Case Study: Rebuilding an Island

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Summary

Novitas worked with a long-term client during their efforts to restore power to Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. We positioned our client as a thought leader in disaster recovery efforts, public-private partnerships, and remote power solutions.

  • Positioned our client as a thought leader
  • Placed top-tier media coverage
  • Showcased executives as sought-after subject matter experts

Challenge

The client, a global professional services corporation that solves complex infrastructure and development challenges, was on the front lines of Hurricane Maria disaster relief, in partnership with the federal government, following a series of hurricanes across the Caribbean and southern United States in Fall of 2017.

They not only wanted to highlight their efforts to restore power to Puerto Rico, but showcase this public-private partnership as part of a larger thought leadership campaign.

We were tasked with positioning the company and their executives as recognized thought leaders among leading infrastructure firms addressing and promoting P3s.

Solution

Novitas and other industry partners leveraged long-standing relationships with national news outlets and our relationships with financial media to showcase the client’s expertise, demonstrate the work the client was doing on the ground in Puerto Rico and other areas devastated by the 2017 hurricane season, and position executives as sought-after subject matter experts on disaster recovery, public private partnerships, and remote power solutions.

 

Throughout hundreds of media calls, we focused on the heart of Louis Berger’s efforts—rebuilding Puerto Rico’s power infrastructure to be stronger, more modern, more sustainable, and more resilient. The client’s U.S. Division President had on-the-ground experience helping communities rebuild following some of the world’s worst natural disasters and served as an authoritative spokesperson on the subject.

During interviews with key reporters, he spoke on current efforts to bring Puerto Rico’s power back online as well as long-term solutions to build more modern and sustainable infrastructure that would be more resilient to future storms.

Results

Our outreach to national media, financial media, and broadcast media earned the client strategic media placements meant to educate, inform, and persuade key audiences, including investment banks, policymakers, and potential P3 investors. The overall effort garnered the client hundreds of media placements and millions of media impressions, but most importantly caught the attention of the key audiences the client hoped to inform. Even better, we continued to deepen media relationships on behalf of our client with some of the world’s most influential reporters and outlets. Below are a few of the articles resulting from the campaign.

Media Mentions

Image of men working on a powerline