Flagger Force – National Work Zone Awareness Week Public Relations
INDUSTRY:
Traffic Control
SERVICES:
– Public Relations
Strategic Public Relations Helps to Educate Communities About the Importance of Work Zone Safety
GRIT is honored to serve as Flagger Force’s media relations partner and support the company’s ongoing public relations and earned media initiatives. As an industry-leading, Safety-Driven®, short-term traffic control company with crew members working on or near the roadway every day, safety is at the heart of everything Flagger Force does.
Each spring, Flagger Force takes the opportunity to amplify their safety efforts through alignment with National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW), an annual campaign held at the start of the construction season to encourage safe driving through work zones. Over the past few years, Flagger Force has tapped into GRIT’s public relations expertise to help increase awareness, educate motorists on their role in keeping themselves and roadway workers safe, and position the company’s safety professionals as industry thought leaders during the national awareness initiative.
Creating Outreach Content to Engage Media & Secure Coverage
In honor of NWZAW, GRIT helped Flagger Force develop customized press releases that educate motorists on their role in keeping themselves and roadway workers safe. With operations that span the East Coast, it was important that the press releases were tailored to each of Flagger Force’s key markets and included state-specific work zone data and traffic laws. Once finalized, GRIT distributed the press releases on Flagger Force’s behalf to daily print publications and news stations across the company’s footprint.
Additionally, GRIT worked in close collaboration with Flagger Force’s vice president of risk and safety to develop customized op-eds that inform readers of their role in preventing work zone tragedies as well as urge state lawmakers to consider more stringent work zone safety laws. Writing and distributing media material that features eye-opening statistics, key safety messages, and actionable tips has driven results for Flagger Force and helped bolster their safety efforts through earned coverage in print, online, and TV outlets across the East Coast.
Securing News Interviews
A key part of Flagger Force’s NWZAW public relations strategy is developing targeted media pitches that offer their safety spokesperson as an interview source. GRIT has supported Flagger Force with crafting media pitches that position their safety spokesperson as a valuable source who can discuss the importance of NWZAW, share firsthand experiences, and offer tips that can help to prevent tragedies. Leveraging GRIT’s network of journalists and reporters, Flagger Force has secured several news interviews with TV stations across the company’s geographic footprint. These earned media successes have helped the company position their safety spokesperson as an industry thought leader and raise awareness of work zone safety.
Planning & Executing a Press Conference to Drive Home the Importance of Work Zone Safety
To remember the lives of the Flagger Force employees who were tragically killed and to raise awareness of the need for improved work zone safety measures in North Carolina, GRIT helped Flagger Force plan a press conference. The goal of the event was to bring together business leaders, safety professionals, state representatives, law enforcement officers, public service organizations, and the media to discuss the critical need for enhanced work zone safety programs and laws across the state and reinforce that keeping roadway workers safe requires a collaborative effort.
GRIT offered comprehensive support throughout the event planning and execution process. Early on, GRIT helped Flagger Force establish an approach for the event, including location and speaker recommendations. Once a location was selected, GRIT traveled to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to tour the facility and meet with the vendor who was supplying items for the press conference. GRIT also served as a main point of contact for event speakers and helped them develop talking points and key messages.
To ensure media personnel attended the event, GRIT distributed a media alert that included key details about the press conference. During the event, GRIT was on site to manage the media and coordinate interviews with Flagger Force’s leaders. The press conference was a success and gave Flagger Force the opportunity to connect with new journalists and reporters, form new partnerships with safety organizations, and collaborate with elected officials to continue improving work zone safety across the entire nation.
With GRIT’s strategic public relations support, during the 2024 NWZAW, Flagger Force was featured in six different TV segments on networks such as WGAL News 8, WPMT FOX43, WFMY News 2, and WGHP FOX8, to name a few. Additionally, the op-ed written from the perspective of Flagger Force’s vice president of risk and safety was published in LNP and the South Florida Times. GRIT is grateful for the opportunity to partner with Flagger Force and help the company secure earned media coverage that moves the needle on awareness of work zone safety!
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