Page 69 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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5 50 Crisis Communication
Appeal to higher standards, bigger ideas

In an engagement with one of the region’s largest real estate devel-
opers, Gable PR developed a two-year programme to support the
approval of a master plan for a 14,000-acre development that would
be home to 40,000 residents. It would feature new schools, a shopping
centre, bike and hiking trails, and a mix of housing from lower-cost
apartments to executive homes on large lots. The agency positioned
the project as the ultimate smart plan and the perfect future home for
upscale families. Strategies included community relations, building
coalitions, media relations, crisis communications, public affairs and
other activities. The client was dedicated to making its plan a new stan-
dard for community development. For every component of the
project, it retained the most respected consultants and charged them
with setting their own high standards, from roads and infrastructure,
to landscaping, aesthetics and down to the most elaborate drainage
plan ever developed to deal with run-off water during rain storms to
protect the environment and neighbouring communities.
Community planners, architects, engineers and economists met
with community planning groups and the media long before major
milestones would occur in the approval process. When critics began
holding meetings and protesting against the development, their
motives (largely no-growth advocates) immediately came into ques-
tion. Outrageous claims were made and quickly countered. The critics
lost their credibility in the community and with the media. The
bottom-line result: unanimous approval by the City and the develop-
ment of what would ultimately become the most successful develop-
ment in the history of the company.
How can any organization build reputation for the long term?
Based on extensive, ongoing research and experience working for a
wide range of clients for more than three decades, eight key areas
emerged that provide a foundation any company can use to incorpo-
rate image as a part of its corporate strategy.

1. Analyse the competition

How do you want to be known over the next two to three years? What
do you stand for? Do you own a category or niche? Do you have com-
petitive advantages? Can you clearly differentiate yourself from the
competition?
For a quick exercise, Gable PR recommends creating a matrix. List
yourself and your competitors across the top of consecutive columns in
an Excel spreadsheet or Word table. Then, in separate boxes below the