Case Studies

Strategic Communications Plan and Crisis Communications Training     

Members of our team had the privilege to work side-by-side with an international Fortune 500 corporation as they developed a multi-layered public affairs plan that included a long-range strategic communications plan. The plan included traditional media relations needs, such as press releases, media interviews for executive team members, as well as product announcements and on-site tours for members of Congress and local elected officials. The plan also included a never before developed crisis communications plan and action sequence for the company.

Shortly after the development and implementation of the strategic plan, the company experienced a crisis communications incident. We immediately stepped in and developed and implemented a crisis communications plan, as well as providing media and message training sessions for all employees. We engaged on-site, conducting ‘mock interviews’ with local TV reporters and camera crews to simulate an actual interview setting.

The client was extremely satisfied that the long-range planning they had initiated fit the situation they encountered just a short time after the initial planning sessions. The end result was the perfect example of a ‘plan your work, then work your plan’ mentality we strive to provide for all of our clients.

Our team firmly believes that a well-developed strategic communications plan, with thoughtful planning on the front end, can save critical time and resources and minimize your chances for reputational damage to your brand.

Crisis Communications & Strategic Recovery

No one plans to have a crisis but having a plan during a crisis is critical. Our team was hired by a national retail food company to deal with a crisis incident involving tainted food.  The company had never experienced an incident on a national level that covered multiple states. Within days of customers becoming sick, some even hospitalized, sales at stores across the Midwest had fallen off anywhere from 25% – 80%.

Our team mapped out a crisis communications plan that included addressing the immediate issue of dozens of media inquiries and requests for interviews, but also a plan to simultaneously rebuild the company reputation and sales. We started by getting all of the scientific facts, from a trusted government agency. As is turned out, the infected product was from a vendor that had also infected other restaurants.

Rather than wait for a government agency to attempt to clear the company’s good name in 4 or 5 months, our client took our advice and implemented the proactive steps to address the food crisis at the moment, as well as reassure their customers their products were safe to eat again in the future.

We worked around the clock with the client in the first 48 hours to develop a media strategy that could be implemented as close to the original media cycle as possible and not allow consumer opinions to become fixed. The crisis communications plan consisted of a three-state media swing with the CEO conducting media interviews, as well as allowing members of the media to film him as he prepared food for the customers in the store. The company CEO spent hours in media coaching sessions, staged and prepared by our team, to prepare him for the exact situation he would face at each location.

Upon completion of the media tour, the client was extremely happy with the level of preparedness our team member had provided for him, stating that at each location he was asked the exact same questions by the reporters that he had been asked during the role-playing sessions we had conducted with him. And most importantly to him and the company, store sales in almost all locations throughout the Midwest had returned to pre-incident levels in less than 30 days.

Our team provided rapid, informed, and strategic crisis communications for our client at one of the worst times in the company’s history. You may not plan to have a crisis but knowing where to go when the crisis hits can be the life or death of your brand.

Clean Cars Press Conferences
Our team has been retained in states across the country to recruit local elected officials, public health experts, and environmental advocates to participate in press conferences regarding the CAFÉ standards affecting passenger cars and light trucks.

Our team has recruited high-profile speakers and generated press in media markets across the country, resulting in dozens of TV clips, print articles, and op-eds in each of these media markets. We have hosted and executed these press conferences in the following states: Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin