I developed a 2-phased comms and messaging strategy that focused on thanks, humanity, and heroism first. I led a social campaign of recognition that brought the public up close with those getting essentials to people in need—turning FC workers into public service heroes on par with medical staff. Words mattered in this moment, and I created a messaging framework used throughout social and PR that focused on care and humanizing the team: “Safety measures for staff” became “Protecting our people”, “On-time delivery” became “Delivering safely”. The comms strategy also involved leveraging both external social channels and internal comms channels to the FC workers.

The sentiment shift was dramatic. People started posting their own content about what they were doing to show thanks and appreciation to delivery drivers. Instances of negative press were decreasing. And the FC workers themselves also started posting their own stories of why they were proud to do this work, which we would then amplify on the corporate handles.

With the conversation shifted to bravery and pride, we could start phase 2: Communicating the hard facts of the safety protocols and massive financial investment made to keep Amazon’s people safe. My 2-phase approach is how the message finally got delivered.