Building a Brand during a National Emergency: Hart Building Gets a Dose of EasyDECON’s EnviroFoam

Background: A small unknown company in Alabama was about to be catapulted into the international limelight. The company, EasyDECON’s EnviroFoam, was one of two in the United States that had licensed the use of a decontaminate from Sandia National Laboratories. The product was created by Sandia to kill harmful bacteria – one of which is Anthrax. Until the events of September 11, there was little demand for this product. Once Anthrax was discovered at a Florida media company and at the Hart Building in Washington, D.C., worldwide demand was created seemingly overnight.

Challenges: Challenges were abundant; EasyDECON’s EnviroFoam needed a plan yesterday. A business model had to be developed in a vacuum. A website had to be created and launched. A logo developed. And, Wolf Blitzer was calling.

Strategies: PPR assembled its team of strategists, media relation experts, graphic artists and web designers. Our administrative team organized press conferences handling travel and logistics. A key member of the PPR team accompanied EasyDECON EnviroFoam’s president to Washington, D.C., and orchestrated details behind the scenes. Acting as both media coach and media strategist, PPR was able to respond to an overflow of high profile opportunities, as a deluge of media was hungry for product information. In the meantime, our administrative team was diligently working in Birmingham to compose the brand. License agreements had to be coordinated and protocols established through Sandia.

Results: Over 400 articles were written surrounding EasyDECON’s EnviroFoam within a sixty-day period. The company’s president was interviewed by all major television networks including CNN. The high-profile exposure for EasyDECON’s EnviroFoam caught the attention of the Army and product benefits were transferred to applications needed by the U.S. military.

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