What we did

In 2020, we were asked to lead the communications at Emerge Aotearoa for the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic response. The main objectives were to make sure the 1200 staff across the Trust’s entities had the information they needed for essential services to continue; for kaimahi and clients to feel safe and supported; and to reassure external funders, government agencies and organisational partners that the response was being well managed.  

We made sure the right tools were in place to communicate with all kaimahi; creating and launching a microsite by the end of the first week of lockdown; producing and implementing a communications strategy; delivering targeted daily communications updates; writing resources; producing multimedia content; and regularly monitoring and evaluating our efforts to make sure communications were hitting the mark.  

Outcomes

In the final evaluation of the Trust’s COVID-19 response, good communication was said to be one of the keys to its success.

“My staff said they couldn’t have asked for better support. They were kept updated daily with reassuring and easy-to-access information that helped alleviate the feeling of being overwhelmed. They felt connected through engaging in polls on the microsite. They said they have never received such fantastic support from an organisation, and felt they were truly appreciated and valued. You and your team did a phenomenal job and it was felt on the front lines.” – Service Manager

Services provided by Priority Communications included: public relations, crisis communications, internal communications, government relations, graphic design, communications strategy, marketing, media relations and more.