For a PR firm, it's one thing (a good thing) to be flooded with client calls. It's quite another (a challenging thing) to be approached by a client desperate to stave off negative publicity about a flood --literally, a flood.
This story involves log rafts. Nine of them. And one marine transportation company that found itself in crisis communications mode. Enter Bower & Associates, a PR firm in Seattle.
FOSS Maritime of Portland was storing logs on the Williamette River in Portland, Ore., for several customers when nine log rafts broke loose from a moorage and were pulled into the current. The rafts, made up of nearly 70 truckloads of logs, were headed toward the hub of downtown Portland. Riverside businesses, the city's seven bridges and, most importantly, public safety, were in danger. A flood had been brewing for nearly two weeks before the Feb. 7 loose log crisis.
As TV stations scrambled to the scene, FOSS called on its PR firm, Bower & Associates to quell the waves of potentially negative press.
The Objectives
Foss and B&A had to figure out a way to stop the flood and the log rafts from entering the city, but in the meantime, the situation called for organized communication of the facts to key audiences: public officials, FOSS customers and the public. The main objective of the rescue was to guide ongoing media coverage with FOSS key messages that addressed responsiveness to public safety concerns. B&A also wanted to demonstrate and communicate to local emergency managers and elected officials that FOSS was being aggressively responsive.
Since every crisis has the potential to leave its mark, B&A wanted to leverage FOSS' ultimate success with employees, customers, and maritime and local officials, to retain the company's solid reputation.
Within one hour of the news, B&A was on the scene, developing media and public officials lists of whom to contact. B&A wrote and distributed a news release, and coached the spokesperson, a FOSS official, on how to use FOSS messages in media interviews.
These messages were that FOSS was working aggressively to recapture the logs and make sure no one was hurt.
"It was one of those runaway stories, that people all of a sudde hear about on TV," said Michele Bower, president of B&A. They start wondering who's responsible, what's going to happen, how it'll affect them...instead of waiting for a reporter to figure it all out, we took the highground and told the media everything right away."
B&A evaluated ongoing broadcast coverage through Moba Media, a clipping service in Portland, and print coverage, which B&A clipped themselves. Bower says that the coverage was extremely positive and effectively communicated FOSS' messages.
Tugboat crews worked through the night to keep the logs from floating past an emergency wall, that was created to protect downtown businesses from flooding. By five a.m. the next day, in time for morning news coverage, B&A issued a second news release on the rescue progress.
The logs were lifted out of the river and loaded onto trucks, after FOSS workers waited for the rafts to come by, where the current was the weakest. "The flood was in a highly visible area, it was a media-free-for-all, where there was live coverage 24 hours a day, for two or three days," said Bower.
Because the crisis was all over the news, Bower says the most challenging part was giving the media new information they wanted, when most of the time, there wasn't any.
Sometimes B&A just gave them a reassurance, or just made sure the spokesperson was available for interviews.
Results
The $2,400 project was completed in 24 hours by two people from B&A. Media coverage, all positive, included 20 TV reports, totaling 35 minutes.
Ed Beall, senior vice president at FOSS Maritime, says that "we tried to communicate exactly what was going on; we just told everyone what we were doing to retrieve the logs. We got no negative coverage, because we picked up 95 percent of the logs quickly, and avoided damage to property." Customers and maritime officials alike congratulated FOSS on its efforts, after which FOSS sent letters to local officials to congratulate them on their dedication.
"When there's a crisis, it really helps to get someone who's not directly involved, because it's so hard to stay calm and levelheaded," says Bower. (B&A, 503/248-9468; FOSS Maritime, 503/286-0631)
How Bower & Associates Stemmed the Tide:
- Arrived at the site within one hour and created media and public officials contact lists, got a spokesperson to come in and give media interviews;
- Kept the media informed on the progress of the rescue, gave them access to the site; and
- Distributed two news releases to the media, one right away, and one the next day, to show rescue progress. The second was issued at five a.m., in time for morning news coverage.