IPREX report offers assessment of 14 countries’ pandemic communications

IPREX, the premier global communications network, in partnership with PRHUB, today released a unique international report that examines how countries’ leaders have communicated with their publics during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact those communications have had on their popularity*.  An industry first, the global communications analysis – titled What’s Working To Calm Hearts Worldwide – includes perspectives from IPREX partners across 14 countries, including India and serves as a collection of comparative, real-time case studies on communications best practices globally. Countries covered included Australia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Sweden, UK and the US.

 “It’s nearly a full-time job to keep up on the COVID-19 news in your own country alone. The beauty of this report is that it makes it easy to broaden your perspective. For me, sitting in the United States, it provided hope in the form of proof that it possible to get this virus under control,” said Julie Exner, IPREX Global President. “Perspective from around the world is part of the power of IPREX, and I hope this report can share a piece of that international camaraderie at a time when it’s so needed,” she further added.

In her comments, Sumathi M Chari, Director & Sr. Partner, PRHUB, said, ”Global perspective helps not just in providing a context to observe how each country has performed but also offers invaluable insights into what worked or not. The analysis in each country has been put together by senior professionals with in-depth knowledge and arising insights, which ensures credibility. It has been truly fascinating to read the diverse array of approaches and heartening to see old-fashioned communication practices like simple, genuine communication winning hearts and minds of citizens globally. India had natural advantages going into this unprecedented pandemic. By not investing enough in communication and best practices thereof, it seems to have squandered that great opportunity.”

For the first time in most of our lifetimes, we are watching one common crisis play out across every country in the world. Uniquely situated across 29 countries, IPREX took the opportunity to study how different cultures and different approaches fare in dealing with a common crisis, and communications’ role in that. Fifteen IPREX partners and affiliates shared their analysis as citizens and professional communicators, recounting vastly different experiences of the same global pandemic.

The analysis uncovered similarities, too, and they support what most communications professionals already know - the winning communications formula has been decisive action and clear, simple and consistent messaging. Even in the crisis of near-unprecedented magnitude, those simple tools have proven the most effective. The report also showed that results don’t always translate to favor: France stood out for its very modest approval increase and Japan for its precipitous approval ratings fall, both despite significant successes. This suggests that communications – what is said, how and when – is part of the intangible mix that does translate to favor. The report can be downloaded from www.iprex.com/covid19report/.