Crisis Communication & Reputation Management Campaign Counters a Class Action Lawsuit

Challenge

In early 2009, one of Colorado’s largest private employers became the focus of a class action lawsuit, which played out in both traditional and social media. To respond to negative information being disseminated throughout numerous forms of media, and to manage ongoing concerns among the myriad internal audiences, business community and legislators, GroundFloor Media (GFM) was engaged to handle crisis and issues management for the service provider.

Solution

GFM went into action immediately, setting up a 24-hour rapid response team to field media inquiries, monitor traditional news stories, respond to online posts about the lawsuit and provide an aggressive response strategy in real time. GFM’s team of experts, which includes former journalists, worked with the media to offer our client’s side of the story and to counter a negative campaign.

To offset negative comments online and on social media channels and share the client’s perspective, our team utilized the latest online tools, including search-optimized press releases, microsites, Facebook, various online forums, Twitter and YouTube. The agency’s crisis and issues management team also created a rapid-response process to determine in advance what types of online comments to respond to and which to leave unanswered. In regard to traditional media relations, GFM’s rapid response team worked closely with the client to selectively participate in those media opportunities that afforded GFM the opportunity to include the client’s key messages and those that would only further damage their image. Furthermore, GFM developed a comprehensive communications plan that included a stakeholder matrix, key messages, traditional and social media policies and internal communications tools, including multiple forms of communications for internal audiences, industry officials and the business community.