Florida Municipal Power creates reputation plan from scratch

Corporate communicators develop a reputation management program with a lot of research and a small budget

In 2006, the three-person corporate communications team for the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA), a wholesale power company owned by 30 Florida cities, was presented with a challenge: Create an effective reputation management program from scratch, as quickly as possible.

FMPA’s board of directors was concerned about increasingly negative media coverage. The nonprofit was making headlines due to arbitration and contract issues in two member cities, and raising electricity rates in response to skyrocketing natural gas prices.

“The board wanted us to do something,” recalls FMPA’s PR specialist Bree Balchunas. “They didn’t ask for a formal reputation management program, but that’s what they got.”