Philly Fighting COVID Update

In late December Brownstein was engaged by Andrei Doroshin to provide public relations, creative and integrated marketing support to Philly Fighting Covid (PFC). The assignment was to execute a communications campaign with the objective of raising awareness and securing pre-registrations for forthcoming mass vaccination events taking place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. PFC had established a strong reputation as an organization capable of mobilizing quickly and engaging underserved communities throughout Philadelphia through its testing sites in the months leading up to our involvement. We hoped to leverage the partnership, the agency’s creativity, and our deep-rooted understanding of Philadelphia to deliver important public health messaging to the city’s diverse communities.

We acknowledge that PFC was aiming to create a new model with the City of Philadelphia, and that the establishment of public-private partnerships can be challenging and complex. This week those challenges and complexities overtook the positive intent of this engagement. Decisions have been made at the organizational level that are beyond our purview as a communications firm. We cannot endorse or align ourselves with recent decisions that in several cases went against our counsel, were counter to our recommendations or were made without our involvement. For this reason, we are severing ties with Philly Fighting Covid, effective immediately.

We are deeply regretful at this outcome and beyond disappointed that the speed and breadth of Philadelphia’s vaccination efforts may be negatively impacted. Our hope is for the City to successfully administer vaccinations to all who desire them as quickly and safely as possible.