Objective:

Reducing media pressure about and increasing popular approval of the construction of a modern shopping mall in Chiloé Island’s picturesque town of Castro, in the middle of architectural relics in Southern Chile.

Strategy:

RumboCierto’s main service to its client, was to raise public awareness that a sustainable, integrated project was being developed, which would contribute to the development of the area and to spread the argument that the local community did not only approve of the project but that it also required a recreational center while all the criticism came from Santiago, the country’s political and business center.

Results:

After three years the project was approved. Today the mall is an open space for the community and a daily 10,000 person visit flow is expected. The community is permanently using it as a recreational area in a region where rain is almost permanent, making it hard to perform outdoor activities during most of the year.

Electronic ankle bracelet: 

Given the high rate of femicide in Chile the company Track Group, provider of GPS electronic ankle bracelets for the State of Chile, decided to launch an education and influence campaign for the different stakeholders in order to promote a law that allows the use of these devices in cases of domestic violence, especially in attacks against women.  In this way, the victim will be able to know through alerts to the cell phone when the victimizer approaches, thus preventing more deaths.

• This way a movement was started that today takes shape in a bill that is about to be approved by the Senate and that is expected to reduce by 40% the number of cases of domestic violence in Chile, according to international evidence.

• In addition, our customer was invited to participate in a pilot plan for the Government and there are currently four cases of victims of violence that are monitored with ankle bracelets.

• The media began to write in favor of the use of telematic monitoring and to take up statistics in favor of its use.

 Summary:

The crisis of confidence related to the Lava Jato scandal that affected Brazilian Government and enterprises also tainted related companies in Chile, to the point that although they were not involved in any misconduct the doors were closed to do business in Chile. The task for RumboCierto was to build a strategy that allowed it to position the company as the main constructor of transmission lines in Latin America, and to leave behind its relationship with Petrobras, in order to take part in a series of multimillion tenders from governments in the region in the coming months.

Strategy:

First we decided to isolate the Brazil effect from the Chilean situation, and to show in the media that the Chilean subsidiaries were financially sound and had concrete projects and contracts signed for many years. This was done through showing a strong partnership between the company and a well-known Chilean giant to generate new contracts.
Second, it was decided to show the experience in Chile, and to try to bring the speech back to technical aspects in order to deviate it from the crisis of confidence. To this end, we appointed and prepared spokespersons to talk in the press on the future of energies in the country, as well as about sustainability issues.

Results:

The company goes from cero and negative positioning in the media to have concrete publications that cover its projects and plans. It was possible to reduce press content that linked the company to the crisis and scandal in Brazil; they were able to sign a joint working alliance with the Chilean engineering firm Sigdo Koppers and with the Chinese State Grid for the development of the Bello Monte Project in Brazil, showing mutual trust and the ability of companies from different countries to work together. After improving its image the company was able to start signing contracts with banks to participate in large line construction tenders in the region. Furthermore, the first line of executives started to be considered as relevant sector leaders among stakeholders.

Summary

“Pentagate”, as the press has called it, it has turned into Chile’s notorious scandal, eroding the credibility of political parties and the local business community as the case ramifications involve big companies that may have resorted to Penta’s same mechanism to transfer funds to candidates running for Congress.
Its wide reach as a consequence has undermined trust in, and legitimacy of both the economic model and political system, has affected the relationship between money and power in Chile.

Results

News coverage about the Penta Case  diminished notably. Media interest is focused on politics and on the other companies that transferred money to politicians, in wich cases investigation as just started.
It is thus considered that the strategy’s first stage objectives have been accomplished. It would be unrealistic to expect the case not being in the news periodically but it is now treated as one aspect of a wider, national issue –campaign finance rules.

Summary:

In the middle of the coronavirus, a video went viral on social media where workers of a major mining company were caught in a gas station without wearing masks as a sanitary measure, being rebuked by one of the vendors. One of these people responded by coughing at her in mockery.
This sparked repudiation among the public on social media, and the news was published in various media outlets across the region and also escalated at the national level, leaving some health authorities to say publicly that they would be fined.
Sterling and Wilson – a major mining company based in India – felt the impact this would have on its corporate reputation.

Strategy:

The main criticism specifically on Twitter pointed to the lack of measures by the company to sanction these workers. Therefore, RumboCierto was reached out by the company and together a measure of transparent information and proactivity was adopted, demonstrating closeness to the population where the mine is located, despite the fact that the company and its managers are based in India.

Execution:

After requesting advice from Sterling and Wilson, all editors and journalists of the media outlets where the news about the incident was published were contacted by RCC to tell them that there would be an open communication channel.
Subsequently, a press release was drafted in India informing the suspension of the workers, highlighting the fact that the company rejects and sets itself apart from these events caused by the employees which was edited in Chile and attuned to what Chilean journalists needed to know.
This press release was sent to all media outlets that had already published the news. In addition, it was also published on social networks as a way of responding to people who wrote criticisms to social networks, responding individually one by one.
Two days later the company issued a new statement tightening the sanctions and reported that 3 workers had been dismissed.
This statement was sent to the same media outlets and also published in response to the same social networks and to the tweets after the first statement. RCC reported to the customer all the posts and all new tweets that came out after the company’s two statements.

Outcomes:
The first press release where the info was clarified was published in the nine media outlets where the news had originally been spread and went massively viral on Twitter. However, the second press release where the company’s ethical values were mentioned achieved further dissemination, with 10 more mentions appearing and in many more media outlets, the more outstanding among them being local digital portals that called RCC requesting the press release, national radio and television media outlets.
In fact, the national TV channel (TVN) released a story where they even showed the RCC statement. In all the publications, the company’s position rejecting the action was highlighted. Also, the statement was released by several twitter users. With the strategy, negative comments on social media were reversed, and most people appreciated the company’s determination.
Two weeks after the case, the incident is no longer discussed and the company’s reputation was impeccable.

RumboCierto was responsible for the positioning of the Chilean entrepreneurial company in the media from its beginnings, highlighting innovative Chilean technology for geographical location.

Ideas and Strategy:

RCC organized several product launch events and social campaigns for the company. In addition, it established networking with media outlets covering technology. RumboCierto also accompanied the firm throughout its regional expansion process until its successful sale to equifax.

Output and performance

The company became a benchmark in geographical location technology, generating interest across the media, appearing in all stories on geo-reference searches, as well as news related to its business and its leading partner Roberto Cahmi as a role model for Chilean ventures.