 10 years ago since we last made one. During the day I did client work and after our daily check out and dinner, the kids and I made drawings and cards for people in elderly homes that can’t be visited. A mom from school took the initiative and will bring lots of smiles today. Love her for that. I saw Bruno Bruins kind of collapse on TV, poor guy. It made me think how important it is to take good care of yourself, especially if your under heavy pressure. Also to be kind to each other and not attack people who are doing their best. I wish people wisdom in their behaviour…

Michael Cortino

After two days of quarantine, I must say I had seen a lot of sunshine as it is safe to work from my balcony where it’s not windy at all. This third day I started with a morning run in the sun. It was beautiful. After that, clouds appeared and sadly enough it stayed that way for the rest of the day.

Our daily digital meetup was again positive vibes. Alexander challenged us to think of ways how we could stay creative because it’s fun to do and it’s also a remedy against our ‘forced’ isolation. It had already been 10 years that we created a brand movie for BR-ND, so we could use this time to create a new one knowing that Crossmark Pictures is willing to help out. Today was all about rethinking our brand narrative. Including our role in society for the next decade and how we could translate that into video content. So before I could work on that, Kim, Alexander and I had to finish the brand strategy for De Dierenbescherming. So from 9.30 am to 3 pm we were on the phone. And it worked perfectly. After my late lunch, I collected some inspiration for our assignment and came across an old movie by Kim and Esther. About two people having fun and talking about important things in life. I can see a brand movie where our philosophy ‘the people are the brand’ has some of these elements.

Alexander Koene

Day three of my Corona Dairy and things start feeling more normal already. On my daily walk from the Oostelijke Handelskade to the centre of Amsterdam, I hardly saw any traffic and fellow citizens, Amsterdam became a deserted ghost town. During my 30 minutes stroll, I can observe my surroundings and be in touch with my thoughts. A city in slow motion. Upon arrival at our office, it was again John, our barista, welcoming me with a grand smile and a nice cafe. A bit late I joined our daily video meetup, sorry for that folks, and we made happy contact, chit-chatting about what happened in our lives yesterday eve and what our individual plans were for the day. After the Meetup, we went on with Kim and Mike on finalizing the brand narrative for Dierenbescherming. In the afternoon I called several people, friends, and children to catch up and check how they are coping. Went out for a stroll in deserted Amsterdam, looking for something to eat, but everything closed apart from the grocery store opposite our office. Finished the day with my daily walk back, while catching up with the BR-ND Team video meetup and upon arrival, sneakers on and another 10km run partly with my buddy Arno. Glad that Merel cooked a wonderful pasta carbonara for dinner. Just finished a call with my old man (82) in Zeeland, who suggested this whole corona thing is highly exaggerated as the fuzz is only about elderly people who are about to die soon anyhow. But no political party is prepared to take that call. Will call it a day after writing this diary and working on the BR-ND Brand movie assignment. Sleep well, folks. PS got some good news from our finance department that two clients paid their overdue bills, so we again have some cash in the bank.  

DAY 2: Tuesday 17 March

Maja Anđela Šimundić

Day two of what still feels like a forced vacation I very much don’t mind. I started the day with a BR-ND call where I took the guys around my home. This was nice, as it feels I kinda shared a bit more personal piece of my life. Maybe another day, someone else can do this? :) Also, it was great to see that BR-ND creative factory is full of ideas how to spin things around and adapt to the present moment. 

Let me tell you about the rest of it with the colors of 23plusone cards!

GREEN: I passed by my best friend's house to surprise her with a little care package- her favorite chocolate that comes from my home country and some energy  & immune system boosters. It was weird not to hug when we saw each other shortly!

YELLOW: Today was fun and creative. I started the day by baking brownies, and finished it by playing games with neighbours. 

PURPLE: I wrote myself a big to-do list with few different categories of activities, from entertainment to working towards future professional development goals. And then I started with something on the list- big house cleaning.

BLUE: delivery of goodies to my friend- I did it on roller-skates!

RED: Even though I’m out of touch with society- I’m trying not to forget to maintain my lady side, so I put effort in finding the cutest comfy outfit for the day. Also, I got to admire one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen lately. 

Alexander Koene

Second day more or less alone at the office. Today the public space was attended by about 5 people including me, better than yesterday. Again another super morning cafe by John, and a nice chat about his former life in Nigeria. The morning video Meetup with the BR-ND team was nice again, great to see them and hear their stories. Also sorted out the tech how to connect videowise. Super easy, just open the Meet app and hook up to the session in your calendar, voila, no invites, codes or otherwise needed. With Kim I had a long video chat with an ex-Unilever senior executive about branding, B-Corps and 23plusone Friends. Nice connection and hope we can help each other out. To be followed up. Finished the first draft of the brand story for Dierenbescherming and handed it over to Kim Cramer for crafting it to perfection. In between reading the news to be fully aware of what is happening. Business seems to have come to a full abrupt stop for many companies. Meanwhile, we received this morning another email from a large client that our assignment has been postponed for at least another 3 weeks because most employees are working from home. The good news is that at least the invoice for this month can be issued, so that will bring in some cash. In order to stay positive, I will go out for a late lunch and then go for a long run to get the happy peptides rush. Stay cool and happy, folks.

Kim Cramer

When I woke up this morning I put on my sports gear immediately. Usually, that helps me actually DO sports ;) I’m still wearing them, and still with the intention do actually DO sports ;) There’s still time tonight. During the morning Meetup I challenged the others to activate all five colours of 23plusone today. Doing that stimulates the happy hormones in your brain. My activation list, besides sports for Vitality (Blue): enjoy the spring flowers I bought yesterday (Attractiveness, Pink), play outside with the kids (Self-development, Yellow), be in touch with friends (Social Safety, Green) en get some client work done (Ambition, Purple). Activating all colours in your life makes happy, we know that from science. During the end-of-day Meetup, it turned out some people had followed some of my examples…. Boost those happiness hormones guys!

Kim van der Brugge

I feel like this might be a good time for me to reconnect with you guys, even more than working offline. I can tune in anytime. I've been quite absorbed with working at BSH (they're amazingly prepared, everybody has his own office laptop, but still I feel a disconnection from my colleagues) but I'm now getting into the routine of spending the other 2 days of the week on other cases. It's weird but I also feel this is a good time for people to discover new ways of living/being, new ways of being online but also more appreciative of the time we spend together offline.

That said, while you guys were talking I was just thinking how BR-ND can stay top of mind. You have great online tools, can we somehow use them? 23plusone to tune into the mood of your co-workers. Just a thought. And why not focus on the online channels? Maybe there can be a quick scan if the online tools of your existing clients are still close to their brand? No CEJ's :) Maybe they've been wandering off from who they really are? Ok, have a wonderful evening and hope to tune in soon again! X

Michael Cortino

This day, I spent a big chunk of it at St. Antonius Hospital in Utrecht. Not for me but for a family member who is fighting a disease other than the Coronavirus. Luckily, her future is looking bright. The day started off with me tuning into our BR-ND daily digital meetup while I was standing in front of St. Antonius Hospital. It’s one of our clients. It was a sunny morning and I was happy to e-see everyone again and hearing their views and expectations of this day. After the digital meetup, we entered the hospital and had a quick coffee before being called up. 

After she’d been called up for the operation, we walked towards the department and passed the huge wall which you see immediately upon entering the hospital. When you're in front of that wall, it's like you’re in the middle of the forest. You look up at huge trees and I told her that BR-ND together with St. Antonius came up with the idea to hide animals in this forest. After a quick hunt, she located a monkey high in one of the trees. And a smiling little bear in a doctor's coat trying to hide behind another tree. She laughed. At that moment, she allowed herself to swap all of the nerves for a moment of joy.

I’m grateful for that moment. For today. Knowing that we’re contributing to the happiness of not only the people we care about but every one that is connected with St. Antonius Hospital.

At 8 pm I was there, on my balcony doing the least I could do to collectively honor the care workers and all the other people putting in the hours in the vital sectors of our society. Let’s flatten the curve. Thank you all.

Kiki Hartmann

Day two started with our online get together again and ended with a massive applaus out the window, showing our hard working careforce some encouragement and appreciation! What’s already becoming apparent to me, is that in these times of uncertainty and drama, the best in people is really coming out. People support each other, reach out, ask if there’s anything they can do to help... During lunch I went for a walk in the park with a friend (it was beautiful spring weather!) and almost everyone we came across, nodded and smiled back - not something that happens every day in Amsterdam.

DAY 1: Monday 16 March

Alexander Koene

I arrived this morning alone at the office, everybody else working from home. Not only the BR-ND team wasn’t around, the total visitors of the Business Club at Spaces could be counted on two fingers. Glad our barista John made me a nice cafe with a fat smile. The digital Meetup we had this morning was really nice. Glad to see you all and listen to what you got to say. Gave me a feeling of being not completely alone and without impact. Also listening to your ideas about what to do the coming weeks gave me hope. I really wish that working alone in isolation does not mean a stop of our collective creative initiatives. The mere fact knowing that you all are around gives me ideas and initiative to create. Maybe we should deliberately share with each other what we have done that same day. Being aware of each other's doings and ideas will probably function as positive motivation to keep each of us connected, busy and inspired.

Michael Cortino

Waking up this morning, knowing that most of us would be working from home felt a little odd. Not because we aren’t able to do our thing, but because it was a moment of awareness that the world is upside down. At the same time, I felt a strong sense of togetherness during our Monday morning call. Maybe even a bit stronger than usual. An emotional start of this week made me looking forward to the coming days, weeks and months. To initiate, share, create, solve for ourselves and for our communities. To make the biggest positive impact we can, day by day. 

Maja Anđela Šimundić

Today was a good day. The sun was shining, and I felt the most relaxed since summer last year. It is quite strange that an apocalypse had to start taking over the world in order for me to find time to chill on the sun. I’m reading a lot about what’s going on in the world since the start of this madness, so by now I went through a few different stages of processing the situation. Ignorance, build-up of worry, panic epizode and finally- acceptance. There’s nothing much to do but to take care of ourselves and people around us, and use the time at home well. I’m quite lucky to be ‘stuck’ in a group quarantine as I’m living on the same boat with my boyfriend and few good friends- going through this with the real community spirit. Lastly, I love the daily calls with my other wonderful community- BR-ND. I was amazed and inspired by the positive energy and felt closer to everyone than usual. I very much feel that even though we’re practicing social distancing- going through this challenge together will make us grow closer to each other. 

Alison Pasquariello

I’m (somewhat) used to working at home at least one day a week, and I know I don’t enjoy multiple days a week at home, so I approached it by making sure to enact some routine. Luckily the first day went well, thanks to the sun. I took a 30-minute walk after lunch which made everything feel more positive. I also dressed in normal office clothes and sneakers during the day, and will soon switch into slippers as a physical indication to my mind that I’m switching modes. I had a call with a group of 7 people, many of which I have not met in person, and this was much more difficult than usual. It was uncomfortable to intuit who, exactly, was taking leadership in the call, and I was cautious not to step on any toes, so to speak. One thing’s for sure -- cats everywhere are celebrating that their humans are staying home with them.

Kiki Hartmann

Day one of Corona virus social distancing.

It was wonderful to see everyone (if only) virtually in the morning. Even though we were not physically in the same room, it felt like we were closer than ever. Definitely a feeling of ‘we’re all in this together and let’s support each other’. I spent the morning catching up on the latest Corona news. Already getting a bit sick of it though and considering maybe taking a news and social media break for a day or two - just to see if that will give me a bit more energy. After lunch I tried out a new yoga app - Down Dog - that my yoga teacher in Portugal has developed. I did a 75 min Asana flow session and felt really stretched out and relaxed afterwards. Someone pointed out that you can watch all old IDFA documentaries online - wow, didn’t know that. I will definitely go through those (getting a bit bored with Netflix). Oh and we had a closing call with the team at 17.00 - also nice to see people out and about in the sunshine. If the next 20 days will be like this, we might actually come out stronger, leaner and more energized  than ever ; )

Kim Cramer

What a bizarre situation, this whole corona madness. But very interesting as well. I’m sure scientists in all kinds of disciplines will have lots to observe, analyse and conclude after all this. Not just virologists and economists, but also behaviour psychologists! After our check-in on Google Meet, and after a nice video talk with a partner about a client, I tried to do creative tasks, like writing. But I totally failed, because other stuff kept distracting me. The kids were asking for attention, I had to go to the bookkeeper, I needed to immerse myself in the possibilities for entrepreneurs to delay the payment of taxes, I went grocery shopping. Before I knew it, it was 5 ‘o clock, time for our team check-out. It was so nice to see their happy faces again! We always say that happy people and positive culture make beautiful brands. It’s true, even in challenging times. And even with a virtual team! Love them.