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Coronavirus Champions: A Running List of Brands Getting It Right

This article is more than 4 years old.

During the last great recession at a keynote I gave, I remember Jack Welch, the late CEO of GE, saying “Leaders emerge during trying times.” While there are plenty of trackers for canceled events and closures, there’s one list missing: A list of brands who are emerging as leaders in these chaotic times.

This is not a time for cowardice or fear-based thinking. This is a time for gratitude and playing the long game. Here is a running list of brands who are getting it right. Please bookmark and come back regularly as this list will continue to grow. Look at this list for inspiration, discovering services to help you right now, as well as an example of innovative thinking in trying times.

Microsoft: Announced that they will keep paying the hourly workers who support their campus. Microsoft said they will continue to pay all vendor hourly service providers their regular pay during this period of reduced service needs. This is independent of whether their full services are needed. In Puget Sound for example, the 4,500 hourly employees who work in their facilities will continue to receive their regular wages even if their work hours are reduced.

Google: Aside from establishing a COVID-19 fund that enables all temporary staff and vendors, globally, to take paid sick leave if they have potential symptoms of COVID-19, or can’t come into work because they’re quarantined, Google has also made their video conferencing service, Hangouts Meet, available for all G-suite customers until July 1, 2020. Hangouts Meet allows for up to 250 participants and live steaming to up to 100,000 viewers per domain. You can also record and save meetings.

Loom: A video recording and sharing service has made Loom Pro free for teachers and students at K-12 schools, universities, and educational institutions. They have also removed the recording limit on free plans and have cut the price for Loom Pro in half to help businesses and brands across the board.

CloudApp: A tool which lets you capture and share videos, images, and gifs, they are offering their subscription at 50% off.

Mark Cuban Companies: Mark Cuban announced that any of his employees (including those who work for the Mavericks) will be reimbursed for any lunch and coffee purchases from local, independent small businesses. A great way to support the community and small businesses who rely on bigger businesses.

Forbes8: In light of cancelled conferences and events that entrepreneurs depend on for their learnings, Forbes8 is hosting a free digital summit on March 20th, 2020 under the theme of Business Resilience: Thriving in Crucial Times. The speaker roster includes top experts and best-selling authors such as Chris Brogan, Rohit Bhargava, Dorie Clark, as well as yours truly. Many of the speakers were slated to speak at the cancelled SxSw this year. If you missed it, you can still watch via a free 7 day trial of the platform.

Shine Distillery: A distillery in Portland started making and giving away hand sanitizer in an acute shortage. More are following suit. Distilleries often cannot use the first batch of alcohol they produce but it works perfectly for sanitizing. An innovative way to support the community and build brand awareness.

 The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy: The Foundation’s in-house team of literacy and education experts has created a toolkit of high-quality online resources that can be used anytime, anywhere, helping parents navigate the vast amount of available options. The toolkit includes the BBF's newly launched digital program "Story Mentors" a free online classroom and library. Especially perfect for parents with younger kids at home right now.

LinkedIn: The social networking website is opening up 16 of its learning courses for free. Courses that provide tips on how to stay productive, build relationships when you’re not face-to-face, use virtual meeting tools and balance family and work dynamics in a healthy way. The company is also using its powerful platform to share news more broadly, help businesses use live video to replace onsite events, and deal with business continuity.

Jamm: An audio-visual communication tool used by remote and distributed teams is offering it free of change for the foreseeable future. You can quickly record videos or do a live call with your team. Integrates with Slack.

Adobe: They are giving higher education and K-12 institutional customers of their Creative Cloud apps the ability to request temporary “at-home” access for their students and educators. This is being granted through May 31, 2020 at no additional cost and is available globally.

Meero: A file transfer service is offering free large-file transfers to ease remote working. No account needed and all files created between now and June 2020 will be kept active for three months.

Keen Footwear: They are gifting free shoes - up to 100,000 pairs to the workers on the front lines and the families at home fighting the crisis.

Tealbook: A leading supplier data intelligence platform is offering free supplier reports through the end of April to help combat COVID-19 shortages. Businesses will receive a report that includes relevant suppliers gathered from over 400 million of the most trafficked global websites in addition to Tealbook’s 3.4 million visible supplier profiles to help them find new suppliers to manufacture items like digital thermometers, hand sanitizer, and surgical masks. 

interviewstream: An interviewing platform which helps recruiters and hiring managers is offering free access to its platform to the community at large - including universities, K-12 schools, and businesses.

Zello: A push-to-talk voice messaging service (i.e.- a walkie-talkie app) that enables collaboration has offered its premium version of Zello available at no cost to first responders anywhere in the world. Unlike radio, Zello works between jurisdictions and functions on any cellular network or WiFi connection (even in low bandwidth areas).

CASETiFY: The company which creates custom tech accessories including phone cases, rolled out a new initiative called CASETiFY Protects, where they are including ten free sanitizing wipes with every order. They also released a UV tech sanitizer for phones, giving 100% of the proceeds from the UV sanitizer to GlobalGiving's Coronavirus Relief Fund— a 501(c)(3) organization sending essential supplies, medical responders and food to communities in need. 

Christina Karin: A Chicago-based woman-run fashion label has shut down stores to focus on sewing face masks for the local hospitals which are running out.

Labster: A a company that offers fully interactive advanced lab simulations for students, has announced they will be extending access to their virtual lab resources to provide up to five million in temporary relief for colleges and universities around the world. Labster believes that they can help thousands of classes with this initiative and has already seen 5,000 new teachers sign-up since the announcement.

Cartwright: A maker of luxury lockable bags has committed to donating 10,000 masks, and will be donating 100% of their profits from the sale of all accessories through end of April to surgical mask donations.

Naviance by Hobsons: An education technology company has offered their curriculum (over 100+ online, self-paced lessons) for free to all their clients. Since the offer was made, 438 schools and districts have activated the curriculum, enabling over 1.6 million students to prepare for college, career, and life.

Vital Proteins: A a maker of nutritional products donated 23,000 Collagen Waters and counting to charities such as Meals on Wheels, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Ronald McDonald House, and more. 

Love Your Melon: A creator of hats which traditionally donates 50% of net profits to organizations fighting pediatric cancer has now leveraged its domestic manufacturing network to create 50,000 machine washable and reusable face masks. The masks will be donated directly to children’s hospitals and care facilities. They can be requested here.

Allstate: The insurance company known for its “in Good Hands”advertising has announced a special payment plan to give auto and homeowner policyholders the choice to delay two consecutive premium payments with no penalty. The total unpaid balance will spread across remaining bills. AllState is also continuing to pay all employees who can’t work remotely.

RE/MAX: In an effort to support agents and their businesses, RE/MAX, a real estate company, announced an optional deferral of Continuing Franchise Fees (CFF) and Advertising Fees for the month of April for brokerages in company-owned regions.

Vicks: A family of cold and flu brands donated $1 million to Direct Relief, one of the world’s largest medical relief organizations. These funds will go towards equipping front line health workers with protective gear and providing medicines and equipment needed to treat an anticipated spike ICU patients.

RepairSmith: A car repair company has offered free car repairs in California and Las Vegas to car owners who are severely impacted by COVID-19, either via loss of employment or acting as a frontline worker to their community. 

Twitter: The social networking giant is providing employees options to cover additional daycare expenses incurred due to their childcare/schools closing  All employees, including hourly workers, are also receiving reimbursement toward their home office set up expenses.

Bantam Bagels: An NYC original, Bantam has partnered with Promobile Kitchen, a company specializing in food trucks and experiential marketing campaigns, to deliver and donate food to NYC hospitals, medical centers and health care workers around New York City to help support health care workers on the front lines treating sick patients impacted by COVID-19.

CELSIUS: A fitness energy drink has dropped off over one thousand cases of product to over three hundred hospitals and fire and police stations. They are are also offering first responders and healthcare workers a case of product if they direct message the brand (@celsiusofficial) on Instagram with a picture of their ID.  

Boll & Branch: the high-quality, sustainably-sourced home goods retailer is donating 1,000 mattresses and 5,000 pillows to emergency medical operations through their Helping from Home initiative. They are also a part of the Brands x Better Coalition, which donates 10% of each participating brand's proceeds to charities during this time. 

Goumi: An organic baby clothing and accessory line based out of Portland is donating five thousand dollars worth of masks to frontline workers, and starting May 8th will be giving away masks with every purchase for both kids and adults.

Wondersip: The world’s first one-click open reusable straw has donated hundreds of surgical masks to healthcare workers.

Dole: A packaged foods brand is delivering weekly, nutrient-packed smoothies or fruit care packages to 650 hospitals with personalized messages of gratitude, hope and encouragement to frontline workers from Dole employees. Additionally the brand is delivering vouchers for Dole products to health care workers in 5,000 hospitals nationwide.​

Ryland Life: A luxury commerce and Hamptons’ inspired retailer is donating 50% of all sales to The Retreat, an organization whose mission is to provide safety, shelter, and support for victims of domestic abuse.

Wheels Up: David Adelman, lead investor in Wheels Up, a top private aviation company, has launched a new initiative called Meals Up which will supply 10 million meals to the food insecure and those facing hunger during the COVID-19 crisis through Feeding America, a hunger relief organization with an extensive network of food banks feeding the hungry across the country. Wheels Up is also using empty flight legs to transport emergency responders and critical care supplies.

Happy Family Organics: An organic baby and children's food brand has donated over 250,000 organic meals and snacks to organizations providing food to children and families impacted by the pandemic in their home city of New York, the epicenter of the virus in the US. To assist parents virtually, with feeding challenges from breastfeeding to picky eating with their young child, they have a team of lactation specialists and nutritionists providing free one on one support via online chat through their website.

OneDine: A pioneer in guest-side technology solutions for the restaurant and hospitality industries, OneDine is offering a free Tap & Pay Touchless Payment system to restaurants during the COVID-19 crisis. They are offering free setup, free table sensors for tap and pay activity, as well as waiving all transaction fees. The technology integrates with most current POS systems. (A restaurant would only be responsible for third party credit card fees.)

*This is a running list and will continue to be updated. Please bookmark and return later.

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