For the past four years SM& has
been working with Skanska USA, a leading international construction
management firm publicly traded on the Swedish stock exchange, in
order to help the company gain local and national recognition. Our
mission is to promote their strong corporate culture nationally in
addition to raising their visibility locally in Massachusetts,
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia,
Houston, and Seattle.
Our initial engagement was for Boston.
Based on our successes here, Skanska has expanded the scope to
include the other markets noted above as well as their national
work. Additional assignments include media training executives for
divisions around the country and a specific communications program
to garner recognition for the company's Mission Critical and
Healthcare Centers of Excellence. Most recently, we worked closely
with the leadership team in New York to develop the internal and
external communications strategy for Skanska's acquisition of a
prominent mid-west company. The owners of that company and its
employees praised Skanska for the sensitive manner in which the
announcement was made.
Skanska's corporate identity is built
upon the organization's core values or the "five zeros," their
vision for zero accidents, zero environmental incidents, zero
ethical breaches, zero loss-making projects, and zero defects on
projects. These values are top of mind on every project that they
work on, from the $1 billion MetLife Stadium that they completed
for the New York Giants and Jets, to the $29 million renovation and
expansion at the Nantucket Memorial Airport just in time for the
2009 summer tourism season. Maintaining their commitment to these
"five zeros" impacts Skanska's workforce, its bottom line, and its
reputation in every market, something they, as a leader in the
construction industry, do not take lightly.
When SM& was tasked to raise
awareness of Skanska USA, we seized on the organization's core
values as a way of differentiating Skanska everywhere they do
business, positioning them as a fresh, innovative, smart, and
forward-thinking player - something apart from the stereotypical
construction image.
As a result of our integrated
communications campaign, we've secured more than a dozen awards and
industry speaking opportunities for Skanska executives
and achieved substantive media placements in all of our
targeted markets in national, regional, and local trade
publications, including Nightly Business Report, Washington Post,
National Public Radio, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe,
Washington Business Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, Construction
Executive, and Airport Magazine. We've also placed several stories
in the New York Times.
In 2011, we had more than 350 media
placements for Skanska across the nation. So far this year, we are
on track to surpass that figure.