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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.

Using a catastrophe as a news hook to pitch journalists makes the PR pro and the company the communicator is pitching look callous and opportunistic.

At the moment, though, with millions of Americans jobless, it seems Amazon and other companies can afford to discard standard PR guidance.

COVID-19 radically changed every aspect of our personal and professional lives. In this time of disruption, it’s important to take a moment to reorganize.

With so many companies transitioning to online activities, standing out can become difficult. Making these virtual experiences fun, human, authentic and competitive can help companies maintain and attract new customers. In addition, companies can gather useful information about customers while displaying interest in the community. Customers likely will hold on to these memories well after these dark days are over.

The messages a brand distributes about self care are important, of course. How it distributes them can be just as, if not more, important.

When you get caught on the wrong side of the law, especially for financial gain, and particularly during the pandemic, you need to provide an apology for your actions. 

It’s easy to see why some, if not all comms pros are suffering from stress or anxiety induced by the coronavirus. Longer hours and larger workloads while homeschooling children or spending days in isolation have great effects on mental health and well-being. We spoke to several agencies and practitioners to see how they are supporting staff and themselves during this time.

Information about the coronavirus pandemic mostly has been built around straight messaging: wash your hands, stay home, save lives. The term Chinese virus has entered the public lexicon. Marginalizing ethnicities during a public health crisis can trigger xenophobia. In addition, it does not engender needed public engagement.

Several groups have published useful surveys in recent days. Perhaps your firm has already begun developing similar polls of its own.