COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Brand Crisis Response Compare and Contrast Activity: Brands Doing Good in a Time of Crisis

I’ve created a brief online discussion/presentation activity for students in my Public Relations Principles class. The assignment asks students to compare and contrast 2 brands in the same category in terms of how they are communicating with publics amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here’s my ask for students: Find 2 organizations that are doing good during these trying times and share them with us.

I am hopeful tat the assignment will allow students to dig into the brands they love and see how those brands are trying to balance an unprecedented crisis while trying to bring something positive to our world in these trying times. I am hopeful that this will help them see some good that is happening in our world.

The exercise will be run on Zoom during our normal class time. The activity will be assigned a few days in advance. Students will also get the first 30 minutes of class time to prepare. I’m going to ask my students to divide up the work in their team and to not to spend more than an hour and a half working on this assignment. Given everything, I am simply grading this for completion. I do not expect a formal, polished presentation. Rather, I am simply asking my students to talk us through their findings.

This activity will actually replace 2 in-class activities that I had planned, thus opening more time for students to work on their upcoming PR strategies project presentations. I know that will be a main focus of concern for them during this transition online.

The exercise will also serve as an experience for students to practice using Zoom and speaking on Zoom. Later in the semester, I’ll be asking students to host their pre-COVIDClassroom presentations virtually via Zoom.

The assignment is below. It can also be downloaded from my SlideShare page.

Thank you to the amazing Amanda Weed for sharing her crisis response social media online discussion assignment for her students. It was a big inspiration for this assignment. A few of the articles in my assignment were borrowed from her assignment.

Other Announcements Related to COVID-19 Online Teaching

I’ve also added a menu item at the top of MattKushin.com titled “Online Teaching COVID-19 Resources” where you can find all of my posts related to online teaching. I hope to share a few other assignments in the days and weeks ahead as I plan them out. These will likely be brief blog posts as, like you, I am under a heavy time crunch these days.

• All the best to you and your family.

Matt