Services included: Re-evaluated brand strategy as shifted emphasis on new sources of business. Analysis of conflicting needs and perceptions of 10 constituencies. communications strategy and messaging plan.
Expansion into a New Area of Expertise and New Customer
CHALLENGE: Plum Creek had been the largest timber company with 8 million acres in 20 states. After 80 years of single-minded focus on forestry, it expanded into real estate and was reclassified from a Master Limited Partnership to a REIT. Growth came from acquisitions which corporate headquarters let themselves “run” entrepreneurially.
It needed a simple, meaningful message unifying forestry and real estate, i.e. what is important to land management investors versus forest product investors. Determine if need to continue to invest in reputation as “leaders in environmental forestry.
Research was conducted among ten diverse constituency types from the investment community to environmental organizations.
INSIGHTS: The common thread was the power of nurturing all resources: land (above and below), forestry, minerals, and importantly, people.
A bigger part of the solution was pinpointing a problem they didn’t know they had…A company culture at odds. The Management team was disconnected from field operations and the company at large. This affected morale, productivity, community relations, and individual performance.
SOLUTION: Repositioned by identifying hidden value and advantageous market opportunities. Created distinctive single-minded message. Tagline changed from: “Leaders in environmental forestry” to “Growing value from exceptional resources”. We recommended significant enhancements to culture, communications internally and to Wall Street, and operations.
RESULTS: A better run company. Unified and galvanized old and new businesses around new action plan. Productivity up; added communication staff, shared future plans, awarded stock, sought field input prior to related decision-making. Spending focused on supporting growth: clarity of mission enabled clarity of fiscal decision-making. Greater engagement with institutional investors. Ultimately, Plum Creek was acquired by Weyerhaeuser.
