Environmental Hazard Crisis

THE SITUATION

Early in the construction stages of a mixed-use development, a developer discovered a serious environmental issue. A large semi-toxic chemical plume was growing under the property and spreading to a nearly neighborhood. Because this was in a fast-growing community close to a large, high-profile U.S. city, this situation posed serious problems. While the developer could have saved significant resources by abandoning the project, they did the responsible thing and invested millions of dollars into a clean-up effort.

THE TASK

The company engaged us to help develop and execute a multi-dimensional campaign to provide information and ongoing communication to residents and other key stakeholders throughout the cleanup effort.

THE WORK

• Developed strategic plan and messaging

• Collaborated with legal counsel on response strategy and execution

• Researched and developed communication materials

• Prepared executives for meetings with local and state government officials

• Organized neighborhood and community outreach

• Conducted media spokesperson training

• Developed media strategy

• Formulated ongoing messaging, response and material

THE RESULT

We worked with the developer over a 24-month period to develop and execute the effort, which informed, updated and resolved issues and concerns with residents and key stakeholders. The strategic response helped the developer to avoid litigation and also prevented the story from spreading to media in the nearby city.