Mission:

Build public trust and protect the reputation of a local public entity during a sustained period of nationwide scrutiny and unrest. While we could control some events, the larger political climate in which we were operating made our mission even more challenging.

Stakeholders:

Citizens, employees, peers and other related governments, interest groups, civic partners, institutions of higher education and press.

Strategy:

We quickly anticipated the needs of stakeholders, established principles of action, and began proactive stakeholder and media engagement to demonstrate the client’s fair and responsible approach to real and potential unrest, recognizing the inherent tension between the client’s local mission to protect the public and the broader societal inequities that deserved scrutiny.

We created efficient media relations tools and stood up the organizational structure for a 24/7 operation. We built media relationships and proactively promoted coordinated regional communications among several layers of government and related agencies. We created processes to ensure that national narratives and developments didn’t overwhelm our messaging and posture. Our proactive, forward-leaning engagement with all relevant stakeholders built trust, minimized confusion and defused what could have been a tense situation.

Results:

The tools created for outreach and efficient media relations worked as planned. We received positive feedback from internal and external audiences on the amount and type of communications utilized. The client’s reputation remained intact and relations with the press and key stakeholders were strengthened by the thoroughness of our preparations and attention paid to their concerns and needs.