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YANKEE CANDLE COMPANY
Shining a Positive Light on a Corporate Acquisition
Business Model
Yankee Candle Company, located in South Deerfield, MA, is the largest handcrafted
candle company in the country and the largest employer in the surrounding
community.
The Challenge
When Forstmann Little & Co. acquired 90 percent of Yankee Candle, the company
sought to maintain its image as a "community" company, convey to
employees that the purchase was a positive change, and reassure the community-at-large
and customers that the company’s operations and values would remain the
same. At the same time, it wanted to position news of the acquisition as a
positive business move that would solidify its future growth and market leadership
position.
Strategy & Tactics
It was essential that all communication with employees, local officials, and
the media consistently stress the company's values. Yankee Candle conducted
meetings for employees to reassure them about the company's future. By planning
and orchestrating a news conference, Yankee Candle created a controlled environment
in which to announce the acquisition, deliver and reinforce key messages,
and create appropriate visuals.
Media Coverage
What potentially could have been doom-and-gloom speculation about the company's
future – not to mention the area's – was instead turned into overwhelmingly
positive media coverage about Yankee Candle that dominated the local media
for several news cycles well into the next day and communicated the company's
key messages. The carefully-crafted campaign generated:
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More than 23 minutes of TV coverage on local and Boston TV and radio
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Front-page coverage in three local newspapers including the Springfield
Union News, with favorable comments from local officials and chronologies
detailing the evolution of the company
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Yankee's first significant regional and national business coverage on AP,
Reuters and Dow Jones, and its first ever business coverage, in a Boston Globe
Business cover story that positioned the company as poised for growth
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Media coverage in important feeder markets such as Providence and Hartford
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The Bottom Line
The internal meetings, news conference, and all resulting media coverage successfully
reassured employees, customers, and the community about the sale.
No negative impact on earnings was created by the purchase.
This case history describes a program created by the principals and senior staff of Solomon McCown & Company while we were members of a prior agency co-founded and managed by Helene Solomon.
