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In the wake of calls for social justice last summer, it seemed as though every brand issued a statement or a black square. Indeed, there were plenty of brand posts about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

On January 6 at 2:55 p.m.—about 20 minutes after insurrectionists breached the Capitol building—beauty influencer Amanda Ensing tweeted, “There’s not enough popcorn in the world for what’s about to happen.” Ensing has long been vocal about her political and religious views on social media. Sephora, partnered with the influencer on a skincare campaign, was forced to answer for its choice of brand ambassador.

You never know where you’ll find a PR takeaway. Even during the pandemic, you can spot media coverage on the walls of your local Five Guys. And it’s often coverage from national and local outlets. In addition to a dangerously delicious burger and fries, some PR lessons are on the menu.

The GameStop/Reddit fiasco offers several lessons for communicators. One is that the savvy PR pro pays attention to all platforms and discussions, including those on private message boards, closed Facebook groups, Reddit and Substack and many more. In addition, prepare your executive to offer more than emotion and staid talking points during TV interviews.

PRNEWS Live welcomed Matthew and Tammy Tsang, co-founders of &Humanity, an inclusive marketing agency. We discussed the importance of diverse perspectives in messaging and communication.

A careful reading of the news can be a boon for PR professionals, argues veteran communicator Arthur Solomon. In his yearly roundup of news items that provide PR takeaways, Solomon offers tips on media relations, PR crisis, workplace relations and other important topics.

“Trust” could easily win as an early word-of-the-year in 2021. After a deluge of misinformation campaigns through the 2020 presidential election, confusion from the top when it comes to battling COVID, and a recorded public skepticism for media, many organizations, brands and public figures see trust as a fundamental need to reconnect with communities. It’s a necessity in messaging, and it’s on communicators to figure out the best way to delive

Proving that there’s no time off for some PR pros, we asked those on Twitter Sunday, right after Dr. Deborah Birx’s interview on “Face the Nation,” about how they’d advise her. More than one dozen PR pros gave her a lot of good communication, crisis and reputation advice for free.

On Jan. 21, The 19th, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom, hosted a webinar with White House communications director Kate Bedingfield, White House press secretary Jen Psaki, principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and chief spokesperson for Vice President Harris, Symone Sanders. The group discussed its messaging strategy for the White House moving forward, touching on how female leadership can impact political communications.

PR pros can learn plenty from the NY Mets’ handling of a recent employee sexual misconduct episode. While the team moved quickly to dismiss the employee, it botched the follow-up, failing to own the incident and attempting to pass it off as a failure that couldn’t be avoided.