Building of positive image of Sofia Airport concessionnaire

SITUATION

On 17th July 2019 the Bulgarian state announced as winners for the 35-years concession of Sofia Airport SOF Connect consortium (French investment fund Meridiam – 99%, and Austrian building company Strabag – 1%) with third part operator Munich Airport.

All other tender participants appealed government decision to the Commission for Protection of Competition mainly on the grounds that government chose the lowest investment offer. Followed negative media publications challenging the selection of concessionaire and hinting hidden connections between Meridiam and controversial local businessmen.

So far Meridiam and Munich Airport haven’t had communication  activities. Meridiam was not known by the general public who is in principle suspicious to investment funds. SOF Connect and Munich Airport  were exposed to risk of expanding negative media content and image worsening.

GOALS

• Make SOF Connect and Meridiam recognizable for the Bulgarian society
• Build image of SOF Connect and Meridiam as responsible investors who will contribute to turning Sofia Airport in a modern air transport facility and to the Bulgarian economy development
• Prevent communication crisis

STRATEGY

• Proactively share with media newsworthy content about members of consortium and its vision about Sofia Airport
• Provide journalists the opportunity to get first hand impressions of Munich
• Saturate communication space with positive news about Meridiam and Munich Airport and their best practices

TACTICS

• PR counseling
• One-to-one meetings of Meridiam representatives with T1 sector journalists – 5
• Media trips to Munich Airport – airport facilities tour, presentations about airport achievements and meetings of journalists with management representatives – 2 trips with total 12 journalists
• Proactive distribution to journalists of written content and video with consortium vision about airport after modernization
• Interviews of Meridiam and Munich Airport management – 2
• Info kits with facts about Meridiam best practices – 2
• Media monitoring on daily basis

RESULTS

• 184 publications – 58% positive, 35% neutral, 7% negative
• Video content gained coverage of 54 publications
• 104 pro-actively driven publications
• Meridiam and Munich Airport spokespersons quoted in 118 publications
• Meridiam key messages coverage in publications – 93%
• Pro-actively reached audience 4,110,456 (daily basis)
• Advertising value 128,415 €