After the unprecedented attacks of Sept. 11, even the crustiest citizens of the self-described "toughest city on earth" suddenly withdrew from the very vibrancy they cherished
about Manhattan. "You were sad. You were confused. You didn't feel like spending money. You were addicted to the TV set," recalls Melanie Young, president, M. Young
Communications. For the PR pros working with lower Manhattan businesses and rebuilding projects, the task has been to get a city out of its funk. And even though the WTC tragedy
was unique, many of the communications techniques being employed here are applicable to any business or locale in the wake of a crisis.
The People's PR Army
The first step in rejuvenating public perceptions is getting your own people back on point. "New Yorkers were forgetting that they were their own best emissaries," says Richard
Laermer, president of RLM PR and author of Native's Guide to New York. Word-of-mouth is critical to tourism, he says, and when the natives focused only on the scope of the tragedy
and how much things had changed when talking to out-of-town-relatives and the national press, it was starting to do damage to the city's chief industry, he felt. In November and
December, Laermer started doing radio and TV gigs to remind New Yorkers of their "talking points, that we are the greatest city in the world."
In fact, getting the natives back to normal became the urgent message among PR efforts to revive some of the city's core industries. Young helped visitor and tourist bureau NYC
& Company engineer emergency versions of its highly successful Restaurant Week promotion of Manhattan eateries, a project aimed at encouraging New Yorkers to go out again. In
October, 150 top restaurants fixed lunch prices at $20.01 and dinner to $30.01, the first time the series included dinner and ran through a weekend. "It really jump-started the
industry," says Young, so the program was repeated for two weeks in January. It is just as important for these sorts of promotions to call an end to the emergency as well, she
adds, so the summer Restaurant Week will be pitched again to tourists and follow its traditional format. "We want to do that to communicate that things are back to normal."
The real public relations challenge here was changing people's feelings and mood, say Young and Laermer, adding that the city's celebrated mayor was indispensable in shaping
the message from the top down. "Giuliani was saying, 'For God's sake. Go out to eat and go to the theater so these people can keep their jobs,'" recalls Young. He sanctioned what
became the pervasive message of post-attack PR: Going out and having some fun really was a way to save the city. "It was a combination of feel good and an appeal," says Young.
Circumventing Bad News
In the midst of disaster, it is a chore to pitch bright-side stories to media who have so much more dramatic bad news to report says Matthew Higgins, VP of Communications,
Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation (and former Giuliani press secretary). "You need to find some way to bypass them," he says. A Web site (http://www.RenewNYC.com) and newsletter have become alternative venues where he gathers news of redevelopment milestones and re-openings. In
situations where multiple organizations and state agencies are addressing the press, cooperation and restraint are needed to avoid press confusion and any misperceptions about a
group's motives in promoting its achievements. "The old rules go out the window," says Higgins. "The idea is to get the message out, not to take credit."
Andrea Martone, Media Director, CooperKatz & Co. struggled with the press's general 9/11 fatigue when she couldn't get print reporters interested in the largest bagpipe
parade in history, which was organized to help NY tourism and the Gilda's Club cancer organization. Over 10,000 pipers worldwide had elected to come to New York to help revive
tourism. Broadcast venues were responsive to the visual potential, but the print side response was unusual. "They were more interested in finding out how many hotels had been
booked [by the pipers]. They also said they were 'bagpiped out' from all of the funerals," says Martone. In retrospect, she would have had hard numbers for them about the bottom-
line benefits of the event as well as some curious human interest hooks like the single Japanese piper.
Community Matters
Businesses can only rebuild after a disaster like this if they have a firm, honest public image as a part of the community, because those are the people who will root for you,
says Laermer. Forced to delay and revise the next edition of his Native's Guide after 9/11, he has had to delete many high-profile, tres-trendy downtown spots that just couldn't
generate any public enthusiasm for their re-openings. Meanwhile, when doors opened again at bargain shop Century 21 across from the WTC and nearby J&R Music World, an
electronics superstore, they enjoyed massive media because they were fixtures and well-liked participants in the community. "You have to tie yourself to the neighborhood or die,"
says Laermer.
And nothing succeeds with neighborhoods better than their own celebrities. In a public relations move that may well have saved an area that was almost wholly dependent on
tourism, city icon Robert DeNiro and other notables hosted regular dining trips to Chinatown. He bused patrons from his Tribeca area studios to the restaurants. "It was all about
DeNiro and his friends, but it worked," says Laermer. "Restaurants survived and were also able to talk about how famous movie stars had helped them." After all, who wants to
second-guess the Godfather?
(Contacts: Matthew Higgins, 212/225-3500; Richard Laermer, 212/741-5106; Andrea Martone, 212/455-8016; Melanie Young, 212/620-7027 ext. 303)
The Path to Revitalization May be Through the Stomach
Washington, DC, suffered many of the same post-attack symptoms that plagued New York. It also took a cue from its neighbor to the north when it came to revitalizing the city's
usually-booming tourist industry. More than 100 of DC's restaurants banded together for the city's first Restaurant Week in November, resulting in a resounding success for many
participants.
Sam & Harry's, a well-known steakhouse, had seen a drop in traffic from tourists as well as from regular customers who were eating at home more often. But when the
restaurant, known for its mouth-watering beef and posh prices, began offering the $20.01 lunch and $30.01 dinner, business went through the roof, resulting in higher sales than
for the same month in 2000. Tom Greene, COO of Sam & Harry's parent company, told The Washington Post that people seemed to be enjoying supporting their local restaurant - and
each other - more than they had in the past.
Boston and San Francisco also have mimicked New York's restaurant promotion.
NY Rebuilds Online
With an avalanche of news and information contending for mindshare, the Web has become an indispensable platform for disseminating must-have information about the status of
economic redevelopment as well as emergency information.
Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation
http://www.renewnyc.com
NYC & Company Convention and Visitors Bureau
http://www.nycvisit.com/home/index.cfm
NY Office of Emergency Management Sept. 11 page
http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/home.html
Beautiful City (Theater Revitalization)
http://www.beautiful-city.com
FDNY Online (Sept. news from NY Firefighters)
http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/home2.html
NYPD Disaster Recovery Page
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/nypd_wtc_emerg.html