Real Estate|Construction

Public Relations - Crisis Communications

Situation

Leapley Construction Group is a fast-growth interiors construction firm based in Atlanta and operating in cities across the country. Despite growing into a $13 million business in less than three years, Leapley Construction lacked its own identity and name recognition, and was being confused with Leapley Company, a Washington, D.C.-based company that was facing financial difficulties.

Challenge

c21 worked with Meredith Leapley, founder and president of Leapley Construction to schedule a meeting with a Washington Post reporter in order to set the record straight. c21 assisted in preparation for the interview. We saw it as an opportunity to turn a potentially negative story into a positive one, but had only four days to draft information on the company.

c21 Solution

c21 contacted the reporter to determine the information she had to date, so that we could better prepare Leapley for any worst-case questions. We then conducted a media training session with Leapley, and created a mini-press kit to be hand-delivered to the reporter at the meeting.

Results

The interview was such a success, it yielded a positive front-page story in The Washington Post's Business Section. The article also led to added placements in local Atlanta and Washington business publications, one of which placed her on the cover.