Tag: COVID-19

UK marketing budgets continue to contract markedly amid impact of COVID-19

Stuart Mitchell

UK companies registered another drastic reduction in marketing budgets during the third quarter amid ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, according to the latest IPA Bellwether Report. The result followed a record reduction in available funds during the second quarter, when many businesses were either temporarily closed or operating at reduced capacity.   The Q3 2020 IPA Bellwether Report indicated that a net balance of -41.0% of panellists saw their marketing budgets cut in the third quarter (up from -50.7% in Q2). The result represented the second-quickest decline since the survey’s inception in…

Read More

Amazon Expands Support to Address Immediate Needs – Including Shelter, Food and Basic Necessities – for Students In Need Across 133 Schools in Puget Sound Region Amid COVID-19

Stuart Mitchell

Amazon, Bellevue LifeSpring and The Alliance for Education have announced Amazon is making a more than $2.5 million donation to support the immediate needs of thousands of students from underserved communities within the Puget Sound region amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With this donation, Amazon is expanding its innovative Right Now Needs Fund, designed to meet the basic needs of schoolchildren and their families and eliminate barriers to learning, such as challenges with food, shelter, clothing, school supplies, and more. Amazon will donate more than $1.4 million to Bellevue LifeSpring to launch…

Read More

Charity Founded As Heroes During First Wave Of COVID-19 Rebrands As Healthcare Workers’ Foundation (HWF) And Launches Emergency Appeal

Stuart Mitchell

The Healthcare Workers’ Foundation (HWF), previously known as HEROES, has launched an emergency appeal today – as the UK enters its second lockdown – to address what it sees as a potentially catastrophic period for the NHS and healthcare workers in the UK over the next two-years. The emergency appeal being launched today, coincides with the relaunch of the charity previously known as HEROES, under its new name, The Healthcare Workers’ Foundation (HWF). The organisation was originally launched by NHS workers for NHS workers at the onset of the first…

Read More

America’s Top Young Scientist of 2020: 14-Year-Old Researches Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2 Virus to Develop Novel Antiviral Drug to Combat Spread of COVID-19

Stuart Mitchell

3M and Discovery Education have named 14-year-old Anika Chebrolu from Frisco, Tex. the winner of the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge (#YoungScientist), the nation’s premier middle school science competition. Anika used in-silico methodology for drug discovery to find a molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to find a cure for COVID-19. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is the cause of hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide and was declared a worldwide pandemic and public health emergency earlier this year. With the virus continuing to spread far…

Read More

PRCA & Opinium Research: COVID-19 has caused ‘significant stress’ for PR practitioners

Stuart Mitchell

More than a quarter (26%) of PR professionals find their job extremely stressful compared to 18% of the general public, according to a new report published today by the PRCA and Opinium. Unmanageable workloads (55%), the impact of coronavirus (44%) and poor work-life balance (43%) were cited by PR professionals as the most common causes of stress.  The report – Continuing the Conversation: Mental Wellbeing in Public Relations – has been published ahead of World Mental Health day and reflects the views of more than 400 PR professionals.  This is the second year the…

Read More