“A Shot in the Arm” Event Aims Straight for the Heart
Posted by admin on Apr. 28, 2022 / Subscribe 0
As footage of the early COVID-19 vaccination response played on the screen, attendees at the PRSA Dallas webinar on April 28 could feel the emotional tension welling up inside. In an instant, we were all transported back to that moment when many of us took our first shot and felt for the first time – in years – a sense of hope for a future where normal life would return.
But there was nothing normal about the pandemic. It was absolute chaos.
It was through that chaos that speaker Morry Smulevitz, VP of Global Corporate Communications at Fortune 16 Walgreens Boots Alliance, says he and his team learned to find opportunities, prioritize effectively and keep focused on their North star of purpose.
“We are entering a golden age of communications. Never before have our jobs been more important,” Smulevitz said. “We are literally dealing with life and death communications.”
Amid the misinformation, disinformation, hesitancy and fear plaguing their core audience during the pandemic, the Walgreens Boots Alliance team had to adapt and pivot quickly. The company launched innumerable new products and services to support the safety, health and wellbeing of the local communities they serve while supporting national and global messaging in support of COVID abatement techniques and government policies and responses.
Smulevitz saw his historically slower-to-act company not only step up to the challenge, but completely transform into an agile thought leader, executing with unparalleled pace and precision. His communications teams thrived in the environment, thanks to a leadership style underpinned by compassion, courage and “busting hierarchy.”
Smulevitz starts and finishes his team meetings reminding colleagues, “There is no limit to what we can achieve together when no one cares who gets the credit.” He views internal politics as the antithesis to progress.
And together his team brought Walgreens into the mainstream spotlight across major media outlets, elevating the subject matter expertise of their chief medical officers and pharmacists – achievements that continue to yield regular appearances on prestigious platforms such as CNN, Good Morning America and CNBC. Walgreens even made it into the 2021 TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list.
Feel inspired? Don’t miss our future PRSA Dallas events! Join us on Thursday, May 12 for Retool for Resilience; Win Top Talent--our first live and in-person luncheon of 2022 featuring distinguished newscaster, PR agency leader, Fortune 100 crisis communications guru and Fresenius Medical Care VP of Communications Scott Sayres. Seating is limited, so grab your ticket today.
Authored by Lauren Williamson, PRSA Dallas Programs Co-Chair and VP Commercial Product, Argus Media.
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