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A leader of a company or organization can serve as the quarterback when it comes to delivering a positive reputation to the public. While leaders do not always handle the day-to-day details of running a brand, they serve as a face for employees, customers, shareholders and more. We asked communication professionals about how to proceed when leadership falls ill.

Tonight’s vice-presidential debate is a chance to revive civil discourse and democracy. In addition, it will offer an opportunity (missed last week) for the debaters to present solid messages and discuss policy prescriptions. A group of PR pros and several others discuss debate tactics and strategies.

On Oct. 6, Ocean Spray CEO Tom Hayes posted his version of the latest viral video craze to hit TikTok, which has since racked up more than 1.3 million views. His video is a spin on a Sept. 25 video posted by TikTok user 420DoggFace208, the handle of Idaho warehouse worker Nathan Apodaca, 37. Squeezing some extra earned media juice, Hayes’ company donated a red pickup truck filled with bottles of Ocean Spray to Apodaca. The surprise gift video has seen more than a million views on Instagram, exhibiting cross-channel appeal.

It was one of those rare weekends. Just about any news story was getting crickets from the media except for one. Indeed, there were several examples of moderate PR crises, but few noticed. Basing your crisis strategy on other stories crowding out media coverage of your company’s PR crisis is a gamble that hardly ever pays.

One of the most difficult aspects of crisis communication is deciding when and how to respond. In the case of truck start-up Nikola, which a short-seller attacked as a fraud, it chose to respond almost immediately to a short-seller’s allegation-filled report. Now with Nikola’s CEO gone, the company must be as transparent as possible in combatting allegations.

We jumped at the chance to interview Michael Monahan, a veteran brand communicator who’s now on the agency side. In addition, he and his team have been working in their offices for months. He tells us what’s on his mind.

President Trump, who according to photos released by the White House, has been spending his time at Walter Reed going along with his daily workload. However, not much is known regarding the details of his infection, marred by contrasting information (see Dr. Sean Conley and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows) and lack of transparent detail from the White House, leading much of the media to speculate and drum up outside sources. 

The City of Toronto’s CCO Brad Ross argues communicators have done a good job relaying vital messages about the pandemic. As people are tiring of safety measures and we face a second wave, this is not the time to take a break. Do not let this long crisis, and its critics, cause you to question the effectiveness of your work

The news of the day, of course, is the positive test results of the First Couple. In the coming days, PR pros, and everyone else, will be discussing whether or not the White House press operation informed the media and the public in a timely fashion. We take an early look.

The PRNEWS team has announced the 2020 Platinum Awards finalists. Winners across several dozen categories will be announced live in October.