The Opportunity
When Samsung Electronics Home Appliances began considering South Carolina as a location for the company’s first North American home appliance manufacturing facility, Samsung hired NP Strategy (NPS+) to begin educating the company about communities in the state and to draft key messaging should the company choose South Carolina.
The Strategy
When that announcement came in the summer of 2017, NPS+ was there to coordinate the high-profile event in Newberry, SC, manage the statewide media and proactively engage the local community and key stakeholders. NPS+ leveraged the team’s local relationships to begin enacting a proactive stakeholder engagement process. We identified and ranked key stakeholders, including community and business groups, wrote a plan for establishing a relationship with each one and began tracking our efforts. One tactic suggested and deployed was partnering with the local American Legion Chapters to provide a free lunch to every veteran and his or her family members on Veterans Day. This is now an annual event that has proved to be a huge success, with Senator Lindsey Graham attending the 2018 luncheon.
The Results
Since the initial efforts, NPS+ has continuously been working with the Samsung team to cement their relationships with the Midlands community. With the assistance of our team, they provide monthly community donations, send monthly newsletters and host frequent plant tours with elected leaders and community based organizations. The Samsung team even travels to the South Carolina coast and has been a frequent sponsor to The Charleston Forum and serves as the technology sponsor to the Charleston Fisher House.