A surprise October 2011 snowstorm left 420,000 National Grid customers without power too long. For National Grid, this was a communication failure as much as a power failure. Customers were left without progress on restoration until trucks appeared on their streets. With little understanding of restoration efforts, anxiety skyrocketed. State regulators and attorneys general launched inquiries and leveled fines. As National Grid’s ranking sank to #11/12 on the U.S. Utility Reputation Index, it engaged us as their partner on communications.
Then, in October 2012, came Hurricane Sandy – the ultimate test of how National Grid could handle a crisis.
The Goal
National Grid understood that a new crisis communications plan was central to bolstering its reputation, essentially defined during an emergency. A 2012 audit revealed gaps in the company’s emergency communication infrastructure, from communications that was neither timely nor relevant to awkward deployment of social media.
Research also showed that locally-oriented programs and highly-targeted micro messaging would be most valuable to customers and impact reputation.
The objective was to implement and test a new 21st century crisis communications plan. This plan was critical to National Grid’s desire to push its rank into the top half on the U.S. Utility Reputation Index.
The Strategy
2012: While addressing structural issues of an older power grid, the company also identified specific initiatives to elevate its emergency communications plan to industry-leading standards:
Realign emergency communication operations
Retrain communicators
Build next-generation communications tools
Strengthen local community relations and prepare to drive support and care in communities hit by an emergency
Preparations were made for a vigorous real-time emergency response requiring multichannel communications that properly utilize a robust social media infrastructure. The company also updated community programs to strengthen neighborhood relationships.
A three-part emergency response workshop was held for interdisciplinary communication teams — media relations, employee communications, government relations, customer, regulatory/ legal, human resources, and operations. Storm playbooks from each were reviewed and gaps and synergies were identified.
Best industry-wide communications practices and responses to hypothetical disasters were analyzed. A working group was created to address the “gaps,” establish links and new processes.
Execution
With unprecedented devastation, Superstorm Sandy roared ashore in October 2012, giving National Grid opportunity to demonstrate its crisis readiness in real time. A field test of the new communications plan became an extraordinary live emergency response.
National Grid activated its Incident Command Structure, assigned a public information officer and synchronized efforts of communication leaders. It quickly deployed a new preparedness narrative, providing media unprecedented access to crew staging locations. It quantified the response, including crews, supplies and restoration times. It pushed visuals of staging areas and command centers to earned and owned media. It utilized Twitter for direct customer support and safety education, and leveraged Facebook to spotlight the restoration story.
As power in New England was restored, encouraging media/social media feedback bolstered company resolve. However, as the storm’s devastation in downstate NY became clearer, the response shifted to bringing in emergency supplies neighborhood by neighborhood and communicating individualized customer responses.
Results
The Sandy response spotlighted dramatic crisis communications improvements during 2012:
Output/Awareness:
National Grid relied extensively on next-generation social media tools to deliver improved storm communication:
Prior to Sandy’s landfall, it highlighted its preparedness through 30-40 tweets/day and 6-8 posts/day across four regional Facebook pages and 3 advisories/releases, pushing safety and readiness.
It achieved 500% greater social media utilization during Sandy than the snowstorm.
Knowledge/Consideration:
It saw a 30% increase in positive Twitter messages vs. the snowstorm and 2000+ retweets of company information.
A dozen public officials stated publicly that National Grid was better prepared.
Action/Business Impact:
Its positive Alva reputation sentiment scores increased 350% overall post-Sandy vs. post-snowstorm and across key geographies:
New York: +.62 vs. -.26
Massachusetts: +1.07 vs. -.31
Rhode Island: +.04 vs. -.12
Long Island: +.13 vs. -.14
National Grid climbed to a #4 ranking on the Utility Reputation Index in 1Q 2013.