When a chemical plant with questionable owners and investors tried to build a chemical processing facility at the Port of Pensacola, neighboring residents and businesses raised the alarm.
A small but vocal segment of the business community supported the project and tried to steamroll it through a new Mayor and City Council, despite concerns about noise, pollution, and traffic through the residential areas of downtown Pensacola.
The Impact Campaigns team mobilized to stop the project.
The first challenge was to figure out exactly who was behind this newly-formed company, Incoa. While supporters boasted of the owners’ track record as successful entrepreneurs, the research told a different story.
With help from our corporate research consultants, we discovered that the backers of Incoa had a long history of peddling in nuclear waste, questionable political activities, and disregard for environmental regulations even in less-regulated markets like Latin America.
We knew that the Incoa plan’s strongest platform was the promise of jobs, so we took the approach that the Port of Pensacola should focus on “clean jobs” for this residential area.
We developed a clear message based on this strategy, created digital platforms to convey this information to the public, and used paid and earned media to reinforce that message. In addition, we mobilized dozens of grasstops influencers to contact the City Council and Mayor to advocate against the pollution project.
After our initial efforts, the Incoa team paused their push for the project in hopes of waiting out our efforts. But our advocates did not stop emailing and calling, nor did our digital communications outreach.
Eventually, the City leadership officially voiced their opposition to the project, and Incoa packed up their polluting project proposal and went elsewhere.