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- Hi, I'm Jeff Beer.

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Welcome to Fast Company's Fast Break.

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Your reliable source of daily motivation

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and inspiration in these uncertain times.

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On today's show, a word
from our editor in chief,

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Stephanie Mehta, plus I take a look

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at the difference between
Popeyes's superficial stunt

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and Nike's powerful PSA.

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(upbeat music)

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Let's kick it off with the miss.

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Amid the coronavirus crisis, smart brands

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are reading the proverbial room

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and adjusting their marketing
and public communications

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to reflect our new reality.

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The reality of thousands dying globally

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and the race to stem
the spread in the U.S.

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through social distancing
and other efforts.

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This week, Popeyes launched an ad called

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"Fried Chicken 'n Chill."

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Where the brand promised to
give out its Netflix password

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to the first 1,000 people who posted a pic

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with its chicken and the hashtag,
#ThatPasswordFromPopeyes.

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As brand responses to this crisis go,

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this feels extremely last month.

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People are dying, people
are losing their jobs,

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people are at home, anxious.

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Fun is still good, but when
you're a major corporation,

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it should be accompanied
by some hopeful action.

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This isn't rocket science.

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Popeyes could've had its
fun but then also announce

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that it was giving away food
to frontline health workers

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or complemented the fun
with a donation announcement

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to other crisis efforts.

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Instead, it's just giving
its Netflix password away

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to people who, A, already have Netflix

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or B are already stealing the password

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from other family members and friends.

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Which makes this kind of an
empty-earned media stunt.

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It's disappointing in
these unique circumstances

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that the brand couldn't find a way

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to combine its completely
legitimate instinct to be silly

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with a little more substance.

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This week's hit comes in
the shape of a swoosh.

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Last weekend, Nike launched a new ad

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not to sell more sneakers
but to get people

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to take more seriously the
efforts of social distancing

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to slow the spread of the virus.

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The ad was reposted by a
laundry list of Nike athletes

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from Lebron James to Carli Lloyd

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to Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Jordan.

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And it's not just an empty plea.

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On Tuesday, NBA star and Nike
athlete, Karl Anthony Towns,

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posted an emotional video to Instagram

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reiterating the message of the ad

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but also revealing that his own mom

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is in a medically induced
coma due to the virus.

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Right now we're seeing
brands of all sorts step up

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in different ways, whether
it's donating to organizations

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like Feeding America

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or starting to adjust the production lines

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to produce mass ventilators
and other equipment

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to help the effort against the virus.

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Nike's simple ad was just one of the first

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to translate some of these
actions into its advertising.

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Other major brands are following suit

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like Budweiser did on
Wednesday with its One Team ad.

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The brewer used sports team names

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to describe heroic frontline workers

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while also announcing
that it was diverting

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its sports-investment money
into crisis aid efforts.

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The longer this goes
on, the more brands will

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and should be using their
advertising and influence

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to encourage people to
be part of the solution.

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- Hi, I'm Stephanie Mehta.

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Editor of Fast Company.

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I wanted to share with
you an interesting story

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that you may have missed
as the coronavirus spread

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has sort of dominated all of the headlines

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for the last few weeks.

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On March 16th, I wrote
a story about Starbucks

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and a new program that
the company introduced.

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The company made up to
20 free therapy sessions

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available to all of its
employees in the U.S.

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And eligible dependents.

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So that's 220,000 employees
in the U.S. for Starbucks

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that are able to access these
20 free therapy sessions

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via a mental health benefits
company called Lyra Health.

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Starbucks has long been
a bellwether for how

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other companies start to think about

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benefits for their employees.

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They've long been pretty
progressive on a number of fronts.

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About a year and a half ago,
they announced an interesting

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program that allows them to
subsidize child care costs

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for their employees

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or partners as they
call them at Starbucks.

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And a lot of employees that
I talk to in the course

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of reporting the story said that

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they'd been in the restaurant
industry for a long time

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and they've never seen
a benefit like this.

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That Starbucks has provided
a kind of level of care

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that other companies just don't provide,

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but I think more importantly,

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they de-stigmatized the
issue of mental health

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in the workplace and made
it so that employees do feel

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like they have permission
to talk about their bad days

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or talk about times where
they made need a little bit

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of extra support.

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So as we come through
this coronavirus crisis

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and as we work through
some of the challenges

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that we are all going to be experiencing,

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I suspect that on the other side of this,

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a lot of people will be looking
at what Starbucks has done

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in the area of mental health benefits

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and they'll be taking note.

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Thanks so much for joining me today.

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- Finally, take a breath before
diving back into your inbox.

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Enjoy this mindful moment
and we'll see you next week.

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(soft peaceful music)