Edelman, which has earned a reputation for helping companies like Odwalla out of the hot seat, found itself in the throes of a crisis last week that displaced its 310 New York employees and made it nearly impossible to conduct business as usual.
Left without a headquarters, the company is spending thousands of dollars to rent an NCR facility for about 100 staffers so employees can manage accounts and fulfill day-to-day responsibilities. Its staffers were barred from entering Edelman's 1500 Broadway location because of an unrelated scaffolding tragedy that shut down this tony district, including the Broadway production, "Cabaret."
"This has been an enormous expense, but one we needed to make," says Nancy Turett, president, consumer and healthcare. "Two things have held this together: we're used to handling crisis, and technology - cell phones, voice mail and e-mail - has helped us keep the operation going."
On the morning of July 21, Edleman joined the ranks of about 100 Broadway businesses in the heart of Times Square that evacuated after the highly publicized construction evaluator accident, at the Conde Nast building, that killed one person and injured another.
Callers to Edelman's headquarters were met by a recording with emergency numbers, details of the closure and means to contact Edelman executives. Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman, and Michael Morley, president of the New York Edelman operation, were traveling abroad.
"We can't even get to our [client] files and we've been told the area could be shut down for three to five days," Bob Ambrose, VP, said Wednesday, the day after the accident.
In addition to the NCR arrangement, employees did all they could to contact clients and inform them of what had happened, some working out of cohorts' homes or on laptops they transported from offices. But some of the groups had already set up their own centers: for instance, Edelman Financial Worldwide was working out of the Renaissance Hotel.
This is the ultimate test in crisis management. (Edelman, 212/768-0550)
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