Project Summary

The Washington State Convention Center (WSCC) is experiencing surging attendance from across the globe. With demand outstripping capacity, a new addition to the facility has been designed that requires City Hall and public approval to be built. While the project boasts immense benefits to the city, the challenges of implementing a large scale civic construction project within close proximity to the I-5 corridor requires an exceptional communications plan to secure public support and approval.

To secure timely approval for this critical addition, project manager Pine Street Group entrusted Nyhus to develop and launch an integrated communications plan emphasizing the benefits of this addition to the public, as well as securing approval from public offices.

Challenge

As a public-private entity, the WSCC Addition is a unique project that requires a comprehensive communications strategy. Our team began work in 2015 that has included:

– Message development – Prior to launching any communications initiatives, the Nyhus team prepared a comprehensive messaging document as a foundation for all external messages.

– Community engagement – Broad, substantive outreach to neighbors and relevant stakeholders was critical to developing early public support for the project.

– Public relations – A variety of PR tactics have been deployed to educate and inform the public and decision-makers about the benefits of the WSCC Addition.

– Public affairs – Since the project requires City Council approval, a comprehensive public affairs program was developed to secure critical support, which has included ongoing engagement with elected officials, city stakeholders, and impacted businesses and community advocacy groups.

– Media training – Key project team leaders were media trained to ensure that spokespersons were ready and practiced at talking directly to the press about the project.

– Digital marketing and content development – To broaden support for the project’s central message – Growing While Benefiting the Community – the Nyhus team developed a suite of collateral and digital content, including a website.

Results

Work to expand the WSCC is ongoing, but a number of direct results have been achieved to date, following the project managers’ engagement with Nyhus:

– Secured approval from Seattle Design Commission on an unprecedented number of requested street vacations.

– Secured land sale from the County valued at $275 million.

– Developed and implemented comprehensive outreach program targeting non-native English speakers and immigrants, exceeding King County and City of Seattle race and social justice-standard requirements.

– Convened more than 100 community and stakeholder meetings; thousands of additional residents reached through digital surveys.

– Placed multiple op-eds in key local publications, and secured favorable coverage and corrected reporting errors quickly in articles relevant to project.

– Held two large-scale media events attended by King County Executive Dow Constantine, Mayor Tim Burgess, and major business and organized labor stakeholders.

– Conducted successful two-day media training for partner and construction manager, with a focus on tackling unlikely but challenging topics such as workplace injuries and substantial construction delays.

– Developed content for new website, www.WSCCAddition.com, as well as prepared two online surveys that received more than 6,000 total comments.

– Designed three mailed postcards, a fact sheet, pull-up banners and an infographic which explain the project’s inherent community benefits and need for approval. Developed a monthly newsletter with custom html template and compiled 1,600-person recipient list.

– Ran multiple social media marketing programs with sponsored content, garnering thousands of video and page views.

– Developed 5 video shorts to tell the story of the project, the benefits, and urgency of approval.