Communications as Ikor

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오늘은 한 작은 회사의 영리하고 인상적인 이슈 매니지먼트/ 위기관리/ Community Relations의 종합적 샘플을 소개해 드립니다.

 

현재 여러분이 일하고 계신 회사 건물에 간밤에 불이나서 홀랑 타버렸다면 먼저 PR인으로 무엇을 하시겠습니까?

위기관리 PR체계가 서 계십니까?

사업에 연관된 다양한 이슈들을 미리 파악해 놓고 계십니까?

몇번이나 시뮬레이션을 하셨습니까?

 

Crisis Communications를 강의하시는 어떤 분은 위기 발생 후 24시간내에 모든것이 결판 난다고 하십니다. 1-3-6-12라는 비유도 쓰시더군요, 1시간내에 Crisis Team 전원 집합/분석회의..3시간내에 공식 보도자료.. 6시간 내에 기자회견..12시간내에 수습 관련 행동(이벤트)라던가요..

 

아무튼 준비는 되어 있어야 합니다. PR인이라면..

 

아래의 사례를 보시면 밤 10시에 오우크 트리 우유회사에 불이 났습니다.

아직 현장에 소방차가 남아 있을 다음날 새벽 5시, 이 우유 회사는 자신들의 우유 배달을 기다리는 고객들에게 걱정말라는 편지들을 우유와 함께 배달했습니다. 그밖에 감사카드를 소방관들에게 나누어주고.. 참 재빠르고 아기자기하지만 전략적이었던 PR프로그램이었습니다. 참 인상적입니다.

 

우리나라의 대 기업이라 할찌라도 이정도의 위기 관리 체제가 서있는 홍보 시스템은 거의 없으리라 봅니다. 부럽습니다.

 

이 프로그램은 에포크5라는 소규모 PR에이젼시에서 주관하였습니다, 이전에 오우크측과 사전 위기관리 시스템 구축이 이루어져 있었기에 가능했던거겠지요.

아무튼 멋진 녀석들입니다. 아마 이 프로그램의 냄새를 보니 여자분이 지휘를 한거 같습니다. 소프트하고 강렬한게 재미있습니다.

 

한번 보시고 같이 느껴 보시죠.

 

“홍보!!”

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Rebuilding Oak Tree Dairy

 

Oak Tree Dairy Farm with Epoch 5 (PR에이젼시 이름입니다.)

 

OVERVIEW

Oak Tree Farm Dairy is Long Island, New York’s last remaining dairy processing facility. A family owned business, it has operated on the same site since 1941, providing milk and other dairy products to 1,500 retail customers and 450 schools in the region. At 10:00 pm on October 7, 1997, the dairy burned nearly to the ground, with damages estimated at $10 million.

 

Epoch 5 was on site even before the fire was out, working with the media and preparing messages to customers and suppliers. The next day, we developed and began implementation of a comprehensive plan to negate a history of community relations problems, build support for the reconstruction and to reassure retailers that they would continue to receive their milk deliveries as usual.

 

RESEARCH

 

In addition to the daunting task of running a dairy without a dairy, Oak Tree faced three major communications challenges:

 

1. Keep customers from switching suppliers – Oak Tree is a relatively small player in the Long Island market. Its retail customers are constantly under pressure to change suppliers, especially from its major competitor, a New Jersey-based dairy ten times its size. The morning after the fire, many Oak Tree customers had already been contacted by competitors.

 

2. Obtain permission from the town to rebuild – Oak Tree operated as a special use in a residential zone. Because more than half of the facility was destroyed, it required Zoning Board of Appeals approval. This was particularly problematic because the previous management had never obtained building permits for several outbuildings, and the ZBA had denied the dairy’s attempts to right the situation only two years earlier.

 

3. Overcome a history of contentious relations with neighbors and town officials – Previous management had tended to ignore the concerns of the residential community that had grown up around the dairy. A distant history of code violations (previously addressed, but still recalled), odors allegedly emanating from the wastewater treatment facility, nighttime noise and other factors led to a strong community effort to derail the reconstruction.

 

PLANNING

 

Within 12 hours of the fire’s start, Epoch 5 presented a plan of action to Oak Tree’s management. This plan emphasized the following key strategic objectives:

 

1. Obtain early support from key public officials and the media.

 

2. Communicate early and often with community members, and involve them in the process.

 

3. Position the dairy’s efforts to survive as the heroic and successful work of a local, family-owned business, thus creating sympathy that would stem customer losses and encourage local support.

 

EXECUTION

 

Media

 

1. Epoch 5 coordinated TV, radio and print media coverage during and after the fire. Almost every story emphasized the dairy’s commitment to rebuild and to avoid laying off any of its workers. The stories also noted that the dairy had made every single delivery, despite the fire, due to a contingency production and distribution plan in place prior to the fire.

 

2. Epoch 5 met with the editorial boards of local weekly publications in order to enlist support. As a result, favorable and sympathetic editorials appeared within several days of the fire.

 

3. Epoch 5 created a full-page “thank you” ad to run in Newsday targeting the firefighters and Oak Tree’s neighbors, customers, and well-wishers – and obtained a 75% space price cut.

 

4. Epoch 5 developed factual responses to several negative Letters to the Editor from neighbors opposing the reconstruction. These further reinforced our primary messages of conciliation.

 

5. Epoch 5 placed or managed major stories on the dairy’s reconstruction efforts and its commitment to use the rebuilding as an opportunity to create a better facility with less impact on the community. These stories appeared in Newsday, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, Suffolk Life, The Long Islander and the Huntington News, as well as on News12 Long Island, Long Island News Tonight, and TV 55 News. When possible, stories were timed to coincide with key points in the zoning appeal process.

 

Community & Consumers

 

1 . Epoch 5 wrote letters to Oak Tree customers to lessen their concerns about delivery. These were sent with the first milk delivery at 5:00 am, while the fire department was still on site.

 

2. The day after the fire, Epoch 5 sent flowers and a thank-you note hand signed by the dairy’s president to the two dozen neighbors who were most disrupted by the fire and media coverage.

 

3. Epoch 5 coordinated a presentation to the local civic organization, which opposed the reconstruction. Many of the neighbors dropped their opposition based on the presentation.

 

4. Epoch 5 developed and issued newsletters to 400 homes in the area. In addition to providing facts to counter misinformation from outspoken opponents, The Dairy News reinforced the message that the current management was committed to the community. It also outlined redesign elements included specifically to reduce the dairy’s impact. The newsletter was deliberately unspectacular graphically, thus avoiding the inference that the dairy was spending money on public relations it should be using to improve its site.

 

5. Epoch 5 coordinated multiple meetings between civic association opponents and dairy management, keeping them fully apprised of all plans and progress.

 

Local Government

 

1. Epoch 5 met with the Town Supervisor immediately after the fire, and obtained his commitment to “fast track” the reconstruction. As a result, a team of town workers in various departments were brought on board within days, establishing a more congenial, positive atmosphere.

 

2. Epoch 5 worked closely with Oak Tree’s zoning attorney to coordinate presentations before the Town Board and the ZBA. In addition to preparing statements and materials, we enlisted support from the business community and residents favoring the reconstruction.

 

3. Throughout the process, Epoch 5 worked extensively behind the scenes to get and keep the support of state and local government officials. As a result, efforts by a town board faction to enforce a Stop Work Order and issue a referendum of opposition were derailed.

 

EVALUATION

 

1 . Despite legal entanglements, significant community opposition and prior management’s perceived disregard for the community, Oak Tree Farm Dairy was granted the right to rebuild in late August 1998. The facility began limited milk production in December 1998.

 

2. Instead of losing business, Oak Tree’s sales actually increased by approximately 10 percent during the reconstruction, despite concerted efforts by competitors.

 

3. Not a single employee was laid off as a result of the fire, and, through our efforts, the 610 member Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce named Oak Tree Farm Dairy “Business of the Year.”