Prepare, Respond, and Evaluate.

People trust people, not companies.

The best way to lead or change a conversation is to participate in it. We’ve helped clients navigate crisises first and foremost by listening. Quite often after speaking with a client that is under attack or under a stressful situation we hear these words: “I feel better just talking to you.” Our goal is to help our clients mitigate crisis impact, maintain trust through transparency, and manage reputation with the public and media. We help our clients navigate the three phases of a crisis: prepare, respond, and evaluate. Our team brings two decades of journalism experience and is skilled in navigating the media in good times and when you are under pressure. Our clients include Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, non-profits, industry associations, and others.

Our crisis services include:

  • Risk assessment
  • Media training
  • Preparedness plans & protocols
  • Content development & messaging
  • Media monitoring & social listening

Areas of crisis expertise:

  • Development incidents
  • Property management incidents
  • Environmental impacts
  • Litigation
  • Facility incidents
  • Workplace disputes
  • Poor online reviews (Glassdoor, Yelp, etc.)
  • Government investigations
  • Regulatory matters

Case Studies

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS, MEDIA TRAINING, MEDIA RELATIONS, CONTENT, REAL ESTATE

Officials in Harford County, Md., allegedly blocked the construction and sale of roughly 50 private townhouses to prospective purchasers because they were Muslim. Gemcraft wanted to generate publicity around the county’s actions and launch a media attack.

Challenge

Gemcraft Homes had a fight on its hands in 2018 as officials in Harford County, Md., allegedly blocked the construction and sale of roughly 50 private townhouses to prospective purchasers because they were Muslim. The county claimed the builder lacked proper water and sewer permits and needed new permits before building could commence. Gemcraft wanted to generate publicity around the county’s actions and launch a media attack.

Solution

Gemcraft’s legal counsel called Atkinson, who immediately began reviewing legal documents to put them in context for the media. Atkinson also began drafting a press release based on a lawsuit Gemcraft had filed in U.S. District Court. The goal was to not only bring attention to unfair treatment of a minority group that prevented them from moving into a community they wanted to live in, but also shed light on how the county actions abruptly halted Gemcraft from building homes.

Results

Atkinson contacted reporters with the press release and followed up arranging interviews with Gemcraft’s CEO. The story quickly gained national attention and was covered by the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Legal Times, US News & World Report as well as local TV, radio and print, which included The Baltimore Sun, Aegis and Daily Record.

During the peak of the crisis, elected officials sued Gemcraft’s CEO Bill Luther alleging he defamed them for comments made in interviews on WBAL’s C4 radio show and in the Washington Post. We immediately drafted an advisory spelling out the situation and sent it to the Post along with legal documents. We knew the defamation lawsuit was highly unusual and demonstrated the county’s desperation. The Post covered the lawsuit story which reflected badly on the county and was eventually dropped. In 2018 a U.S. District Court Judge ruled that Harford County officials could immediately issue permits allowing for the sale of 14 private townhouses to a group of Muslim purchasers who aimed to create a retirement village. In 2020, the case was settled in Gemcraft’s favor.

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS, MEDIA TRAINING, MEDIA RELATIONS, CONTENT, REAL ESTATE

KETTLER faced an uprising in their newly managed Pavilion Apartments located in N.J. A group of residents refused to adopt new terms to their lease and about 100 received eviction notices because they were at least two months behind in their monthly rent.

Challenge

Six months after taking over management of the Pavilion Apartments in Newark, N.J., KETTLER faced an uprising. A group of residents refused to adopt new terms to their lease and about 100 received eviction notices because they were at least two months behind in their monthly rent. A resident who headed the Pavilion’s neighborhood association noticed that the person who signed the eviction forms had recently died. He argued how could residents be “evicted from the grave?” A TV station aired a negative story, a second station was preparing a story and the local newspaper was calling. KETTLER contacted Atkinson to help navigate the crisis and limit reputational damage.

Solution

Our mission was to defend our actions by presenting the facts, mainly that KETTLER was operating within the letter of the law by requesting residents to adopt a 12-month lease and that the company operated appropriately. We advised KETTLER to conducted interviews with news outlets presenting the facts and our side of the story.

Results

A story in the Newark Star-Ledger written by a columnist whose mission was to defend the poor and disenfranchised became a balanced story fully quoting KETTLER executives Cindy Clare and Coco Lyons. We made sure we answered the columnist’s questions as quickly as possible to make sure our side was presented. A reporter for a TV station privately agreed that the complaints by our critics were inflated. He, too, quoted Clare in his on-air story. Clare noted that our work “was worth every penny.”