Crisis Communications Awards 2022 Winners

National Automobile Dealers Association

NADA Coronavirus Hub

National Automobile Dealers Association launched sweeping COVID-19 initiative to support dealerships in the early days of the pandemic

In March and April 2020, NADA preemptively launched a Coronavirus Hub, compiling government resources and original NADA content and providing an easily accessible source for the automotive industry. It’s a winner in the Covid-19 Campaign category in Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards.

The Department of Homeland Security deemed vehicle sales an essential service in April 2020. But for nearly a month, National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) had already been providing resources to dealerships and the automotive industry with its Coronavirus Hub. The initiative began in early March 2020 as a gathering place for government resources and regulatory compliance guidance, and quickly transformed into the creation of blog articles, webcasts, videos, and other pieces of original content. The hub received more than 3 million online impressions over NADA websites and social platforms.

NADA also launched the Dealership Lifeline Series to help local dealerships navigate business challenges and regulations during the pandemic, which included webinars, white papers, reports, best practices, and blog posts. In mid-March 2020, NADA launched distribution of a daily Coronavirus Update newsletter to roughly 16,000 dealership members and executives to wide success.

Newsletter emails were opened more than 120,000 times, with approximately 32,000 click-throughs to material embedded in the messages.
The nearly 120 pieces of original content posted by May 15, 2020, generated over 900,000 interactions, including 100,000+ pageviews on nada.org, 200,000+ pageviews on the NADA blog, 400,000+ email engagements, and 20,000+ webinar views.
NADA realized a 30%+ increase in open rates to the association’s flagship publication, NADA Headlines, a daily e-newsletter with more than 117,000 subscribers, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

NADA Public Affairs additionally actively engaged major media outlets to communicate critical issues, including NADA’s mobilization, advocacy and leadership efforts; the importance of the Paycheck Protection Program to keeping employees on the payroll; local dealership philanthropic efforts; and others.

Congratulations to NADA.

Cisco

Cisco Global Communications Instrumental in Cybersecurity Incident Mitigation and Response

Cisco Global Communications recognized for expert crisis management and transparency in cybersecurity incident

After an attacker gained access to Cisco’s internal IT network using an employee’s compromised personal Google account, the tech company developed a communications strategy and response plan to contain the crisis and lead the messaging and narrative. It earned a nod in the Cybersecurity Response category in Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards.

The global communications team of Cisco played a key role in containing the messaging around a cybersecurity incident that could have severely impacted the company’s reputation and financial standing. While the attacker was unable to access critical data during the breach in May 2022, the attacker released information about the breach in August, causing speculation and chatter on social media. The company’s timely and transparent communications across internal and external audiences helped contain the crisis and lead the story around the event.

Cisco Global Communications, Security & Trust organization, the legal department, and Cisco Talos Intelligence Group all coordinated to develop a communication strategy and response plan that proactively and transparently shared critical information. The breach that Cisco suffered did not legally require disclosure, however these communications were developed to maintain confidence in Cisco’s products and services as well as protect the company’s reputation. The strategy included:

The creation of an external response page that provided an overview of the attack and answers to common questions.
Detailed employee messaging for sales teams, executive leadership and Cisco spokespersons.
A Cisco Talos’ blog post that discussed technical details about the incident.
Public relations representation at a global cybersecurity conference to actively handle press inquiries.

The strong collaboration on strategy earned over 300 pieces of press coverage. Influential voices across the industry publicly praising Cisco for its transparent communications strategy, including the United States Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Jen Easterly, who commended Cisco for its contribution “to the collective cyber defense of the ecosystem.”

Congratulations to Cisco!

The Partnership

NCH Heart Institute (NHI)

The Partnership boosted NCH Healthcare’s cardiac care reputation in SW Florida

The multichannel campaign spearheaded by The Partnership, an Atlanta-based marketing and brand communications agency, showcased the world-class quality care and experience of NCH Healthcare’s Naples Heart Institute (NHI). It earned a nod in the Integrated Campaign category of Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards.

The competitive market and increased choices for care in Southwest Florida and elsewhere has resulted in patients examining their cardiology services as a product to shop around, looking at customer service, convenience, and expertise. NCH Healthcare saw this as an opportunity to position NHI as a premier destination for cardiac care in comparison to its competitors.

The multichannel campaign launched by The Partnership, a marketing and brand communications agency, focused on the community and awareness. The goals were to inform consumers of NHI’s world-class care and expertise, particularly appealing to Medicare recipients and caregivers/family members seeking cardiac care for loved ones.

The campaign utilized several strategies and tactics, including print ads, digital banners, social media ads, billboards, radio segments, and website development, with a focus on highlighting NHI’s hands-on service, well-crafted care, cardiac excellence, experience, and expert capabilities in English and Spanish.

Connecting to the community was a key factor in the campaign’s success. Materials were designed to appeal to the primary audience: current, potential, and cardiac concern patients over the age of 65, and caregivers/family members between the ages of 45 and 64, seeking cardiac care for loved ones. Demographics included focusing primarily on Medicare recipients, as well as full-time residents and seasonal residents local to Collier and surrounding counties.

The campaign resulted in millions of impressions and hundreds of thousands in earned media, and ultimately contributed to the more than 56,000 annual office visits, over 150 code Save-A-Heart procedures, and more than 5,500 open heart surgeries performed at NHI facilities since 2005.

Congratulations to The Partnership and NCH Healthcare.

Lambert

Flint Water Legal Defense Team

Communications consultant Lambert successfully provided media relations support for the Flint Water legal defense team

Lambert’s goal was lofty: ensure former Gov. Snyder and the other defendants were receiving a fair hearing in the media and in the court of public opinion, without minimizing the tragedy or rewriting the role he and his administration played. These efforts won a spot as a winner in the Media Relations Campaign category of Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards.

The Flint Water Crisis began in 2014 and resulted in thousands of residents being exposed to lead-contaminated drinking water. In 2021, Michigan Attorney Dana Nessel filed new criminal charges against former Governor Rick Snyder and eight others, including former members of his administration, for their role in the crisis. To ensure the defendants were receiving fair media coverage and that their due process rights were not being violated, Lambert and several consultants were hired to provide communications strategy and media relations support for the Flint Water Criminal Defense Team.

The legal defense team aimed to educate reporters about the case and provide updates and context while countering the politicization of the process. This included regular off-the-record and background conversations with statewide and national media to provide updates and pitch potential media angles.

The media strategy included:

Highlighting multiple concerns with the prosecution, including the decision to use a secretive, one-person grand jury to secure indictments.
A series of guest editorials in various Michigan publications and from respected figures highlighting problems with the prosecution’s case.
Development of a blog site to explain the complexities of the case and share relevant media coverage, including an email alert newsletter. The average open rate over the course of the case for those alerts was 75.2%.

In December 2022, the criminal charges filed against Governor Snyder were dismissed by Michigan’s 7th Judicial Circuit Court. The dismissals followed a June unanimous ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court that the use of the secretive one-person grand jury was unconstitutional.

In the press, between January 2021 to dismissal of the last charges in December 2022, coverage was overwhelmingly fair and well-informed, despite the highly emotional and politicized nature of the charges. Editorial boards at the Wall Street Journal and The Detroit News even called for dismissal of the cases before the unanimous ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court.

Congratulations to Lambert and the Flint Water Criminal Defense Team.

Treasure Coast Food Bank

Hurricane Ian Response

Treasure Coast Food Bank recognized for disaster response efforts following Hurricane Ian

Fulfilling a vital role in the wake of natural disasters, Treasure Coast Food Bank, the lead agency for St. Lucie County, Florida, activated its disaster response plan to deliver emergency food, water, and other supplies to the region in support of people directly affected by the hurricane. It earned a top spot as a winner in the Natural Disaster Response category in Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards.

Treasure Coast Food Bank, when faced with a potential Category 4 storm making landfall, activated its disaster response plan with three goals in mind: reassuring the community that emergency food and water would be available; raising funds and recruiting volunteers; and building confidence among community leaders, donors, and government officials in the food bank’s efforts.

Using a multichannel approach, the organization’s disaster response and communications plans were launched a week before the storm made landfall, and employed several strategies and tactics to raise awareness, including press releases, media alerts, direct email letters, and social media posts.

When Hurricane Ian made landfall, causing severe flooding and catastrophic damage statewide, Treasure Coast Food Bank was ready and able to assist. During the two weeks immediately following the storm’s landfall, two members of Treasure Coast Food Bank’s staff participated in daily statewide calls as part of the Emergency Operations Center team to receive firsthand information about need.

The campaign was overwhelmingly a success.

Coverage of the organization’s efforts were listed in six unique news stories, including in the region’s three major daily newspapers, news and radio.
Recruited 866 volunteers who devoted 2589 hours, fulfilling 98% of all requests for help with Hurricane Ian response activities.
Raised more than $10,000 in donations from direct ask for Hurricane Ian assistance and a $10,000 grant from a foundation to help cover expenses.
Received 100% positive feedback from local government partners and direct participation from St. Lucie County officials in response efforts.

Congratulations to Treasure Coast Food Bank!

Florida Memorial University

SACSCOC

Florida Memorial University stages a comeback with clear, transparent comms

When FMU was placed on probation by its accrediting body, it was vital to stay in constant communication with stakeholders to keep calm and regain accreditation in good standing. The team’s hard work helped FMU get its accreditation back — and win Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards in the Reputation Turnaround Campaign category.

Florida Memorial University (FMU), South Florida’s only historically Black college and university, needed a comeback. The university was placed on probation for good cause in June 2021 by its accrediting body, The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, for financial issues. A task force was immediately formed and strategies put in place to correct the problems and maintain trust with all stakeholders, including students, alumni, faculty, staff and more.

The Task Force worked for over 10 months to ensure all issues were addressed in order to regain SACSCOC compliance. No matter which stakeholders they addressed, the core messages remained consistent: the quality of its academic programs was not in question, the university still had the ability to award federal financial aid and offer degrees, and degrees awarded by FMU were still valid.

The strategies and tactics implemented by the university included updating the community via video messages, social media posts and a FAQ sheet posted on the university’s website. The university also responded to media inquiries and articles with factual information and complete transparency. Additionally, FMU hosted frequent live town hall discussions welcoming stakeholders to come ask questions. Finally, the university also addressed the Florida State legislature for additional support.

After an intense week of meetings, presentations, and deliberations, the SACSCOC Review Committee conducted a campus visit and stated that there were no violations reported during the site visit. In June 2022, the probationary status was listed and FMU kept its accreditation.

Congratulations to Sharee Gilbert and Florida Memorial University!

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Planned Parenthood Action Fund

Bans Off Our Bodies

Bans Off Our Bodies campaign puts Planned Parenthood at center of abortion battle

Planned Parenthood immediately began rallying support for abortion access law after the Supreme Court leak revealed Roe v. Wade was in jeopardy. The Bans Off Our Bodies campaign helped raise awareness and bring attention to the issue, earning a Ragan’s Crisis Communications Award in the Social Justice Campaign category.

Planned Parenthood has won an award for its Bans Off Our Bodies campaign, which aims to protect and expand abortion access in the United States following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The campaign has been recognized for its inclusive and movement-based manifesto, which has galvanized supporters of abortion rights across the country.

The Bans Off Our Bodies campaign features a variety of tactics, including a persuasion campaign aimed at supportive audiences who were unaware of the threats to abortion access, an education campaign about the harm of ending protected abortion rights, and a range of owned and earned media efforts. The campaign also has featured partnerships with celebrities, influencers and corporate brands, as well as large-scale rallies and events.

The campaign has been highly effective in reaching audiences and building support for abortion access. From April to July, the campaign’s owned websites, BansOff.org and BastaDeControlarnos.org, received 3.8 million pageviews, with an average time on page of 3:26 minutes. The campaign also generated 309 million impressions and 142 million complete video views, as well as 2.2 million click-throughs to owned websites.

In addition to its online efforts, the campaign also has featured numerous in-person events and partnerships. On May 14, the campaign conducted large-scale rallies across the country, and on the day the Supreme Court decision was released, hundreds of celebrities posted on social media in support of the campaign. Corporate partners also joined the fight to support and expand abortion rights, with over 70 beauty and wellness brands signing on to the digital campaign and 6,500 corporate employees joining a national walkout.

Overall, the Bans Off Our Bodies campaign ignited conversations about abortion and fostered broad public opposition to abortion bans.

Kudos to Melanie Newman and the Planned Parenthood team.

American Egg Board with Inspire PR Group and Epic Associates

2022 Bird Flu Response

Inspire PR, Epic Associates share stories during egg crisis

With Avian flu spreading — and egg prices rising — Inspire PR and Epic Associates worked with the American Egg Board to educate audiences and defend the egg industry. These efforts earned a Ragan Crisis Communications Award in the Food & Beverage category.

Inspire PR Group and its collaborator, Epic Associates, supported the American Egg Board’s (AEB) communication efforts during the 2022 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) crisis. The AEB needed to respond quickly to the outbreak to support its farmers and communicate effectively with stakeholders.

Inspire PR Group’s crisis preparedness and response program had three main goals: to reassure, educate and provide resources to customers and consumers about the bird flu outbreak; to mitigate the negative impact on the egg industry’s brand and the reputation of egg farmers; and to align industry stakeholders and partners behind a united response and one consistent narrative.

To achieve these goals, the communications program employed a multifaceted approach that included consumer research, media relations and stakeholder engagement planning, media training and crisis drills, and developing informational materials for a diverse set of channels. The program also socialized the plan across all interested parties, including egg producers, government authorities, state egg trade associations and other poultry organizations.

The AEB and its partners at United Egg Producers held weekly calls to assure continued alignment, and AEB regularly engaged other stakeholders, including USDA and other national poultry organizations, as well as state egg association partners. The resulting materials, including animation, infographics, video b-roll, FAQ, talking points, social tiles, website content and toolkits, were developed in a way that was simple and easy to understand and were made available across channels.

The work to communicate around the continuing outbreak is ongoing, but research has determined that there is minimal consumer engagement around HPAI. However, the resulting egg price increases, exacerbated by inflation, became a large topic of media coverage and conversation. Egg farmers leveraged the materials with customers, employees, and others in their communities, and state egg associations shared the content on social platforms and websites, creating consistency across the U.S. in messaging about HPAI.

Congratulations to Inspire PR Group and Epic Associates.

Dallas Independent School District

Dallas ISD’s Comprehensive Safety Plan: A crisis response to the Robb Elementary School tragedy

The Dallas Independent School District composed a comprehensive safety plan in response to school tragedy

The district responded to the deadliest school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, with a safety plan that emphasized collaboration with district and local law enforcement. These efforts earned the Dallas ISD top recognition in Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards in the Nonprofit/Government category.

When innocent lives were lost in an act of violence at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, the event became the deadliest school shooting in Texas. As local and national headlines alike questioned the safety and security of schools across the country, the Dallas Independent School District (ISD) knew it needed a crisis plan to meet the high emotions and scrutiny that would provide reassurance before the upcoming school year.

The result, as announced by Dallas ISD’s superintendent, was a comprehensive safety plan developed in collaboration with internal and external task forces. The plan took a multi-pronged approach using the ISD website, social media channels and media placements to announce various safety enhancements, align transparent messaging in a timely manner, rebuild trust and quell fear among internal audiences and the wider Dallas community.

The task forces reviewed a variety of data points, safety protocols, national security trends and other recommendations to guide its improvements. Most immediately, the district leadership launched a parent survey to determine whether it should implement a clear/mesh backpack requirement — it did, making an $800,000 investment to provide these for all secondary students. The efforts also included providing key safety staff with Threat Assessment Process training and school staff and substitutes with safety procedures, as well as an increase in Emergency Response Team members/hall monitors on site.

Additionally, Dallas ISD launched the “Be SMART” campaign to educate parents on proactively securing their firearms at home, while its communication services team created a landing page detailing its safety efforts in one centralized place. The webpage included information on safety upgrades, student resources, staff training, parent and community involvement, along with a staff portal to communicate these efforts. The district’s online newsroom, The Hub, also frequently posted stories about new safety developments and protocols that also were shared across social channels.

Congratulations to the Dallas ISD Communication Services team.

Identity PR

Guiding the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office During a Crisis

Identity PR guided the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office’s response to a tragic shooting at Michigan’s Oxford High School

The agency helped the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office to coordinate a media response and outreach strategy that kept them engaged with the community in the aftermath of tragedy. These efforts earned recognition in the Nonprofit/Government”category of Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards.

After a tragic shooting at Michigan’s Oxford High School that left 11 people shot and four students dead, Identity PR was retained by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office to mobilize an integrated team of expert PR strategists who worked tirelessly over eight days, providing counsel to the prosecutor’s office and helped them respond to local, national and global press requests.

Identity provided high-quality counsel and media training to ensure the prosecutor was prepared for high-profile national appearances, while also helping to shape their positioning on the tragedy through carefully crafted statements and messaging that aligned with factual moments in time. The agency also helped monitor and analyze the national conversation around the shooting, using insights to inform its strategy on when and how the prosecutor should contribute to the narrative. Media monitoring and social listening tools captured media mentions and public sentiment in a real-time analysis of events as they unfolded.

After compiling a list of hundreds of journalists whose coverage would impact the narrative, Identity cross-referenced the list with coverage to allow for quick decision-making around how and when to respond to journalists. It was imperative that local perspectives were prioritized in addition to high-profile national anchors. Key metrics included the number of media mentions of the prosecutor, the number of planned media interactions and the sentiment around those messages. Success meant serving as a resource to the prosecutor’s office and the greater community during a time of fear, grief and great uncertainty.

Identity managed inbound media requests for the prosecutor’s office directly, planning and executing two press conferences and more than 75 one-on-one media interviews in the first week, driving tens of thousands of media mentions of the prosecutor. The agency delivered six reports summarizing all press conferences and digital discussions, shaping future announcement planning through thoughtful, relevant insights into the crisis response.

Congratulations to Identity PR.

Bethany Children’s Health Center

Boil-Water Order - Bethany Children’s Health Center

Bethany Children’s Health Center’s quick comms strategy about contaminated tap water keeps staff, patients and families safe

After an emergency alert was sent by the city of Bethany, the nonprofit hospital communicated with all stakeholders in real-time to ensure all tap water usage was halted immediately. The work earned a win in the Health Care category of Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards.

In May 2022, the city of Bethany, Oklahoma, sent an emergency alert calling for a water boil order after discovering some water samples were contaminated with E. coli. Though it was a Saturday, no sooner than the alert dropped did the corporate communications team at Bethany Children’s Hospital immediately get to work to ensure that all hospital staff, patients and family immediately stopped using the water on campus. Communicating with staff and keeping them updated in real-time included letting them know about the boil notice, assuring them of the precautions being taken so that patients were being cared for properly, and keeping parents informed who weren’t onsite. The team also reached out to city representatives and people at the filtration company used by the hospital to ensure its processes were above board.

Arriving 20 minutes after the boil notice, the team set a plan in motion and assigned roles. The team writer was responsible for drafting a message on its intranet, which was deployed to announce the immediate stop in water usage. The director of corporate communications made an announcement over the hospital speakers before contacting the filtration company and maintenance crew directly, and the graphic designer updated digital signage around the hospital to tell everyone to stop using water. The team also sent email and mobile push notifications using its proprietary app, “Buzzcomm,” and provided updates until the situation was rectified, notifying parents via text messages every hour.

More than 71% of staff saw the intranet announcement within the first 20 minutes, and the overhead announcements and digital signage updates were both successful. No staff reported using water sources other than purified gallons of water once the announcements were made. Members of the city and the water filtration company also were onsite within an hour of the announcement to begin testing. Four hours after the initial boil notice, the water filtration company gave the hospital staff the all clear to resume using its tap water. The city itself would not declare water safe for another two days.

Congratulations to the Bethany Children’s Health Center’s corporate comms team.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

NREL Pandemic Response Communications Team

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory built a daily, tailored internal communications strategy during a global health crisis

The small, Golden, Colorado-based team organized on the fly to address the impacts of the pandemic on their own mental health and support the entire lab community. The campaign earned a top spot in the Utility/Energy category of Ragan’s Crisis Communications Awards.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which is the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national lab for renewable energy research, never had an internal communications team that was empowered to work across the organization. But when the world changed, that changed, too. The small team of seasoned communicators Nicki Johnson, Leigh Ramsey and Michelle Kubik banded together practically overnight early in the pandemic to ensure all NREL staff received daily, vetted and tailored messages. This effort took time — the three worked nearly around the clock for 18 months — and required close partnership with lab leadership.

The team crafted comms for 16 community immunization clinics. They also held a whopping 151 pandemic response team meetings, with an internal comms team member on nearly every one. They came up with the idea of a Friday message from the lab director, dubbed “Director’s Notebooks,” that parlayed the most pressing COVID-19 information to employees. They sent 207 global emails, earned 72k page views around COVID-19 messaging on their intranet, and generated 68 headlines for stories in the lab’s internal newsletter. Add to that the customized talking points for leaders and managers, countless fact sheets and presentation materials, signage and more.

The team crucially partnered with leadership, and the State of Colorado, to act on a message determined by leadership to ensure the message properly flowed downhill. “I didn’t know what news to trust during COVID so I turned to NREL communications,” said one staff member. “I even used this information to inform my extended family. I knew the information was carefully vetted by legal experts, health experts, the state, and our leadership. It was good to know we had the ability to provide such excellent information during such a terrible time.”

“They attended every meeting, heard every discussion, learned the reasons behind the messages and using all this knowledge created communications that were cohesive and consistent,” said NREL Occupational Health Medical Director Dr. Roxanna Witter. “Not only calm, helpful, professional but also funny, light-hearted, approachable and informative — often just what we needed in pandemic! It was a pleasure to work with these members of the Comms team!’

Congratulations to NREL and Nicki Johnson, Leigh Ramsey and Michelle Kubik!

Congratulations to our Class of 2023!

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