PAC Management

The situation

Faced with significant regulatory challenges, a major freight rail company sought to revitalize its political action committee (PAC) and boost the participation rate by senior executive employees.

Public Strategies' solution

Public Strategies created and executed a long-term action plan designed to both bolster employee awareness of the PAC and increase membership and retention.

Public Strategies established an internal communications effort to increase the visibility of the PAC, open up new lines of communications with employees, and demonstrate to employees how the PAC adds value to the company, its industry and, ultimately, their own jobs.

Weekly employee communications kept employees informed about events in Washington that could impact their industry and demonstrated the need for the company's interests to be represented in Washington. To further support this effort, Public Strategies designed and maintained a PAC website, enabling employees to learn more about the PAC and contribute to the PAC with a click of a mouse.

The introduction of this online, sustained PAC solicitation made joining the PAC easier than ever. As a result, traffic to the PAC's intranet site skyrocketed, and PAC participation reached record levels. The blitz also featured occasional attention-grabbing interactive contests where, for example, the first 25 employees to respond would receive a $25 Starbucks gift card. A culminating event headlined by the company's CEO, the city mayor and representatives for key local and national candidates proved an enormous success.

Client Benefits

As a result of this effort, the client saw PAC participation rise steadily and, subsequently, was able to build a larger presence in Washington. Additionally, with a more engaged and informed employee base, the company is better positioned to leverage internal goodwill to influence external issues.