The ARCO Alaska Strategic Community Involvement Plan

Need: 

After severe cuts in budget and personnel, the senior management at ARCO Alaska restructured the External Affairs Department, which included community relations, government relations, internal communication and philanthropy, and developed a new, strategic approach to these functions. 

Approach: 

  Determine key business objectives that could be supported through community and government relations
  Identify community and political leaders who could influence the success of the company’s business objectives
  Determine the most productive way to build relationships between ARCO senior managers and key leaders
  Develop initiatives to facilitate these relationships and also to brand the company as a strong corporate citizen that was committed to issues important to Alaskans
  Leverage a number of resources including philanthropy, executive activities, media and advertising and employee volunteer programs to efficiently carry out the department’s strategies

Results: 

ARCO Alaska successfully maintained its positive position in the community at a much lower cost.  Through annual public opinion polling, we were able to show ARCO’s highly favorable ratings for participating in the community and caring about issues that affected Alaskans.  Over the four years of the program, the company also was successful in convincing the state legislature that any new taxes on the oil industry would ultimately reduce productivity and cause long-term economic harm to Alaska.