Download Full Report (PDF): COVID-19: How Businesses Are Handling the Crisis
Download Press Release (PDF): COVID-19 Report – Communications – Press Release
Download Business Release (PDF): COVID-19 Report – Business – Press Release
Download Topline Findings: Topline Findings: COVID-19 Report

For more COVID-19 research, visit the IPR COVID-19 Resource Center Here

This is an IPR Signature Study. Sponsored by the Institute for Public Relations and Peppercomm.

Introduction
The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused the greatest global disruption many of us have seen in our lifetimes, with more than 120,000 people infected and more than 4,600 deaths (as of March 11, 2020). It has led to travel bans and restrictions, shaken up the financial markets, and caused event and conference cancellations around the world. It has significantly impacted businesses across all sectors and tested crisis preparedness plans.

The Institute for Public Relations (IPR) worked with communications firm Peppercomm to conduct a study of 300 communications executives and senior leaders from March 5-10 to gain a better understanding of how prepared businesses were for COVID-19 and how they are handling the impacts.

More than half of respondents (52%) said COVID-19 has had a “moderate” or “major” impact on their business operations and 83% are “moderately” or “extremely” concerned about the potential impact of the virus on their companies, suggesting the virus and its effects are not going away any time soon.

Business leaders are leaning into their communication function as an essential resource to help them deal with COVID-19. More than three-quarters (81%) of respondents said the communication function is “important” or “very important” to their company’s COVID-19 response.

While most businesses have been trying their best to prepare for crisis scenarios, something like COVID-19 is unprecedented. Some 30% said their organization was “very” prepared for COVID-19 while 55% said they were “somewhat” prepared. However, almost half (44%) said their crisis communications plan did not specifically address an infectious disease outbreak. Meanwhile, 10% of respondents did not have a crisis communications plan at all.

The most trusted sources for information about COVID-19 were federal agencies (e.g., Centers for Disease Prevention), and international health agencies (e.g., World Health Organization), with nearly three-quarters of respondents (71%) noting they trusted these organizations “a lot.” On the flip side, they were less trusting of social media and government leaders, with 82% stating that they had “not much” or no trust in these sources.

Below is the full data report:

About Peppercomm
Peppercomm is an award-winning strategic, integrated communications and marketing agency headquartered in New York City with offices in San Francisco and London. The firm connects brands, messages and people through data-driven insights, cross-channel communications and brilliant customer experience. Employing an omni-channel approach, the company uses customer insights to determine the right mix of tools and platforms to help clients reach, engage and influence customers along their path to purchase. For more information, visit www.peppercomm.com.

About the Institute for Public Relations
Founded in 1956, the Institute for Public Relations is an independent, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the science beneath the art of public relations.™ IPR creates, curates, and promotes research and initiatives that empower professionals with actionable insights and intelligence they can put to immediate use.  IPR predicts and analyzes global factors transforming the profession, and amplifies and engages the professional globally through thought leadership and programming. All research is available free at www.instituteforpr.org and provides the basis for IPR’s professional conferences and events. Follow us on Twitter @instituteforpr.

Media Contacts:
Paul Merchan
Peppercomm
pmerchan@peppercomm.com
212-931-6172

Nikki Kesaris
Communications Manager
Institute for Public Relations
nikki@instituteforpr.org
352-392-0280

Heidy Modarelli handles Growth & Marketing for IPR. She has previously written for Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, The Next Web, and VentureBeat.
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