PRemier Awards 2011

PRemier Award of Excellence
Amerhart is a building supply wholesaler/ distributor providing products and services throughout the Midwest. It has seven locations in three states. After a neighboring business in one of its Wisconsin locations had a crisis situation, Amerhart leadership realized it was not prepared should a crisis occur at one of its facilities so they turned to Leonard & Finco to help develop a crisis management and communication plan.

PRemier Award of Merit
The Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary is a 700-acre urban wildlife refuge in Green Bay. 2010 marked the finalization of a three year lagoon restoration project, ending with the completion of Resch Falls, a spectacular 20 foot waterfall feature which runs 3,500 gallons of water per minute.

To signify the conclusion of the restoration project and to celebrate the opening of the waterfall, the Sanctuary made a “big splash” by holding an appreciation and dedication where the water at the falls was turned on for the first time. The goal of the program was to acknowledge each phase of the lagoon restoration, to thank the public and city of Green Bay for its support and to acknowledge the impact Resch Falls will have on the Sanctuary for years to come.

PRemier Award of Excellence
With a $295 million dollar redevelopment/ expansion project completed several years ago, Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, is now a year-round destination. The Lambeau Field Atrium, attached to the Stadium, now offers conference and event space, the Packers Hall of Fame, the Packers Pro Shop, Curly’s Pub, Stadium Tours and more. Making sure the public is aware of, and makes use of, all the Atrium has to offer takes a focused public relations effort.

While the Packers have its own in-house PR department, it was decided that the Atrium business units needed long term PR outreach efforts to attract visitors and keep top of mind awareness in the media and public. Leonard & Finco was asked to develop and implement a plan, focusing on gaining coverage of Atrium offerings in key regional media outlets as well as specialty media serving leisure travel, school groups, business and convention meeting planners and bus tour publications.

PRemier Award of Merit
Hoffman LLC is a single-source planning, design and construction firm located in Appleton, WI. Hoffman works on projects locally and throughout the country such as schools, monasteries, assisted living facilities and corporate offices. Hoffman focuses on involving clients in every step of the planning and building process. In addition, the firm is also known for being industry leaders when it comes to implementing sustainable materials and practices into their projects.

Leonard & Finco Public Relations began working with Hoffman in July of 2010 to develop and implement a comprehensive communications plan to elevate awareness of the firm and its leadership team with local media.

PRemier Award of Excellence
Oneida Seven Generations Corporation (OSGC) is proposing to build a renewable energy facility in Brown County. OSGC’s initial proposed site locations met with considerable opposition. When it considered moving the proposed facility to Green Bay, OSGC needed to develop and implement a comprehensive community outreach effort to educate the public and local officials about the facility, its technology and its benefits to the community; ultimately gaining local, state and government approval.

PRemier Grand Award Winner
TransCanada’s Bison Pipeline Project, is a 302 mile natural gas pipeline, designed to provide natural gas producers in the Powder River Basin area near Gillette, Wyoming with additional natural gas pipeline capacity to access and meet the increasing natural gas demand of the Midwest market. The Project involves crossing landowner’s property as well as state and federally owned lands in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota and required approval to construct from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC gave authority to construct the Project later than anticipated which caused the Project team to start construction in mid-July 2010 instead of in early May. Following construction and the pipeline going in-service, the pipeline ruptured causing a shutdown and review of the safety and integrity of the pipeline.