Bâton Global’s (B|G) client was one of the five largest regional chambers of commerce in the United States. The organization is a key incubator of close community partnerships, including both public offices and private organizations, that amplify the state’s economic potential, attract external investment, and enhance the attractiveness of the state’s capital city region.
In light of the severe economic disruption due to COVID-19, the client wanted to deliver both holistic advice for organizations of various sizes as well as guidelines tailored to specific industries. The idea was to create best- in-class playbooks that would provide business owners digestible advice they could use to make informed decisions taking into consideration their own specific circumstances.
The client came to B|G for assistance gathering and evaluating the required data and information, engaging local advisory boards, and creating the public website that would help owners navigate uncertainty and alleviate the regional economic downturn
The urgency of the response requires B|G to move fast to assist the client. B|G started the project by gathering data through benchmarking exercise and engage with various stakeholders through surveys and stakeholder interviews. Moreover, to ensure that we capture the broad and depth of the data, B|G also ran focus groups sessions with 75 local leaders to identify key factors for a successful reopening.
Next, B|G worked closely with the client, supporting them to come out with clear guidance of the economic recovery strategy and disseminate the information through a public website. Last but not least, to ensure buy-ins and avoid miscommunication during the crisis, B|G supported clients to engage with the client’s stakeholders such as corporate leaders, healthcare experts, and state and local governments to mention a few.
B|G supported the client to smoothly execute the project and build the following impacts:
The scope of this project includes four main areas of activity:
As a first step, B|G researched and benchmarked international best practices for post-COVID-19 re- opening and business continuity. This included looking at the materials already available from dozen of peer cities in the USA and abroad. The analysis of these materials yielded both points of commonality as well as differences based on the assumptions others had used doing future scenario analysis. The research team also gathered all the guidance on restarting the economy that had been published by government authorities, public health departments, industry associations, etc.
To complement the research effort, B|G also assisted with the collection of community feedback through online surveys and specialized focus group meetings with targeted stakeholders. A survey to the general community was also distributed.
Based on the results of the insight phase, the client decided that B|G would assist in the creation of a new public website. Besides, B|G continues its involvement in ongoing content updates and website upgrades as the COVID-19 situation unfolds.
Leveraging the data that B|G collected in the initial phase, B|G discovered that a great communication plan to distribute the content is critical to the success of the project. Working with the client’s communication and design team, B|G consultants proposed an interactive and dynamic approach to digital guidance delivery. All the content created was released to the public in a new microsite on the client’s main website.
B|G also advocated for consistent and recurring stakeholder engagement to ensure the client’s understanding of ongoing business needs as well as reinforcing existing trust and support networks in the region. This allow our client to fulfill its mission as a strong regional chamber of commerce.
Following the engagement, the client successfully to realize the immediate impacts to their stakeholders, receiving various praises from the communities that it serves:
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