“Bage and Elizabeth are very flexible, professional and thorough, with first-hand knowledge of how a newsroom works.”

— Gary Heavin, Founder and CEO, Curves International

Negative News Media:

When Curves International was depicted inaccurately in several regional and national news publications, the director of PR set out to find help from a PR crisis management firm.  We were hired to secure editorial coverage to set the record straight,  including a cover story in The Boston Globe Magazine.  Having recently developed and delivered a crisis plan for another marketing communications firm on behalf of national tanning company, we recommended to Curves that its franchisees have step-by-step instructions and training on dealing with the media, specifically how to answer questions related to issues supported by founder Gary Heavin and his wife.

Our team:

• Developed new corporate and franchise messaging
• Developed Curves’ Crisis Communications Plan and Curves’ Non-Crisis Communications Plan, which we presented to Curves’ franchisees at its annual convention.
• Tracked, analyzed and corrected erroneous reports on Curves International
• Created and presented a strategic media protocol for Curves International and its 10,000-plus franchisees
• Wrote and distributed corporate press releases and templates that franchisees now use to tell the positive story of Curves International

Other editorial generated by us included:

• The Wall Street Journal
• NBC “Today”
• CBS “Early Show”
• Newsweek
• Business 2.0

Our experience with Curves led to our involvement in the franchising industry in 2007.

The Problem

Assisting Hands Home Care went through management changes and wanted to re-launched their PR campaign after a permanent CEO was named.  The focus of the campaign shifted to lead generation for nine regional developers. Unlike in past campaigns where we, as franchise PR specialists, spend time on the phone getting to know the back story of franchisees and before a press release is written, these Regional Developers were busy and required a quick and easy way to get their information to us.

The Solution

Create a link to an online questionnaire for the Regional Developers to fill out. Hit submit and the information would be sent directly to our inbox complete with logos and photos.

The Results

We were able to draft and distribute press releases for all the Regional Developers.  We received coverage in both print and TV media, including KXAN-TV (NBC) Austin and the Westlake Picayune. Assisting Hands was also included in a story on KTRK-TV (ABC) Houston that tied in Pat Robertson’s comment on alzheimer’s disease to home care givers.

We coordinated for Lane Kofoed, Assisting Hands Home Care’s CEO, face-time with the editor of Franchise Times during a franchise event in Washington, DC.  Two months later, the editor headed to Idaho for an on-site interview resulting in a cover story for our client.