Advocacy Campaigns

IMS has expertise and resources to help establish your position in a world of competing interests. Our leading-edge strategies and campaign capabilities position your issues to gain positive news media attention, grass-roots public support, and high-level political champions. Our advocacy areas of practice include:

• Consumer Protection and Public Safety
• Community Development Initiatives
• Environmental Programs
• Legislation and Public Policy
• Program and Product Awareness
• Public Health

Community Relations

Many organizations hope for the positive interactions and goodwill of their neighbors to achieve a level of informed consent to conduct their business. IMS will help you be more than a good neighbor. We will help you shape a community relationship that maintains positive corporate citizenship and positions your neighbors to be part of your team. Community Relations efforts include:

• Community Involvement and Outreach Programs
• Environmental Programs and Mitigation
• Facility Operations and Land-Use Issues
• Planning and Zoning
• Public Involvement Forums
• Regulatory Compliance Issues

News Media Relations

There is tremendous opportunity in properly working with the news media and equally serious consequences if you fail to prepare yourself to interact with this powerful force in our society. The IMS team has experience working with every type of news media source from local to national, including The New York Times, National Public Radio, and 60 Minutes. Our professionals also can help your organization master the power of new and social media such as Web sites, blogs, YouTube, and other virtual forums. Media relations expertise includes:

• Article Placement Campaigns
• Advertisement Services
• Executive News Media Relations Training
• News Media Engagement Strategies
• News Conferences, News Releases, and Press Kits
• Public Affairs Programming
• Public Service Announcements
• Video News Releases
• Virtual Press Tours

Public Involvement and Outreach

Our public engagement services and products reflect a view that some issues and situations require key stakeholders to buy in and collaborate through a process – to reach a desired outcome versus selling something to the public. Many regulatory processes require private sector and government entities to notify, involve, and resolve issues with the public before acting on an initiative. We combine our business practices, approaches, and tools to create a cooperative working environment of trust that helps our clients gain consent from an informed public and approvals from governmental authorities to proceed. Key issues and projects that benefit from our expertise in this area include:

• Federal and State Environmental Analysis and Review processes (NEPA, Superfund, etc.)
• Permitting Processes
• Zoning
• Facility and Land Development
• Transportation
• Rule Making

Reputation Management

Credible and honorable people and companies can easily find their integrity and reputations in question. We recognize the value a great reputation adds to brand equity and business success. Unfortunately, things can happen to cause intense news media and political scrutiny and devalue a company and professional relationships.

IMS is an expert in understanding and managing the elements to build, maintain, or restore trust and credibility. IMS can help regardless of whether our client is the victim of an unfortunate circumstance or has inadvertently made a mistake. Key reputation management issues include:

• Consumer Product Safety
• Workplace Accidents and Tragedies
• Labor Relations
• Accusations of Malfeasance, Misconduct, or Scandal
• Litigation

Special Events

IMS offers complete event management services, including operating a speakers' bureau, and facilitating international conferences, workshops, symposiums, and meetings. We help our clients target audiences and ideal locations to reach them through an appropriate engagement forum. Our event support includes:

• Agenda Development
• Recruitment of Panelists, Speakers, and Entertainment
• Participant Recruitment
• Event Promotion
• Facilitation and Moderators
• Administration and Logistics including location scouting, facilities management, registration, and media production
• Product launches

Stakeholder Analysis

Our stakeholder analysis methods ensure nothing is taken for granted and are focused on minimizing or eliminating the client's risk of failure. It is human nature that people with a common interest tend to spend their time with like-minded people. We all have a tendency to see the benefit of our ideas and often fail to recognize the perceptions of potential opponents.

Our sophisticated stakeholder analysis methods ensure our clients know exactly who is in a given playing field, where they stand on issues, and what relationships and resources they have to either enable or disable our clients from reaching their goals.

• Community Development and
• Civil Works
• Environmental Issues and Studies
• Facilities and Land Use
• Public Policy and Rule Making
• Transportation