Aira was trying to fit their clients into a “very small space” in the news agenda
Because of all the big news (COVID, Trump, BLM, etc.), they were having trouble getting PR campaigns to break through
Content calendar may be redundant because people don’t care about things like National Simplicity Day with bigger news in front of them
Long-term planning in an environment like this is impossible
Flipped to a more reactive approach, keeping an eye on the news
Look for hooks to break into the news cycle
Fewer journalists to reach out to because they were on furlough (250/400 journalists emailed were out of office)
How to Cope
Relevancy
Should the brand be talking about the topic or theme?
Search for the topic on Reddit first to find the problems people are dealing with
Search on Buzzsumo to find relevant ideas
Opinion
Time, Money,
Provide unique comments from a key stakeholder
Resolution
Be curious about the challenges the audience faces
Research popular digital PR formats and choose the most effective one
Be ready to kill or modify campaigns to respond to the news cycle
Example: They were launching a campaign for a travel agency around traveling to the Maldives when COVID cases started breaking out there. They emailed their client and recommended pausing the campaign and notifying their customers to let them know they should not travel there. The client agreed and they put this campaign on hold.