The jet engines have barely cooled since Boeing chairman Phil Condit placed a call to Illinois Governor George Ryan from some 30,000 feet to announce that Chicago was his kind
of town. Yet PR pundits already are lauding the aviation giant's relocation strategy as one for the communications history books.
In March, Boeing announced plans to move its headquarters - along with 500 jobs - out of Seattle, and identified Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver as the finalists in what
would become a seven-week pageant to win the affections of the nation's 15th largest corporation. By putting its search in the spotlight, Boeing was able to divert attention from
the most obvious negative news angle (i.e., the "abandonment" of its hometown of 85 years) and maintain tight-fisted control over its scouting mission.
"We felt at some point [news of the search] would leak out anyway, in which case we would have been in a position where we had to react," says John Dern, Boeing's director of
media relations. "This way the team was able to go out and openly gather every single last shred of data it needed."
Of course, Boeing execs gathered more than statistical data during jaunts to prospective locales. On the flip side of the PR coin, city officials amassed star athletes,
business leaders and other influential bigwigs to give Boeing the hard sell.
From Dallas, Condit received a cheeky note from Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez (a former Seattle Mariner) saying "I moved to Dallas-Fort Worth to improve my future, so
should you." A trip to Denver included face time with retired Broncos quarterback John Elway and beer magnate Pete Coors. Not to be outdone, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley wined and
dined Boeing reps at a glitzy event at the Chicago Art Institute, replete with a children's choir and a string quartet from the local symphony.
"Boeing was talking about moving its top executives and their families to lay down roots for generations to come," says Becky Carroll, communications director for the City of
Chicago Department of Planning and Development. "We needed to give a real look, feel and flavor of what Chicago has to offer in terms of local economy, education, recreation,
culture and workforce diversity. If we'd had a contingency visiting from [a foreign government] we'd have taken the same approach."
Lighting Up the Radar Screen
Boeing's search strategy was atypical, if not revolutionary. Corporate site searches usually are clandestine affairs in which execs travel under code names and go to great
lengths to keep their plans under wraps, notes Rob DeRocker, executive VP with Development Counsellors (sic) International, a New York-based PR firm specializing in economic
development and tourism. "They tend to be cloak-and-dagger operations due to concerns about employees, stock price and the media free-for-all that could result." Boeing broke
tradition by giving the din its due, says DeRocker.
In the process, the company also won points by making itself more accountable to antsy employees and shareholders who were eager for swift resolution.
Critics have accused Boeing of manufacturing a media spectacle as a means of squeezing better economic incentives out of the contender cities but communications experts wager
that some of the company's greatest returns have been realized not in dollars, but rather in brand currency garnered from sheer publicity.
"You talk about an old-fashioned stunt," DeRocker says. "You send your chairman up in a plane with three different flight plans and announce that you'll call the governor [in
the winning city] from the air? That's straight out of P.T. Barnum. It's like the corporate version of the 'Survivor' finale or the O.J. Simpson chase in the white Bronco."
When Condit landed at Chicago's Midway Airport on May 10 to make his pick official, there were 24 film crews waiting for him, according to Michael Shiferl, a senior VP with
Edelman PR Worldwide, the agency hired to manage Boeing's media coverage in the Chicago market. The announcement garnered more than 1,200 TV hits nationally in two days.
A Flight Pattern to Be Replicated?
Some say Boeing's bold move could signal a change in protocol for corporate site searches but others characterize it as a brilliant PR strategy that will be tough for anyone
else to replicate - much as "The Blair Witch Project's" viral marketing coup was a one-shot deal.
Consider that Boeing's take was not only original but also very expensive. Neurotically guarded executives shielded their assessments of each city during the search process -
to the extent that all plans were made in triplicate, from lease negotiations to hotel and dinner reservations, to satellite feeds, to press conference line-ups to advertising
buys.
"They were working with agencies in all three cities to handle the logistics and to make sure that once the decision was made, regardless of where it went, they'd be prepared
to make the announcement immediately," says Andy Stern, president and CEO of Sunwest Communications, the Dallas PR firm on the job.
Few companies outside of the Fortune 50 have the luxury of commanding such thundering media interest as Boeing. In fact, the aerospace giant's own media coup has been somewhat
of an anomaly, considering it sells in the b-to-b space and not in consumer markets.
Dern and other Boeing spokespeople have been quick to downplay ink and airtime as a primary motive in their communications strategy but there's no doubt the company shrewdly
leveraged its news cycle to plug the rationale behind its HQ relocation. Its transplant from Seattle (where the Boeing name is synonymous with aircraft manufacturing) signals that
the company is gearing up for broader growth in other technology sectors.
Stern cites Boeing's success as testament to the value of PR in supporting overall business goals. The company's three highest communications executives - VPs Judith Muhlberg,
Tom Downey and Larry McCracken - all had seats at the executive table from the beginning planning stages and it shows.
"What they did under the guise of looking for new headquarters was entirely reposition the Boeing Company," Stern says. "What they got was an opportunity on a world stage to
portray their new mission and where they were going. Everyone heard not only that they were moving but that Boeing was going to be a different company - as in bigger and more
diversified. The whole thing was brilliant."
A Tale of Four Cities
Analysts predict that Boeing's corporate move will bring at least $85 million to Chicago in the first year but Denver and Dallas garnered priceless press coverage with their
loss. After Chicago bagged top honors, Texas Governor Rick Perry told The Chicago Tribune, "I am confident that...Texas will be at the top of the list for any future
corporate relocation."
Boeing's search cast all three cities as world-class contenders. "[We knew] that regardless of the outcome of Boeing's decision, the initiative could still be perceived as a
success if the city generated visibility and support for Chicago as a great home for other businesses," says Rich Jernstedt, CEO of Golin/Harris, the agency that helped stage
Chicago's recruitment campaign.
First choice proved sweet victory for the Windy City, which, in recent years, has lost big players such as Quaker Oats, Amoco and Ameritech to acquisitions. Perhaps it feels
less pain now from an October cover story in BusinessWeek that characterized Chicago as a "fading business and financial capital."
As for Seattle? It's still got jobs. Roughly 78,000 Boeing workers are expected to remain in the company's commercial airplane manufacturing unit. But Boeing reportedly gave
$40 million last year to Seattle charities and arts organizations and those dollars will likely shift to Chicago with HQ. Ouch.
(Contacts: Becky Carroll, City of Chicago, 312/744-2976; John Dern, Boeing, 206/655-6123; Rob DeRocker, Development Counsellors International, 212/725-0707; Mike Schiferl,
Edelman, 312/240-2716; Andy Stern, Sunwest Communications, 214/373-1601)