Challenge
When a major Canadian resource company faced an organized market pressure campaign by some of the world’s most media-savvy and politically attuned Environmental NGOs, they turned to Fleishman-Hillard for help. The ENGOs were targeting the resource company’s customers in Canada and around the world – encouraging customers to change suppliers unless the company changed some of its production practices. The coalition of ENGOs timed its attack to coincide with the company’s merger with another industry player, in the hopes of unsettling investor confidence.
Results
FH prepared and executed a comprehensive reputation protection plan, including the development of a new shared sustainability brand; outreach to interested stakeholders, preparation of supporting materials; materials to assist sales force to pre-empt and address misinformation by ENGOs; and, media and message training. Importantly, FH developed a tailored crisis strategy and implementation plans that helped the company low-bridge a series of ENGO media stunts designed to attract unwanted attention and damage share value. Through FH’s efforts, the merger was not affected by the ENGO campaign, preemptive efforts with customers prevented any major customer departures and the company was successful in turning various ENGO “stunts” to its advantage to enhance its reputation with the media and key stakeholders.
