The importance of strategic communication at a time of crisis can not be underestimated. The Covid-19 outbreak changed the world and so, when we were asked to support a local authority with its communication throughout the pandemic, we were honoured to play our part.
The brief
Sidekick PR was employed by a local authority (LA) for a period of almost two years (September 2020 – June 2022) with the remit of supporting and delivering effective Covid-19 communication, as well as a following general public health campaign, to residents and stakeholders across the LA's region.
Delivery
As is our approach with all projects, we ingrained ourselves in the organisation from the outset, attending regular meetings to input on communication strategy and direction, and advising the council’s Covid response team to ensure all external and internal communication activity was coordinated, clear and effective – in the face of a rapidly changing and high pressure situation.
We worked as an extension of the council’s in-house communication team to prepare numerous communication plans for areas such as public health, education, hospitality and business, making sure key messages were aligned and budgets well-managed at all times.
We also delivered various elements of the plans, including press release writing, social media post creation, commissioning video, photography and print projects and writing e-newsletters to be issued to both residential and industry sectors.
We also managed and delivered regular communications on behalf of the Director of Public Health – issuing bespoke letters to key sectors of the community as and when Central Government updated the Covid-19 regulations.
The results
Credit to the work we did with the council is the fact that the team there extended our initial contract of 12 months by a further ten. We successfully integrated ourselves into the organisation, working seamlessly with internal teams across to manage incoming communication requests and deliver effective responses to public health requirements, from isolation guidance to vaccination uptake.
Head of Communications and Engagement at the council, said of our work: “Top notch service. Great team and been a massive support in our comms efforts.”
