If I ever needed a reminder that I am not meant to go on holiday, it came in Queenstown. It seems like all the major disasters happen while I am away (generally in the area the disaster hits), I am starting to think the world is sending me a message that I should be chained to my desk!

I wont dwell on the earthquake(s) because I imagine in my absence the topic has been analysed to the minute detail, but we were thinking of all of you who were affected, and also the friends and family of everyone who was on that skydiving flight. What a tragedy.

One thing that did strike me though, is that businesses are getting much better at recognising that events like this are a great opportunity to generate some good PR while giving some pretty needed relief to people who could really use it.

Not only do I LOVE Air New Zealand’s quirky safety videos (hilarious and practical – these are the only safety briefings that seem to have all eyes glued to them), I love how they were quick to ensure the family of the Australian victim of the Skydiving crash knew they had free tickets to get here, and their son would be flown back to them for free too. Small comfort in a horrific time, but AirNZ deserve all the buzz they get from this act. That’s the kind of people we are in New Zealand, and since we largely own Air NZ, it’s great they reflect this with gusto.

Powershop quickly added a $19.95 Power and Love package to their site to help ease the financial burden to Christchurch residents and GrabOne started a $5 donation ‘deal’ which had already had about 6,200 donors (and probably a lot of buzz).

None of these guys give the impression of ‘cashing in’ on the disaster… a testament to their strong brands that make them already well known as the kind of companies that understand their customers and look after them. It’s hard to gauge how much impact social media and the like has on a company’s willingness to jump on board and help the relief effort, but it’s great to see genuine helpfulness generating great word of mouth without the need for spin doctors and PR reps.