Transcript:
Hi, this is Josh Weiss at 10 to 1 Public Relations. Lot of people have asked me for some advice on how to handle PR regarding the COVID-19 crisis. So I wanted to share this video and a few different ideas of things people can do in order to build some good will for their organization during this time, but also long-term to help their brand. My advice on this video is to walk through your own warehouse, and give away some of your extra inventory. So I have two different examples from different clients, one of them is Plexus Worldwide. They were recently named the 23rd largest direct selling company in the world, by Direct Selling News. They create science-based products, weight loss, nutrition supplements, skincare, personal care items. One of their big, big issues, and one of the things that they really really care about are food banks and helping ensure everybody has a meal. And during COVID-19, as you can imagine, it’s a very stressful time for food banks right now. So what they did is they donated the equivalent of 100 thousand meals to local food banks, so that they can distribute that out to the different people, and they did this by giving away some of the product that they had for their meal replacement shakes. Another examples is Air Pros USA, which is an air conditioning company that operates in five states across the United States. When they went through their warehouse, they found thousands of ultraviolet light systems. Ultraviolet light, when connected to the HVAC system, what that does is it’ll kill microorganisms, like viruses and bacteria and fungi in all these different aspects. So it’s a great way to improve air quality in somebody’s home. What they first did is they decided to give every employee, all 200 across the country, a free UV light system for their own home, but then decided to give them an extra one so they can take it to a family member, to their parents, and install it in their parents’ home as well, to help keep them safe. We took it one step further, though. What Air Pros then decided to do was donate one thousand of these systems, including installation, to teachers across the United States, in markets that they serve. The idea being is that these teachers are giving so much during this scary time to help keep our kids feeling safe, to keep them educated, to do all that they can to give some normalcy to our children, so what they decided to do is do all that they can to say ‘thank you’ to these teachers, by helping keep the air quality in their own home as good as possible, so that it would benefit them as well. It’s little things like this that really feel good during a time like this, but it also creates a lot of goodwill for a company in the long-term, as well. And yes, it can generate some stories, but that’s not why you’re doing it. You’re doing it because it’s simply the right thing to do, and you’ve got the products sitting on your shelves already. On behalf of all of us at 10 to 1 Public Relations, stay safe, stay positive and wash your hands.
