Weber Shandwick Exec Quick to Respond to Crises Large and Small
Ken Luce, president of Weber Shandwick Southwest, whose main accounts include American Airlines, hardly kept what you would call normal hours in the wake of the September 11
attacks. Handling a crisis of unimaginable proportions -- two American Airlines jets were used as missiles on the North Tower of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon - had
Luce working 24/7 for nearly a week straight following the attacks.
Luce spent many hours working from his home, where Luce's 15-year-old son observed him in action. "He watched me dealing with the crisis team, talking with the media and
crafting a message," says Luce, who has been at the helm of Weber Shandwick Southwest since 1998. It took the crisis to crystallize in his son's eyes exactly what Luce does for a
living. "He said he didn't understand what I did until that week and now he wants to pursue a career in journalism or PR...So out of this tragedy came this realization from my
son."
For Luce, who is responsible for Weber Shandwick operations in Austin, Denver, Houston and Kansas City, the 9-11 whirlwind started right after the first jet slammed into the
North Tower. He was able to help secure telephone lines into New York within a half hour of the attacks and disbursed Weber Shandwick executives to airports in New York, Los
Angeles and Boston to immediately help American Airlines employees handle the crisis. "One of our guys walked from his office in midtown Manhattan to LaGuardia airport because
that was the only way he was going to get there" to help with response efforts.
Luce, who worked in politics before going into PR, also crafted communications in response to the crash of an American Airlines jet in Rockaway, NY, several weeks after 9-11,
and when alleged "shoe bomber" Richard Reid tried to blow up an American Airlines jet in midair i n 2002.
It's been a trying time for American Airlines the last few years. But Luce, PR NEWS' choice for PR Professional of the Year (Agency), has helped to craft the messages he and
his team of 60 employees are confident will help the carrier recover from 9-11.
Luce also created a PR stunt that ran on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" that brought a little levity to a serious subject. (See Leveraging Leno.)
"This is not a group that sits around and strategizes all day," Luce says. "A client can hire us today and we can go to work that afternoon."
Luce has also been devoting a lot his attention to pro bono work for the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, or TAASA, which launched its first public awareness campaign
in February 2003.
In addition to his work on behalf of a wide range of clients, such as Bank of America, Kinko's and Sprint, Luce also sits on Weber Shandwick's Executive Committee. "The
challenge is positioning the agency in a very crowded environment," Luce says. "I have a background in politics and can assess a business situation - positively or negatively -
very quickly and understand what the message is from a corporate perspective."
Steps to Raising Awareness
In the last year, Luce has crafted a pro bono campaign on behalf of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA). PR - including testimonials from six Texas women who
survived a sexual assault -- has played a key role in raising awareness about the organization.
- TAASA's Web site traffic increased threefold at ad campaign launch; weekly traffic has increased 105% since January 2003
- Hotline call volume doubled from August 2002 to August 2003
- A TAASA media tour was held in 11 Texas markets to publicize the statewide public awareness campaign; tour secured 12 TV, 34 radio, 23 print and 43 online placements
- A national story ran on ABC's "Good Morning America"
- TAASA has received national exposure from 20/20, Oprah and People
- Statewide tour of more than 20 college and university campuses featured survivors
- Press conference for the campaign launch produced 25 broadcast and 20 Internet placements
- Several rape crisis centers have reported that survivors have come forward to seek help, citing the public awareness campaign as their reason for speaking out
Leveraging Leno
As part of Weber Shandwick's efforts to help American Airlines recover from the September 11 attacks, Luce and his PR team created this event for American in concert with
NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
- Secured 12 minutes of network time as Leno guest Howie Mandel invited the audience to his show in Las Vegas
- Mandel led the way as the audience filed out of the theater and onto waiting buses for a trip to the airport, where they boarded the American jet to Vegas
- In return, Mandel showed the roomy comfort of the AA plane cabin, talked about More Room and presented AA as a fun airline
- The two-night airing gained access to 6 million viewers, approximately $1.5 million in ad equivalency for around $100,000 in operation costs
- NBC promoted the show and event by continually running promo spots designed to bring viewers to the special segment
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