Reputation

The Institute for Public Relations postponed its annual conference in Washington, D.C.

Communicating about Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a LinkedIn group for PR and communications professionals to share tactics and strategies around the virus.

Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association and Major League Soccer released a joint statement Monday (March 9, 2020) about the organizations’ preventative strategies surrounding coronavirus.

Where does the communicator start? With panicked stories circulating in the media, employee and customer concerns are rising.

It’s impossible to predict now, but coronavirus could usher in a highly inward-looking society as more of us fear leaving the safety of our homes.

In a wide-ranging address during day 2 of PRNEWS’ Crisis and Measurement Summit in Miami, political strategist Ana Navarro had positive and negative things to say about social media. In the end, though, she believes PR pros have a difficult but important mission to promote truth in messaging. “Don’t give up on the facts,” she said.

Last week the still-profitable brand Victoria’s Secret (VS) was sold. Could this be part of the brand’s attempt to recover its reputation? Is the sale a way of signaling VS is ready to make a significant change in its products and messaging? From a PR, crisis and reputation perspective, will it be too little too late? Can VS come back from its low point and convince customers that it’s a label for women with various body types?

It can be a dirty business defending criminals. Whatever you might think of those who represent Harvey Weinstein in court, you have to admit his lead attorney, Donna Rotunno, is, for the most part, using earned media tactics well. Her PR goal seems to be building name recognition in anticipation of future #MeToo clients.

No longer confined to China, coronavirus is beginning to move from a foreign story to a domestic one. More than that, it’s become a communications and reputation story. When iconic brands get involved, we tend to listen more closely.

Technology has made the world much smaller. Still, in many ways, humans remain very insular. What’s in front of us often receives most of our attention. As a result, where a news story occurs can… Continued