Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 5, 1993 TAG: 9302050101
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MASSAGING THE MERGER
By the time First Union Corp. was finally able to confirm it would acquire Roanoke's Dominion Bankshares Corp., its public relations problems had already spun out of control.R. Jeep Bryant, First Union's corporate media relations manager, recalled Thursday that three days of speculation prior to the official announcement Sept. 21 had spawned newspaper quotes calling the merger a blow to Roanoke.
"Sometimes public relations people have to spend a lot of time and money finding out how people feel," Bryant said.
But in Roanoke, "all First Union had to do was read the newspaper. . . . If there had been any doubt about the apprehension people would feel - and the skepticism they would have - this coverage spelled it out and gave it a voice."
Speaking to the Blue Ridge chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, Bryant said First Union had researched databases on Roanoke, Dominion and other local companies.
But the most critical groups in Roanoke - Dominion employees, its customers and shareholders, government officials and the community - knew very little about First Union, the mammoth Southeastern banking company based in Charlotte, N.C.
But company officials were barred by federal law from providing information during the period of speculation, he said. It means "all of these audiences were turning to other sources."
The company's main focus, Bryant said, was Dominion employees.
First Union created "a fast-breaking news edition" of its own employee newsletter and distributed it the day of the announcement.
The bank used fax machines, electronic mail and employee meetings to reach the group quickly. It still publishes a "Q&A" paper to which employees can submit questions.
When it came to dealing with the community, Bryant said, he had learned a lesson in Miami, where First Union had just 24 hours to take over a failed bank that had been closed by the government's Resolution Trust Corp. Asked there what First Union would do, Bryant's response was to ask for more time to explain.
The better response, he said he learned, was to point out what First Union had done elsewhere after other bank acquisitions. So the Charlotte bank published a simple "Fact Book" outlining its commitment to economic development, public education, low-income neighborhoods and nonprofit foundations.
"We decided that what [Roanoke] needed was simply the facts, and that's how this book got its name," Bryant said.
Bank officers also made a presentation to stock analysts in New York and set up a satellite news conference from Roanoke.
First Union didn't expect a complete about-face in community feelings about its takeover of Dominion because "p.r. that involves a lot of forced smiles and hot air will leave a lot of people feeling pretty cold."
"And it's just not credible," he said.
Rather, the message First Union tried to deliver was "that if Dominion couldn't remain independent, then First Union was the best merger partner for them."
First Union stressed that it wasn't coming to shrink Dominion, that it stood to profit from expansion of the bank and of the community.
"That message dealt with people's fears. . . . It also dealt with our hopes. . . . Your concerns about economic development have today become our concerns. If the community doesn't prosper over the long term, neither will First Union."
Bryant pointed out that subsequent newspaper stories quoted community leaders saying they were encouraged by what they'd heard.
When Dominion announced layoffs in December in anticipation of the merger into First Union - nearly 1,300 jobs systemwide including 850 in the Roanoke Valley - First Union held individual meetings with affected employees, who also received information on how the impact on their departments meshed with the larger organization, he said.
"We explained how this short-term reduction would position our company for long-term growth," Bryant said. "And as this company grows, Roanoke and our employees would benefit."
That effort closed Chapter 1, Bryant said, but "our team has really only scratched the surface of what needs to be done to support the communication needs this merger has created."
Chapter 2, he said, will cover employee needs, installation of new banking systems and procedures and creation of more jobs in Roanoke.
"People will listen to our words," Bryant said, "but they will judge us by our actions."