Image Source: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota via Facebook
Businesses and other organizations are donating goods and funds to help the battle against the coronavirus.
In a few examples, U-Haul is offering 30 days of free storage to college students who had to move out of their dorms, Business Insider reports. MGM Resorts is donating 480,000 pounds of food to food banks and other organizations. Uber Eats is donating 300,000 meals to first responders and healthcare workers.
There are more superb examples of how organizations offered help and successfully publicized their efforts.
The Volunteer Sewing Initiative
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota partnered with Allina Health and others to encourage volunteers to sew masks for doctors, nurses and other medical staff.
A group of Blue Cross associates who volunteer for the company’s Hearts and Hands knitting and sewing group, suggested the idea to Susan Schuster, principal community relations consultant, who leads the organization’s volunteer efforts. The associates offered to sew masks for local hospitals and clinics if Blue Cross could help, explains Amanda Theisen, senior public relations specialist for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, in a blog post.
Schuster enlisted the help of Judy Walker, a retired Blue Cross leader, who created Sew Good Goods, a nonprofit of volunteers who sew items for donation.
Allina Health posted a video on how to make the masks, following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control.
Treadle Yard Goods, fabric store in St. Paul, MN, provided fabric kits for local volunteer sewers and offered curbside pickup.
A Remarkable PR Promotion
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota produced the best piece of content during the COVID-19 crisis so far, says Arik Hanson, a PR pro based in Minneapolis, MN. In addition to explaining how the initiative came to be, Theisen’s blog post includes a short video on how to make the masks and lists Allina Health locations where completed masks can be dropped off. It also suggests that non-sewers donate money to Sew Good Goods through GiveMN.
In a time when most blogs receive little or no engagement, the post had accumulated more than 200 comments in little more than a week. Its Facebook post received 134 comments. The organization followed recommended best practices for audience engagement by responding to most comments.
The project also received media coverage, such as this CBS Minnesota mention.
The Pornhub Example
Pornhub – hold the jokes please – offers another example. Pornhub pledged to donate 50,000 surgical masks to medics and first responders in New York City. Both Mount Sinai Hospital and New York City firefighter and emergency responder unions thanked Pornhub for its generosity, according to The Hill.
The streaming video network also said it will make its premium content free for users for the next 30 days.
“We hope by expanding our offer of free Pornhub Premium worldwide, people have an extra incentive to stay home and flatten the curve,” said Corey Price, the company’s vice president, said in a press release.
The company also said it will allow models to keep their video sales “after processing fee” during April to help those who have been financially impacted.
Pornhub “checked all the boxes” for an effective crisis response, said Beki Winchel at PR Daily. It donated to both to a local community, offered its workers monetary assistance, and highlighted its offering in a subtle way by extending a free service.
At a time when so many major companies are making donations, the streaming video service managed to obtain extensive media coverage.
Bottom Line: Many businesses are donating masks and other material to help contain the coronavirus pandemic. These examples show how to creatively offer help and gain positive publicity.
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Michael Kling is manager of public relations, marketing and social media at Glean.info, a media monitoring and measurement service that provides customized media monitoring and PR analytics solutions.
