B2 has worked with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council since 2016 to generate awareness of the organization’s work and build support for collaborative resiliency initiatives. The Regional Planning Council coordinates with local counties and municipalities as they make long-range plans for the Tampa Bay region’s future.
The Regional Planning Council holds a Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Leadership Summit to provide an opportunity for local governments, nonprofits and private companies to discuss and share solutions for resiliency, climate change, sea level rise, and similar topics.
The Regional Planning Council enlisted B2 Communications to raise the visibility of the 2022 Summit, and to attract 250+ elected officials, government staff, business leaders and nonprofit leaders to the Summit.
B2’s Solution
B2 has partnered with resiliency and communications expert Brandon Shuler, Ph.D. of Encino Media on its work for the Regional Planning Council since 2021. B2 and Encino interviewed the Council’s Board Chair Brandi Gabbard, Executive Director Sean Sullivan and a number of technical experts to learn about the issues and identify gaps in understanding about the Council’s work.
B2 created a three-month campaign to:
- Position the Council as the regional expert on resiliency,
- Leverage key opinion leaders in raising awareness about resiliency issues facing the region, and
- Enlist resiliency partners to share a major new research report during the Summit, held April 4-6, 2022.
In February 2022, B2 and Encino drafted and distributed a news release to announce the Summit – and act as a ‘save the date’ for attendees and key reporters who cover environmental issues. This news was published in outlets like the Business Observer and Tampa Bay Business Journal.
A second news release was drafted and distributed in March when the Summit agenda was set and certain speakers could be in announced. In addition, B2 and Encino learned about a new resiliency report that Summit partner Tampa Bay Partnership planned to release during the Summit. B2 and Encino worked to learn about the “Making the Economic Case for Resilience” report, and included the planned announcement as a news hook in this news release.
Encino worked with the Council’s Executive Director Sean Sullivan to draft an op-ed about the importance of collaboration on regional resiliency, which was placed in the Tampa Bay Times. B2 worked with Council Board Chair Brandi Gabbard (also serves as Vice Chair of the St. Petersburg City Council) on an op-ed on similar topics that published in the St. Pete Catalyst.
Success
Nearly 300 local, state and national leaders, government staffers and elected officials attended the 2022 Regional Resiliency Leadership Summit.
Eight reporters, including environmental reporters from the Tampa Bay Times and WUSF, Fox 13 meteorologist Tony Sadiku, Tampa Bay Business Journal infrastructure reporter Henry Queen, and local news reporters from the St. Pete Catalyst and the Business Observer, attended at least one day of the Summit.
During the event, B2 and Encino facilitated news coverage by coordinating interviews, discussing storylines and providing copies of resiliency-related reports to reporters. In total, more than 100 news stories covered the Summit and the Council’s significant role in regional resiliency.
B2 and Encino’s work on behalf of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council was recognized for public relations excellence by the Public Relations Society of America’s Tampa Bay Chapter in November 2022.