Challenge

When Russia invaded Ukraine, daily life for Ukrainians traumatically changed overnight with once peaceful neighborhoods and bustling urban centers transformed into war zones. Following the invasion, a network of more than 200 public relations professionals in Ukraine – whose regular jobs were suddenly put on hold – utilized their skillsets and created a non-profit organization, the Ukrainian PR Army. The organization has helped advance a global call for aid and arms, and has helped Ukraine defend itself and provide humanitarian relief to its citizens. On the third day of the war, PLUS was connected to the Ukraine PR Army to help launch a news service. Our mission was to provide information and voices to U.S. media on the latest developments from eyewitnesses on the ground across Ukraine. While our work was pro-bono, we treated this effort as a full-time client.

Solution

Focusing on national cable television and streaming news coverage was our top priority. PLUS delivered the message about the on-the-ground efforts in Ukraine to key decision makers and influential audiences in Washington, D.C., in a compelling manner. We connected producers with Ukrainian voices to drive coverage calling on aid and military support, as well as pushing the U.S. government to install significant sanctions against Russian leaders and boycotts from major companies. Moreover, by tracking real-time media coverage, we were able to plug our voices in Ukraine into the conversation and provide original story ideas to further segments on the war and urgent needs for the Ukrainian people.

Results

Our effort elevated Ukrainian voices around the war and crisis in the country. We were able to help Ukrainian leaders and citizens by consistently driving the call to action among elected officials and government agencies for military and humanitarian aid. In a short period of time, we secured more than 2,000 earned media hits, with a combined national publicity value of more than $230 million according to Critical Mention. We also secured more than 100 live television interviews with major cable news outlets in the first 45 days of the effort. For our work, we won PRWeek’s Best in Crisis Award, SABRE’s Platinum Award for Best in Show, SABRE’s Gold Award for Not-For-Profit Organizations and landed in the top three for SABRE’s Global Awards.

100+ TV Interviews on National Cable News Stations in First 45 Days of Russian Invasion

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