Stories by Cody LeBlanc

The associate director of APCO Worldwide’s Paris office uses the example of the travel industry to show how PR pros can use technology to create a model about what business may look like after the pandemic.

A bevy of questions asked during a recent PRNEWS webinar about media relations form the basis for this roundtable where PR pros discuss pitching and product launches during the pandemic. In short, you can pitch and launch products during the pandemic. It requires careful research and a sensitive approach, however.

Even as organizations strengthen ties with their audiences during the pandemic, they will need a long-term engagement strategy that builds on that trust.

The PRNEWS staff comes across many examples of brand advertising and communications every day. We have compiled a weekly assessment, published Fridays, with staff members providing their choices of the most notable, good or bad. We hope these brief examples will provide a learning experience about what works and things to avoid during this difficult moment.

Working in a highly regulated industry with multiple stakeholders, Aflac’s communications team issued some 150 pieces of content during the pandemic’s first weeks. One tactic the team is using, writes CCO Catherine Hernandez-Blades, is to condition audiences to head to a single point for information and updates.

Companies are looking at how to pivot their external communications. For both internal and external communications they are adapting to new technologies and ways of working.

The PRNEWS staff comes across many examples of brand advertising and communications every day. We have compiled a weekly assessment, published Fridays, with staff members providing their choices of the most notable, good or bad. We hope these brief examples will provide a learning experience about what works and things to avoid during this difficult moment.

Many digital pros recommend making sure your content is not tone-deaf in this moment. That’s always good advice, of course. What’s critical, though, is understanding strategies behind when and how to engage appropriately and effectively. While planning digital efforts for tomorrow or even this week is not the way to go, you should be looking at longer range tactics and strategies.

Want more evidence that the actions of one person can change the world? We offer the story of the late Marilyn Laurie, a stay-at-home mom who later became a titan of the PR world as a top communicator at AT&T. Not coincidentally, she also played a major role in organizing the first Earth Day celebrations in NYC, in 1970. Her former colleague at AT&T, Dick Martin, tells us how Laurie helped communicate about the initial Earth Day.

Influencers want to influence, but the pandemic might not be the best moment, unless you are a health care influencer, says restaurant and food influencer Jonathan Cheban, aka Foodgod. Instead, post judiciously, he says. In addition, he recommends influencers remain authentic and true to their brand, which always is good advice.