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Case Study  Remaining Rock Solid: Prudential Blake-Atlantic, REALTORS® Situation:  Prudential Blake-Atlantic, REALTORS® (PBAR) is a full-service brokerage company, specializing in all aspects of the commercial real estate industry. The firm is the exclusive representative of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. in New York State's Upstate Region and in 2004 was ranked as the third largest commercial real estate firm in the area.  In May 2005, the company's top producer, Daniel O'Brien, announced that he was leaving to form his own commercial real estate firm, Platform Realty. Walking out the door with O'Brien were 17 other members of Prudential's commercial office, representing at least 75 percent of the nearly $57 million in deals Prudential had made in 2004.  O’Brien planned to announce through the media his departure and the formation of his competitive firm.  PBAR President Jeffrey Christiana was concerned about the reaction to the news among various stakeholder groups (i.e., constituencies in the commercial real estate arena, the business community, and the media), especially if PBAR’s perspective of the departure was not presented well to the media.  Lacking the public relations skill and expertise to handle such a situation, Christiana turned to Bartel Communications, Inc. (BCI). Research: Bartel interviewed key PBAR management informants about O’Brien’s departure, which was described as an amicable split, and learned that throughout its more than 80-year history, PBAR has been a launching pad for individuals desiring to start their own enterprises.  Bartel also learned that O’Brien’s departure had freed PBAR to explore a strategic alliance with a prominent property management firm, Mercer Property Management, LLC.  Bartel then obtained background information about the strategic alliance and conducted interviews with key Mercer management informants. Strategy: Bartel assessed the situation as a two-fold public relations challenge:  PBAR needed to minimize the negative publicity about the gutting of the commercial division and needed to maximize the positive publicity about the strategic alliance.  Thus, Bartel recommended a two-phase print media publicity campaign directed to the largest stakeholder group: the business community. For Phase One, Bartel developed the theme of PBAR as a launching pad.  Bartel crafted a positive statement from Christiana about O’Brien’s departure and created a media release that told the story of the amicable split and highlighted PBAR’s continuing strengths as one of the top real estate firms in the Capital District.  Bartel offered the story to The Business Review, a weekly, business-to-business newspaper whose primary audience is the business community and to the Times Union, a daily newspaper that offers extensive business news coverage.  Bartel then conducted telephone and email follow up to key contacts at those publications to facilitate story coverage. For Phase Two, Bartel developed the theme of PBAR’s strategic alliance with Mercer Property Management, LLC.  Bartel crafted a positive statement from Christiana that PBAR and Mercer were leveraging their respective areas of expertise to better serve their clients in the face of a changing real estate environment.  Bartel then created a media release that told the story of the strategic alliance and the benefits that would accrue to clients of the respective firms.  Bartel offered the story exclusively to The Business Review then conducted telephone and email follow up to the real estate reporter to facilitate story coverage.  Part of Bartel’s arrangement for the exclusive story was a guarantee that a photograph would accompany the resulting article.  Next, Bartel arranged the photo shoot and the media interviews with PBAR and Mercer principals in PBAR’s main commercial office.  Bartel provided media coaching to the principals prior to the interviews.  For the photograph, Bartel grouped the company principals around the PBAR logo, a prominent feature in the commercial officer foyer, to incorporate the company’s symbol – The Rock of Gibraltar – as a symbol of the company’s continuing strength.   Evaluation & Results: Evaluation was conducted at the implementation level (i.e., stories placed in the media and number of readers exposed to the messages).  Phase-One Results: The Times Union published the story, “Broker Splits With Prudential,” with a small photograph of O’Brien on the front page of the Business section of the June 14, 2005 edition.  The impact of the negative publicity was neutralized by the story’s placement below the fold and by the inclusion of Christiana’s positive statement about O’Brien’s departure.  The Business Review published the story, “O’Brien Says Information Will Be Hallmark of New Firm,” with a large photograph of O’Brien in the “Upfront” section of the June 17-23, 2005 edition.  The impact of the negative publicity was neutralized by the story’s placement on page 3 and by the inclusion of Christiana’s positive statement about O’Brien’s departure.  However, in the photograph of O’Brien part of the name of his new company could be seen in the background.  The story also appeared in the on-line edition of The Business Review. Phase-Two Results:  The Business Review published the story, “Prudential Looks to Rebuild With Mercer Deal: Firms Combine Services to Court Out-of-Town Buyers,” as the lead story on the front page of the June 24-30, 2005 edition.  A medium-sized, color photograph of the principals accompanied the feature story.  The article also appeared in the on-line edition of The Business Review. In 2005, the Times Union was ranked the #1 newspaper in New York State’s Upstate Region based on a paid circulation of 100,628. In 2005, The Business Review was ranked the #11 newspaper in New York State’s Upstate Region based on a paid circulation of 7,173.  The newspaper’s Web site attracts 12,500 daily hits. What the Client Said: "Pauline jumped in at a very critical time. She gave sound advice and counsel and with her help and guidance we were able to put a very positive face on what could have been a negative for our company. I would highly recommend Pauline." Jeff Christiana, President Prudential Manor Homes, REALTORS® Prudential Blake-Atlantic, REALTORS® Albany, NY   What the Communications Industry Said: This case study was a bronze-level winner in the 2006 Summit Creative Awards, an international awards competition that recognizes the very best creative work in the communication field.  Summit Creative Awards are recognized worldwide as the industry’s most prestigious awards exclusively for works created by small and mid-size firms.  The 2006 competition featured contestants from 26 countries worldwide. This case study received an Award of Distinction from The Communicator Awards 2006 Print Competition, an international awards competition that recognizes outstanding work in the communication field.  The Award of Distinction is awarded for projects that exceed industry standards in communication skills.  Approximately 18 percent of the 5,214 entries from throughout the United States and from several foreign countries won this award in 2006.       Contact Bartel Communications TOP [Background] Teaching/Speaking] Services][Books] [Writing Resources] Ordering Info] Accolades] [Industry Links] Contact Pauline] Home]