LEGACY PARKWAY

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT TOOLS

Strategic Communication Planning

We develop communication plans to serve as customized campaign guidebooks, complete with tactical execution timelines and centered on a specific strategy relative to our clients’ goals.

Research

We use quantitative and qualitative tools such as interviews, focus groups, surveys, polling and balloting to collect public opinion. Once we have the data in hand, we analyze the results to develop, refine and perfect PI efforts.

Public Outreach

We seek to infuse our clients’ issues into the dialogue of decision-makers and influencers. We employ grassroots tactics, speaker’s bureaus, mobile information displays, door-to-door canvassing and many other methods to involve stakeholders.

Government & Legislative Relations

Strategy development, public hearings, public meetings, briefings, coordination meetings, presentations, VIP events, fact sheets and information kits, support to lobbyists, etc.

Media Relations

Whether proactively pitching the media on our clients’ issues or responding to media requests with appropriate strategic messaging, our PI team is well versed in working with the media throughout our clients’ campaigns.

Stakeholder Groups, Meeting Preparation and Facilitation

PPBH knows how to identify and gather key players together to elicit their involvement through stakeholder committees, task forces, panels, advisory committees and interagency partnerships.

Event Planning

We’re experienced in organizing traditional public hearings, town meetings and open houses, but we always consider whether there are better, non-traditional ways to elicit involvement. We may identify appropriate local events, develop a workshop or conference, or even recommend a Talk Truck® mobile open house.

Crisis Communication Planning and Training

Whether it’s a labor strike, litigation, a workplace accident or an act of nature, we have the experience to guide clients through the unexpected. We help create proactive emergency communication plans and train teams to communicate effectively through resolution of the crisis.

Non-Paid Publicity

No tactic fits a client’s budget better than free publicity, which can greatly extend the reach of a campaign. We help identify appropriate and reputable communication outlets and negotiate the placement of the message.

Media, Presentation and Spokesperson Training

We prepare clients to talk with journalists, give presentations, handle upset stakeholders and train employees on communication policies; all in accordance with the strategic communication plan.

Public Information Point of Contact

Whether our clients need to give or receive information to or from the public about projects, PPBH can develop contact lists, send notices, collect public comment or respond to stakeholders’ questions and concerns. We also make sure the public hotline number and/or email address is well circulated among stakeholders.

Writing

Our talented writers convey your key messages in a format that is understandable and appropriate to the audience. PPBH prepares media materials, information kits, reports, issue papers, case studies, speeches, talking points, letters, website copy, brochures and more.

Graphic Design Development, Execution and Production

Our PI team has the advantage of coexisting with a full-service graphic design team under the same roof. We help clients communicate visually through maps, diagrams, charts, fliers, brochures, reports, posters, signs, banners, booth graphics, websites and interactive tools.

Advertising

PPBH’s media department researches the best ways to reach key stakeholders through advertising, based on the communication strategy. Our copywriters, graphic designers and interactive developers make sure the message is compelling and motivates action. PPBH develops and places print ads, billboards, legal notices, inserts, radio and TV ads, Internet and search engine ads, etc.

Name, Brand and Logo Development

We believe our clients’ programs should have an identity that reflects their communication strategy and that resonates with their stakeholders. Our agency’s history is rooted in brand development, including branding for top agencies and programs in Utah.

Interactive

PPBH was one of the first in Salt Lake City to become a truly full-service agency by offering interactive services. We develop websites, database and form tools, animated graphics, video, HTML emails, interactive presentations and so on. Our developers love the challenge of creating new interactive tools to address our clients’ needs.

Business Issue

As one of the most talked about and most needed new roads in the state of Utah, work on the Legacy Parkway was scheduled to be completed Fall 2008. This highly anticipated construction followed a 10-year project history, which included an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in 2001, construction beginning and stopping after a court injunction in 2001, a Supplemental Environmental Statement (SEIS) in 2005 and most recently a settlement between the former plaintiffs and the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT).

Once completed, the parkway would be a four-lane, limited-access, divided roadway extending approximately 14 miles from I-215 at 2200 North in Salt Lake City, northward to the junction of I-15 and U.S. Highway 89 near Farmington.

Due in part to a settlement agreement, UDOT would be building a true “parkway” that would be unlike any other roadway in the state of Utah. In order to communicate to its contractors and other key stakeholders the new parkway concept in conjunction with traffic impacts associated with construction, the Legacy Parkway Team partnered with PPBH to conduct a public involvement campaign.

Solution

Since heavy construction began in December 2006, PPBH worked closely with the Legacy Parkway Team including a competing communications agency to plan and implement effective communication strategies that informed and educated UDOT’s stakeholders. To coincide with the commencement of construction, PPBH worked closely with the Legacy Team to plan for and carry out a media event and public open house where Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. led approximately 100 people who had contributed to the project in pulling a rope to unveil an eight-foot tall mural of the new Parkway and its unique trail system and nature preserve. To coincide with the opening event, PPBH launched the Legacy project Web site, www.udot.utah.gov/legacy, which includes updated construction photos and artist renderings, traffic impacts as well as a graphic showing the project’s percentage complete.

PPBH also collaborated with the three construction contractors to design and implement a school program for fourth through sixth graders in the project area to keep them safe around construction zones. During the assemblies children were taught to stay out of construction zones and several were able to sit in and start up heavy construction equipment. Most recently, PPBH worked with the Legacy Parkway Team to hold the halfway media event where construction workers, UDOT personnel and Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. gathered to celebrate the Parkway’s halfway point.

Results

PPBH has proven to be an effective part of the Legacy Parkway Team in helping to communicate the unique look and feel of Legacy Parkway as well as construction impacts to the contractors, elected officials, former plaintiffs, local media and the general public. Due in part to PPBH’s efforts, the project has received positive media coverage of the both the commencement and halfway events in the Deseret Morning News, Salt Lake Tribune, Davis County Clipper and Ogden Standard-Examiner as well as all four local television news outlets. In addition, the Legacy Parkway Web site received approximately 9,500 page requests last month.