Cayman Islands Government COVID-19 Communications Strategy

COVID-19 has caused unease across the globe. Millions of people are on lockdown, travel is being restricted, and markets are responding unkindly as the virus continues to spread. It’s a challenging time for broader society, which means it’s a challenging time for Government.

In issues and crisis management, there’s a saying that goes, “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control what you do about it.” The Cayman Islands Government recognised this quickly and engaged Big Panda to develop a visual language to guide their communications response both internally and externally.

First, we affirmed how crucial it was that communicators make sure they are dealing with accurate information. Times of crisis can be confusing and frightening, resulting in an amplification of speculation, obfuscation and censorship, so we worked with CIG to ensure that they developed a phased communications strategy to highlight facts and not fiction, real information and not rumor. Second, it was crucial to ensure the messaging was easy to understand and ensure people understood where the communications were coming from and what they’re about before they read the message contained within them.

In support of Government’s policies, Big Panda developed the ‘Stay Home Cayman, Save Lives’ positioning platform along with comprehensive visual guidelines that founded the bedrock from which all partners, agencies, and other 3rd parties could strengthen the information provided to the public to help save lives, reduce the pressures on health services, and enable people to thrive beyond this crisis.