Corporate Affairs – Litigation Communications >

Situation: A major multi-national corporation lost a multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit. How to respond?

Solution: We were called in to help the client immediately respond to Wall Street, employees, the media and other stakeholders.
• We produced a multi-camera press conference that was broadcast via satellite
• We produced a video news release for outlets across the country
• We also produced an internal broadcast so the company’s CEO could explain the verdict to employees and discuss the next steps
• We set up a satellite media tour for the General Counsel to speak about the case and grounds for appeal
• These integrated efforts ensured that the company was communicating with employees, investors, analysts and the media effectively, confidently, with a consistent voice within hours of the decision.

Services:
• Crisis/Litigation Management
• Rapid Response Mechanisms
• Coordinate Policy Position
• Media Outreach
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Materials Development
• Media Tours
• Digital Social Media Outreach
• Message Development
• Logistics On-site, On-line and Broadcast
• Media Training.

Corporate Re-Branding >

Situation:
A multi-national corporation chose to change its name and logo and needed to ensure its’ worldwide employees understood the reasons and objectives and supported the change. Our personnel were involved from beginning to end.

Solution:
To address the challenge of ensuring full support from among the company's worldwide employees, we produced a series of regularly scheduled internal broadcasts leading up to the change in which executives explained the reasons and objectives.

• We created state-of-the-art animation to bring the new logo to life, and made a new corporate image video
• On the day of the announcement, we staged a live internal TV event for global employees
• Subsequently we created and produced a quarterly broadcast to highlight company developments and management vision


Services:
• Message Development
• Logistics On-site, On-line and Broadcast
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Materials Development

Corporate Reputation >

Situation:
A new company was launching amidst the tarnished reputation of one of its high profile executives.

Solution:
We managed the reputation issues around the allegations while creating initial messaging regarding the start-up of the of the new company. We worked with their investors and business partners to craft consistent messaging before, during and after the launch.

Services:
• Website and Content Development
• Media Outreach
• Message Development
• Materials Development
• Third-Pary Communications
• Community Affairs
• Social Media Development

Corporate Reputation >

Situation:
A Fortune 5 company needed to build its reputation and demonstrate its ongoing actions to be a good neighbor in a local area where it does business. We built and maintain a web-based platform to communicate the company’s actions and involvement in the local community on a regular basis.

Solution:
We built, host and maintains a website to increase awareness of the company’s presence and local impact. The site features information local stakeholders can use, including community affairs outreach work, much of which was the result of our local outreach and communications efforts to help enhance the company’s reputation and goodwill. We also produced a video that featured local community leaders discussing the company’s involvement in the region.

Services:
• Website and Content Development
• Media Outreach
• Message Development
• Materials Development
• On-site Video Production
• Community Affairs

Corporate Reputation Digital Communications >

Situation:
A leading premium drinks company was concerned about a rapidly evolving legal and regulatory environment.

Solution:
To proactively communicate about social responsibility and responsible consumption, we created and produced an ongoing series of broadcast and social media news reports targeted to local markets across the country.

• Using a-news-you-can-use format, we designed the series to defend the reputation and enhance the corporate brand by positioning the brand as the expert on the issue in a context of news, not advocacy
• This ongoing series has reached more than 70 million viewers annually on news programs, and 50 million listeners on radio
• More than $10 million annually in measured media value

Services:
• Message Shaping
• Logistics On-site, On-line and Broadcast
• Stakeholder Engagement
• On-line Strategies
• Materials Development

Corporate Social Responsibility/Stakeholder Engagement >

The Challenge:
The world’s leading spirits, wine and beer company needed to develop a tool that would be a global resource for all interested parties to share programs designed to fight alcohol misuse and to promote responsible drinking worldwide.

The Solution:
Working together with our client, we identified a need for a truly comprehensive website that could be considered “best in class” in providing a forum for consumers and other stakeholders to access and share timely, useful information on responsible drinking. The result of this year-long effort is DrinkIQ.com, a global website that provides relevant alcohol facts and statistics, highlights local programs related to alcohol and responsible drinking, provides timely news pieces and links to other websites, incorporates expert advice on related issues, and offers tools and resources to keep stakeholders up-to-date on the latest issues and resources surrounding drinking responsibly. The site will offer content in more than 14 languages and reach 28 countries worldwide.

We worked with the client to:

• Design and construct the overall content for the site.
• Provide day-to-day project management of the site including the production and organization of all multimedia assets and content.
• Manage the public affairs outreach to legislators, policy makers and opinion leaders.
• Coordinate outreach to parenting bloggers.
• Establish cross promotional initiatives with online sites like Yahoo and iVillage.
• Develop a digital activation plan that included search engine optimization techniques; live webcast and online chats, contextual targeting, and social networking sites.

The site features a “Responsibility Channel” where all interested stakeholders can share, in multimedia formats, effective programs and tools designed to fight alcohol misuse and help individuals make responsible choices about drinking.
DrinkIQ.com incorporates the latest cutting edge technology and social media applications to foster a community and ongoing positive dialogue about this critical issue.

Services:
• Message Shaping
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Program Development
• On-line Strategies
• Materials Development

Crisis Management and Communications >

Situation:
The day before a long holiday weekend, one of the world's largest consumer products manufacturers announced that it was voluntarily pulling its entire inventory from wholesale and over 400,000 retail outlets because it detected an unknown ingredient that had altered its taste.

Solution:
Our staff was an integral part of the crisis response team, developing media and communications strategies and acting as spokespeople

• We developed a series of media assets to react in real time
• We helped the company communicate quickly, openly and honestly to consumers, regulators and advocates about what it knew and the steps it was taking
• These efforts continued as the company worked to discover the source of the contamination
• Eventually the source was discovered, and new product made its way to the shelves, but because of prompt and proficient action to communicate, there was neither short nor long-term harm to consumers, the company, the brand or the stock

Services:
• Rapid Response Mechanisms
• Message Development
• Media Training
• Media Outreach
• Stakeholder Outreach
• Materials Development
• Media Tours
• Digital Social Media Outreach

Integrated Online Advocacy and Lobbying Campaign >

Situation:
A growing number of mortgage foreclosures in 2007 pressured policymakers to protect homeowners and the financial markets. A financial interest grew concerned that a government bail-out of sub-prime mortgages would severely jeopardize its investment and wanted to prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout.

Solution:
Created and managed an integrated federal and multi-state (12)lobbying and public advocacy campaign through early 2008 to oppose a government bailout of the mortgage market.

Services:
• Research and Message Development
• Coalition Outreach and Development
• Website and Content Development
• Materials Development
• Viral Advocacy Campaigns
• Rapid Response Mechanisms
• Media Outreach
• Digital Communications, Production and Distribution
• Online Advertising

Litigation Reputation Communications >

Situation:
A major multi-national corporation lost a multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit. How to respond?

Solution:
We were called in to help the client immediately respond to Wall Street, employees, the media and other stakeholders.

• We produced a multi-camera press conference that was broadcast via satellite
• We produced digital news packages for media platforms across the country
• We also produced an internal broadcast so the company’s CEO could explain the verdict to employees and discuss the next steps
• We set up a live press tour for the General Counsel to speak about the case and grounds for appeal
• These integrated efforts ensured that the company was communicating with employees, investors, analysts and the media effectively, confidently, with a consistent voice within hours of the decision

Services:
• Crisis/Litigation Management
• Rapid Response Mechanisms
• Coordinate Policy Position
• Media Outreach
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Materials Developement
• Media Tours
• Digital Social Media Outreach
• Message Developement
• Logistics On-site, Online and Broadcast
• Media Training

Policy Outreach and Communications >

Situation:
A major multi-national corporation saw that cities were falling behind in their ability to utilize new technologies to solve the most vital problems of our time and of future generations and that they needed to create innovations to make our cities more vibrant, allow them to control well-being and meet the needs of aging populations, and that will protect the planet’s precious resources.

Solution:
Established a sponsorship since 2010 with USCM to engage and foster stronger working relationships with mayors and to educate key policymakers. Became Mayors’ Lighting Partnership in 2013.

Services:
• Research and Message Development
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Planning
• Program Development
• Website and Content Development
• Media Outreach
• Digital Communicaitons, Production and Distribution
• Community Affairs

Stakeholder Engagement >

Challenge:
A global, diversified consumer products company needed to help its operating subsidiaries improve the quality, quantity, consistency and business effectiveness of their outreach to, and engagement with, various stakeholders.

Solution:
We led the project team to create a Stakeholder Engagement Toolkit – a set of Steps, Actions and Tools – to support the company’s engagement efforts and to build stakeholder trust in the engagement process.

• We assisted in the development and writing of a best-in-class model for stakeholder engagement and planning, which subsequently became the basis for 3rd party models.
• We then helped roll-out the process and train key employees around the world on its implementation

Services:
• Research
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Planning
• Program Development
• Materials Development

Stakeholder Communications in Support of a Regulatory Position >

Situation:
Organization needed to improve the quality, quantity, consistency and business effectiveness of their outreach to, and engagement with, various stakeholders.

Solution:
Created tools to support the company’s engagement efforts and to build stakeholder trust in the engagement process.

• We assisted in the development and writing of a best-in-class model for stakeholder engagement and planning
• We then helped roll-out the process and train key employees around the world on its implementation

Services:
• Research
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Planning
• Program Development
• Materials Development

Strategic Media Relations and Outreach >

Situation:
A large domestic auto manufacturer engaged Forum Strategies & Communications to help design and implement a communications strategy centered on building consumer confidence and developing the company’s reputation among key stakeholders.

Solution:
We developed a series of traditional and new media tactics to promote the company’s new lifetime powertrain warranty as a statement of the company’s confidence in its products. This included:
• Developing a strategic media relations plan that would leverage the credibility of specific electronic and online media outlets, and;
• Initiating a social media strategy that helped generate buzz among auto enthusiasts, industry bloggers and consumer advocates.

Services:
• Message development
• Media strategy and outreach
• Coordination of on-site production
• Online/broadband video tools
• Social media strategy
• SEO and viral tactics

Community Affairs and Outreach >

Situation: A leading snack food company with over a dozen plant sites in the United States had several reputational and organizational challenges regarding coordinating and enhancing their community affairs efforts.

Solution: We worked with the corporate affairs team, helping to strategically focus its corporate contributions to areas connected to its business; help its plant facilities leverage "focused-giving" to develop closer ties with their communities; give plant personnel a turn-key tool to help them plan and execute community events within their resource constraints.

• We wrote and produced a toolkit of best practices and processes
• We created templates for step-by-step community relations outreach and execution
• We also produced a short video for internal and external use to highlight the company's community relations and charitable giving efforts

Services:
• Message Development
• Community Events
• Community Outreach
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Short Form Video/Issues Primer