Case Studies
COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF CHICAGO
Branding and Strategic Communications
Background
Communities In Schools of Chicago (CISC) is a leading education nonprofit, which seeks to remove barriers to learning and success for public school children by creating partnerships between community organizations and schools to address specific social, emotional and health needs. As part of a new strategic plan to increase the number of students and schools served by its programs, CISC sought to strengthen its brand recognition and raise awareness among donors, public officials, school leaders, non-profit executives and the media.
Our Work
Beginning in mid-2007, Melcher+Tucker Consultants, working with CISC’s executive director and development director, undertook a thorough review of all communications materials, conducted interviews with board members and school and community partners to gauge understanding and awareness of mission and strategy, and created a multi-tiered plan to build visibility. MTC advised CISC’s leadership on event development, created talking points and marketing collateral for staff and board members, helped shape case studies and focus messaging. MTC built media lists, an editorial calendar and a series of story ideas designed to underpin CISC’s distinctive partnership strategy.
Results
Through introductions to Chicago education reporters and editors, CISC’s executive director is recognized as a valued expert on the challenges facing public school students – and innovative solutions. Letters to the Editor have been published in the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business. CISC has been featured in Catalyst, the leading education publication, WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, and the Chicago Tribune. Two major events, a book reading and signing by the national founder and, a major partnership providing free eye exams and eyeglasses for 10,000 school children, have drawn media attention.
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THE CHICAGO NETWORK
Marketing & Strategic Communications
Background
The Chicago Network is the leading organization of Chicago professional women, committed to the success of women in for-profit and nonprofit enterprises. The Network seeks to raise awareness of professional and social issues facing women and, through publication of its annual Census, tracks the progress of women at Chicago’s Top 50 public companies.
Our Work
Since 2004, Melcher+Tucker has collaborated with the executive director and the chair of the communications committee, identifying key issues, shaping leadership messages and conducting local and national media outreach. We have developed an experts list of The Chicago Network members, matching them with media contacts at major news organizations locally and across the country. MTC has assisted with writing and placing opinion pieces in influential Chicago business publications and in such national journals as Directorship and Directors Monthly. For the past five years, MTC has managed the editorial process for the release of their annual Census Report, developing key messages, writing all content, working with the graphic designer and overseeing all media outreach.
Results
Through carefully targeted media outreach – story placements, Op-Eds, TV and radio interviews – we have helped The Chicago Network achieve key objectives: to broaden public understanding of its mission and the role of women in the workplace. The Census report has become a vital resource for data and analysis for senior managers, directors, and researchers, and has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, Crain’s Chicago Business, and on Chicago Public Radio and WTTW's Chicago Tonight.
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GOVERNANCEMETRICS INTERNATIONAL
Market Research, Strategic Planning, Marketing & Sales
Background
GovernanceMetrics International (GMI), formerly The Corporate Library, is the leading independent source of corporate governance data, research, and anlysis. Since its founding in 1999, GMI has been developing products and services to meet the growing interest among investors, consultants, insurers, and companies for insights into Directors and Boards. Crucial to GMI's business plan is a program to build market awareness, develop leading products, and drive sales across a range of markets.
Our Work
Beginning in the fall of 2000, Melcher+Tucker undertook a broad and ongoing marketing alliance with GovernanceMetrics International. Throughout the engagement, MTC has provided competitive research, identified and segmented market opportunities, tested products with prospective buyers, developed pricing models, and taken a leadership role in generating revenue from sales of access to GMI's databases.
Results
GovernanceMetrics International is widely recognized for delivering timely, innovative, and highly useful resources. MTC’s market research and strategic counsel have helped shape the products to meet user needs. Perhaps most important to GMI, Melcher+Tucker marketing and sales efforts have opened up new opportunities, while focused customer service has sustained and grown GMI’s core client base.
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GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY
Capital Campaign Planning, Strategic Communications
Background
The Greater Chicago Food Depository is one of the country’s largest food banks. In preparation for a major expansion of facilities and programs, the Food Depository launched a $30 million capital campaign in late 2001 amidst a challenging fund-raising environment. Following the campaign, the Food Depository expanded its marketing and communications activities to heighten visibility and raise awareness among funders, volunteers and policymakers. In 2009, the Food Depository marked its 30th anniversary and launched a citywide public awareness campaign.
Our Work
Melcher+Tucker Consultants collaborated with the Food Depository's management and graphic designers to develop and write all content for the capital campaign materials. MTC interviewed management, staff and volunteers, and visited food pantries and homeless shelters. The campaign materials have been widely praised for compelling story- telling. We developed the media plan and information kit for the campaign launch. Since the successful conclusion of the campaign and opening of its new facility in 2004, MTC has provided counsel to senior management on issues ranging from leadership transition and strategic planning to public relations and issue development. We have just finished working on the 30th anniversary campaign, which ran through the end of last year.
Results
MTC has worked with all Chicago and national print and television media; assisted in the planning of major events, from the opening of a new facility to the annual fundraising auction; and conducted media training for senior management. Now recognized as one of the country’s most innovative nonprofits, the Food Depository has been featured in Chicago print and TV outlets, plus the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, FastCompany, Business Week, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and NBC Nightly News. Former Executive Director Michael Mulqueen was recognized as one of the country's "Best Bosses" by Fortune Small Business, and its current leader, Kate Maehr, as one of Chicago’s top young executives in Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 issue.
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THE HARRIS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Integrated Marketing Campaign
Background
In the spring of 2005, the Harris School, one of the leading public policy graduate schools in the country, sought outside counsel to provide additional support in raising the national visibility its research, senior faculty and programs among local and national media and prospective students, faculty and donors.
Our Work
Working closely with the Harris School’s director of marketing, faculty and the dean, Melcher+Tucker Consultants has been involved in media relations, promotion of faculty research and books, developing Op-Eds and planning events both in the U.S. and abroad. We have created and implemented a communications plan to position faculty as expert resources on timely topics such as welfare reform, early childhood education, tax policy and Presidential politics. We have carried out media training for faculty. We also have collaborated with the Cultural Policy Center, formerly affiliated with Harris, to draft materials, brief participants and plan conferences connected to the release of major studies.
Results
The Harris School is nationally recognized for its prominent team of faculty and a growing pool of student applicants. Events including a speech by the King of Jordan, a symposium in El Salvador and a panel discussion in Washington have drawn local and international print and television coverage. Faculty are regularly cited as expert resources among such media as The Economist, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Time and Chicago commercial and public television and radio stations.
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JPMORGAN CHASE
Editorial Services: Community Partnership Report
Background
In late 2003, JPMorgan Chase, one of the world’s largest financial institutions, began planning its first “Community Partnership Report,” a publication that was to demonstrate to employees, investors and other stakeholders the firm’s commitment to support “healthy, vibrant communities where we live and work,” in the words of former Chairman Bill Harrison. With operations in 50 countries, the challenge was to select case studies that represent the firm’s interests in community revitalization, public education, and arts and culture – and, to write the profiles in an analytical style that could be found in the best news magazines.
Our Work
Working with JPMorgan Chase executives around the world in marketing, corporate and social responsibility, philanthropy and community development departments, Melcher+Tucker was responsible for shaping, reporting and writing the five case studies that form the core of the 48-page “Community Partnership Report.” We interviewed dozens of sources at the bank, at community and cultural organizations around the world, and among those directly benefiting from the firm’s activities – from London to Dallas to Johannesburg and Hong Kong. The case studies we produced are: Brooklyn, “Revitalizing Downtown;” Texas, “Building Sustainable Communities;” London, “Inspiring Children;” South Africa, “Opening Doors to Opportunity;” and, Hong Kong, “Responding to SARS.”
Results
Released in early 2004, the “Community Partnership Report” has been widely distributed to JPMorgan Chase stakeholders around the world and made prominently available on its web site. The report has been widely praised for its breadth of coverage, stunning photographs, and, perhaps most important, crisp and sensitive writing that illustrates the firm’s impact on communities it serves.
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OWP/P l Cannon Design
Marketing & Public Relations
Background
OWP/P l Cannon Design is a leading architecture, design and engineering firm specializing in healthcare, education and corporate/commercial design. With offices in Chicago and Phoenix, the firm wanted to raise its visibility both locally and nationally through general interest media to focus on individual architects, specific projects and other areas of expertise.
Our Work
Since 2005, Melcher+Tucker Consultants has assisted industry leadership teams in developing marketing and media plans and, on a firm-wide basis, helped raise local and national awareness by highlighting senior architects and innovative projects. MTC has provided a wide range of marketing and communications services: building media lists and editorial calendars, developing an ongoing series of story ideas designed to underpin OWP/P l Cannon Design’s areas of expertise, and positioning leaders as expert resources on projects and trends including sustainable design, healthcare technology and prototypes for new schools.
Results
OWP/P, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008 and merged with Cannon Design in 2009, has become widely recognized for its industry expertise across a range of industry sectors. The firm, its innovative approach to design and its leaders have been featured in profiles in such major media as FastCompany, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, and Chicago Public Radio.
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SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Integrated Marketing Campaign
Background
One of the oldest and most prestigious graduate programs in social work, the School of Social Service Administration in 2005 committed new resources to marketing and communications to raise the visibility of the 100-year-old school and to increase the influence of the work of its senior faculty. The School also undertook a strategic communications audit to assess its local and national positioning ahead of its Centennial and capital campaigns.
Our Work
Melcher+Tucker Consultant’s work was closely connected to the objectives of the School’s development and communications offices and the dean. Activities included positioning leading researchers as experts in such fields as poverty, children and family, race and immigration, and work and employment to local and national media. We interviewed SSA professors to prepare them for media interviews, and provided strategic counsel for the re-launch in the spring of 2007 of a national magazine of social policy. To support the strategic audit, MTC conducted focus groups of alumni, and interviewed faculty, administrators, alumni and social service organization leaders. This work helped provide the framework for a targeted and expanded communications strategy.
Results
SSA celebrated its Centennial during the 2008-9 school year with great momentum. The School’s faculty work has been increasingly recognized in leading national newspapers, journals and on TV - from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to NBC Nightly News. MTC created specific content for the Centennial web site, and developed talking points to help equip the School’s Visiting Committee with key messages. A new communications strategy was put in place, aligning messages, publications and media with SSA constituencies.
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SEIGLE'S
Strategic Counsel and Media Outreach
Background
Seigle's, Inc., one of the country’s largest regional manufacturers and distributors of building supplies, embarked on a strategy to focus predominately on the professional builder, shifting away from direct-to-consumer sales. Deciding not to compete with the big-box retailers, Seigle's concentrated on building relationships with both local and national homebuilders, and, in 2003, began preparing for its largest acquisition, a deal, which would cement its strategic change of direction. Yet, the $260 million, family-owned company based in Elgin, IL, lacked significant local or national media visibility.
Our Work
Beginning in early 2003, Melcher+Tucker Consultants began a comprehensive strategic positioning campaign to raise Seigle's profile among key constituents. Media relations activities included targeting local and national trade and general interest publications, aimed at promoting the new corporate strategy; establishing Seigle's executives as knowledgeable sources on industry and economic issues; and, highlighting distinctive policies such as corporate governance. MTC also helped develop a series of customer forums and accompanying monographs, designed to increase awareness and credibility, and rewrote all of the website content.
Results
Seigle's new strategy was featured in major profiles in papers ranging from the Chicago Tribune and Wall Street Journal to the New York Times and throughout the industry’s leading trade journals. Owner-brothers Harry and Mark Seigle authored columns and became regular sources for industry stories. In less than 18 months, MTC helped Seigle's convey its key messages to its core audiences. In September of 2005, Seigle's was sold to Stock Building Supply.
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VENTAS, INC.
Rebranding, Website Redesign and Relaunch
Background
Over the past decade, Ventas, Inc., has grown into the nation’s largest seniors housing and healthcare real estate investment trust and been one of the top-performing financial stocks in the country. Despite its transformation, Ventas branding and its website had changed little – and certainly did not reflect the modern, highly successful company that it had become.
Our Work
Melcher+Tucker Consultants project-managed a major rebranding effort for Ventas, overseeing a thorough website redesign and development of new logos, images, print collateral, and a tagline, “Reliable Capital. Delivering Value.” MTC oversaw the website designers, programmers and photographers, and wrote all of the copy for the new site. Throughout, we worked with senior Ventas management to ensure that the project was brought in on budget and on time to coincide with the closing of its largest acquisition.
Results
The new Ventas website, www.ventasreit.com, was launched on July 1, 2011, the day Ventas completed its $7.6 billion acquisition of Nationwide Health Properties. The new site combines video interviews, professionally-shot photographs of seniors housing and healthcare properties, and an ease of navigation that allows key users – investors and prospective partners – to identify quickly the most important information. The new content and design projects the professionalism, confidence, and superior leadership that Ventas has become known for.
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WINNING WORKPLACES
Strategic Planning, Marketing & Communications, Partnership Development
Background
Winning Workplaces is a nonprofit assisting small and midsize employers in creating great workplaces. Since its formation in 2001, Winning Workplaces, with a small full-time staff, has relied on outside counsel for such services as: developing a content-rich web site; creating new products, services, and partnerships; and, generating awareness among the media, employers, and sponsors.
Our Work
Melcher+Tucker Consultants became an integral part of the Winning Workplaces' team in mid-2001, participating in strategic planning, competitive analysis, editorial development, and marketing and communications. MTC devised the editorial and marketing plan for Winning Workplaces' web site and wrote all original content for the site. MTC has provided competitive analysis to inform development of revenue-producing products, assisted in creating marketing plans, and implemented all media outreach. We helped forge national media partnerships – first, with Fortune Small Business, followed by the Wall Street Journal – to select the best leaders of small and midsize businesses and to kick off an annual recgnition conference.
Results
Melcher+Tucker successfully launched Winning Workplaces, helping build awareness of its brand, mission and senior executives through a multi-faceted marketing program. The Winning Workplaces web site is widely recognized as an authoritative resource on workplace issues. Its editorial partnerships support a key mission – management recognition – while the conferences have proven valuable generators of revenue and visibility.
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