The rapid development of vaccines against SARS-CoV 2 signals an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. This ending may not be a happy one for people who have lost loved ones, although it is a relief for all and especially for an economy hit hard by the crisis, largely due to mobility restrictions. We will enter a new period in which optimism for the recovery (of the economy and our lifestyle) will coexist with the fear of a relapse, a mutation or a new virus. A real and dramatic experience more characteristic of a dystopia will still be very fresh.
As often happens in crises, they are times of a lot of communication. Public Relations professionals are on the front lines to help protect individuals and businesses from the consequences of the pandemic. In the field of intangibles, we fight against hopelessness, pessimism, demotivation and misinformation; and on the side of tangibles, against the effects of the economic crisis on the P&L. Our best weapons in this fight have been rigorous, timely and punctual information and the channels of relationship established with interest groups.
The first challenge is that communication is not deactivated or does not lose relevance once we overcome the acute phase of the crisis and enter a “new normal”.
We have to be able to show that the contribution of communication to the management of companies is as important in normal times as in times of crisis. Furthermore, good and constant communication management acts as a protective shield against events that disturb the normal functioning of the organization.
Recovery will have a rational and an emotional aspect. The communication department has to work with both. In the first, to participate in the reactivation of operations, with a clear focus on customers. In the second, to take care of the emotional health of company’s people, given that we will continue to move in an environment of uncertainties and turbulence even after mass vaccination becomes a reality.
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