Hennes Communications

Hennes Communications has built its business by helping clients manage their communications response to reputational challenges, crisis events and other issues that threaten their ability to carry out their mission and serve their stakeholders. For 30 years, the firm has worked with government agencies, public and private companies, educational institutions, healthcare providers and non-profit organizations that find themselves “on trial in the Court of Public Opinion.” They help clients regionally, nationally and internationally by:

·Developing and executing strategic communications responses to crises, emerging issues and other game-changing internal and external events

·Helping clients communicate effectively when facing organizational change and reputational challenges

·Developing engagement strategies for social media platforms to integrate these critical communication channels into a comprehensive crisis response

·Assessing client risks and developing communication plans responding to those risks

·Conducting customized media training and crisis drills

·Providing litigation communications support

·Preparing and coaching executives for their role as organizational spokespersons

Unlike most public relations firms, their highly trained and focused staff includes only senior-level consultants with many years of experience in crisis communications and other “mission-critical” roles. They are flexible, responsive and able to get up to speed quickly, in order to understand their clients' issue and develop the best communications response strategy for the situation at-hand. Examples of the types of work they’ve done include:

·Activist attacks

·Ballot issues

·Black Lives Matter response strategies

·COVID communications

·Criminal activity

·Cyber events (ransomware, data breaches, etc.)

·Diversity/Equity/Inclusion issues

·Environmental issues

·Executive misconduct

·Expansions

·Financial irregularities

·Food contamination/tampering

·Industrial accidents

·Intellectual property disputes

·Labor disputes/work stoppages

·Land use/zoning issues

·Layoffs/staff reductions

·Litigation

·Management transitions

·Medical malpractice

·Media investigations

·Mergers & acquisitions

·Neighbor/community outrage

·Plant closings

·Product recalls/failures

·Regulatory issues

·Reputational threats

·Sexual misconduct and #MeToo situations

·Social media attacks

·White collar crime

Scope of Practice

While the firm is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, they practice throughout the United States, with clients located from coast to coast. They have also worked on numerous client assignments in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Japan and South America.

Hennes Communications serves an average of 200 individual clients annually in the following sectors:

·Public and private corporations

·Law firms

·Other professional service firms

·Government agencies

·Educational institutions (public, private, parochial and independent schools pre-K through grade 12)

·Higher education (public and private universities and colleges)

·Non-profits

·Arts organizations

·Nursing homes, senior living communities and hospice providers

·Hospitals, dental groups and physician practices

·Trade and professional associations

A list of representative clients can be found at https://www.crisiscommunications.com/about-us/clients/ Please note that this list is limited by the need for confidentiality and clients who ask them not to publicly post their organization’s name, even though they do not disclose details of engagements without permission. As well, they are often retained by attorneys and their law firms. Since the law firm is actually the client, those clients do not appear on their posted client list.

Hennes Communications has been Crisis Agency-of-Record for the past eight years for Avery Dennison, the international label company. A Fortune 500 company doing more than $8 billion a year in sales. Another one of their Fortune 500 clients is the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, doing more than $12 billion a year in sales. Another longtime client is ThyssenKrupp, the German chemical and manufacturing conglomerate, along with the now independently owned ThyssenKrupp Elevator. Another longtime client is Evonik, the multi-billion-dollar German chemical manufacturer.

The firm is also notable for its partnership with the Consortium of State School Boards Associations, serving as the "Essential Services Provider and Legacy Partner for Crisis Communications" for 25 state affiliates. This collaboration supports over 7,000 public school districts across the United States.