Stop & Shop Wins Award for COVID-Era Communications
Stop & Shop has received an award for communications excellence based on its outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Association for Women in Communications (AWC) recognized the retailer with a Clarion Award, noting its clear messaging during a time of overwhelming information bombarding consumers on a daily basis.
The Clarion Award honored Stop & Shop’s multi-pronged crisis communications campaign that began as the coronavirus emerged and impacted the market for much of 2020 and into 2021. Designed to improve safety, the grocer’s communications plan sought to drive awareness of designated shopping hours for COVID-vulnerable customers and to convey its partnership with Uber to provide discounted rides to customers shopping during those dedicated hours. Stop & Shop was one of the first grocery chains to provide early morning shopping for seniors and immunocompromised guests.
The crisis communications campaign was led by Jennifer Brogan, Stop & Shop’s director of external communications and community relations, with the support of team members including Maria Fruci, Maura O’Brien and Stefanie Shuman. The retailer also engaged its public relations agencies, Rubenstein of New York and Kel & Partners of Boston, to garner more than 500 media hits centered on its COVID-19 plans, protocols and offerings.
“As an all-female communications team, we are proud to be recognized by AWC for our PR campaign around Stop & Shop’s support for those most vulnerable in our communities,” Brogan said. “As our store teams were working tirelessly to support customers at the height of the pandemic, the goal of our communications team was to drive awareness around these initiatives to help provide resources and a lifeline to those in need of special assistance.”
Additionally, some Stop & Shop female executives and store managers were honored in Progressive Grocer's 2021 Top Women in Grocery awards for going above and beyond their roles during the pandemic.
Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of Zaandam, Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize, is the parent company for Ahold Delhaize’s U.S. companies, consisting of Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Giant Food, The Giant Co., and Hannaford, as well as e-grocer Peapod; Retail Business Services, a U.S. support services company providing services to the brands; and Peapod Digital Labs, its e-commerce engine. Operating more than 2,000 stores across 23 states, Ahold Delhaize USA is No. 10 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in the United States.
