Spin the Crisis ‼️

April 9, 2026 – In a fun collaboration with GMU’s American Marketing Association (AMA), PRSSA invited members to play “Spin the Crisis”, an interactive game where members were able to create their own crisis communications plan. PRSSA Vice President Valeria and AMA President Jonathan supervised the activity. 

Members were divided into four groups and then provided an envelope with four imaginary brand collaborations - Glossier + Pop Mart, Rare Beauty + DC Comics, Nike + Abbott Elementary, and LEGO + Eggo Waffles. The envelope contained a full analysis of the collaboration, including a SWOT analysis and various statistics related to relevant audiences and communication channels. Students then created inventive campaigns that would bring these collaborations to life, which were shared with the larger group. 

Unfortunately, things do not always run so smoothly in real life! A “crisis wheel” was presented to student groups, including different public relations crises, such as tone-deaf launches, supply chain issues, and internal data leaks. Students only had five minutes to brainstorm solutions to communicate with the public and ensure that their collaborations would see success in the future. Of course, all of our students were level-headed and handled each imaginary crisis with ease. 

This event was a success, with potential for the activity to be brought into real George Mason classrooms in the future! Who knows – maybe one of our members will make these imagined brand collaborations a reality … 👀

We would like to thank GMU AMA once more for collaborating with us! Stay tuned for more information on how to get involved with PRSSA in the future! 💚💛

Author: Sandra Guerra