Services provided

• Media relations
• Industry relations
• Thought leadership
• Crisis communications

CHALLENGE

The restoration of Woodside’s image was considered crucial for attracting capital partners, developers, and sellers. To generate positive press about Woodside both nationally and regionally, the NewGround team implemented a multipronged strategy that targeted a diverse array of media outlets.

STRATEGIES & TACTICS

NewGround reached out to the national media first, resulting in a cover story on Woodside Homes in Big Builder magazine and additional features about the company by the Wall Street Journal, Thomson Reuters, CNBC, and many other news outlets. By controlling the message points, we secured positive news coverage that emphasized Woodside’s reemergence as a stronger company with a clean balance sheet, solid assets, increased market share, and a savvy management team that was focused on future success.

The NewGround team then instituted an outreach campaign on the regional level, which included both media and industry relations. We created specific plans tailored for each division of Woodside whose image with local brokerage communities had suffered. Our strategy in Texas, for example, involved positive coverage of Woodside in broker publications, as well as in local newspapers and the business press. We also organized a series of special events for brokers that were hosted at Woodside developments. These occasions served as an opportunity to show the brokers that Woodside had emerged as a stable company intent on remaining in the home building business over the long term.

Following the initial reputation management campaign, one of NewGround’s key initiatives was to publicize Woodside’s recapitalization transaction that included the issuance of $128 million in notes to refinance its debt from the reorganization, and a $75 million equity offering to existing shareholders. This noteworthy recapitalization, which closed toward the end of 2012, sent a clear signal that Woodside had gained the confidence of investors and created the right capital structure to aggressively grow market share as the home building industry recovered. We were extremely effective in obtaining positive coverage of Woodside in influential media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, and Builder magazine, to name a few.

In addition to publicizing Woodside’s recent recapitalization, the NewGround team was tasked with garnering both national and regional coverage of the company’s “Better by Design” concept that has informed the home builder’s entire way of doing business. Led by a management team with unparalleled experience and stature within the industry, Woodside is now guided by an innovative operating strategy focused on new home designs and a positive buying experience. The “Better by Design” concept has provided Woodside with cohesive branding that has been integrated into all of the home builder’s communities. It clearly distinguishes Woodside in the market by emphasizing the company’s focus on design. Woodside has tailored the design experience at its communities in such a way as to ensure maximum convenience for its customers and keep them engaged throughout the entire sales process. This has been achieved through interactive features such as Inspiration Walls in every one of the company’s sales offices, a design-focused blog on the builder’s website, and a Style Profile quiz that matches a buyer’s personal tastes to a professionally selected mix of design options available for any Woodside home.

• Brand development
• Press releases in national publications
• Reputation management
• Launched “Better by Design” program
• Media and industry relations
• Customized and targeted regional and national pitches
• Bylined articles

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The NewGround team was highly effective in obtaining consistently positive press coverage that helped restore and maintain Woodside’s reputation, raise additional capital, and promote the “Better by Design” program on the divisional level, which served to inform local land sellers and developers about Woodside’s immense success in the wake of the company’s restructuring and recapitalization, as well as to drive traffic and sales at its new home communities.

• Raised additional capital
• Promoted the “Better” by Design” program
• Drive traffic and sales to the new home communities