Roopco Wins Two Global Awards for Strategic Communications Work

At this year’s 2024 Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) Conference held in the beautiful lakeside city of Geneva, Switzerland, our team at Roopco took home two globally recognized awards for our strategic communications work with global industrial explosives leader Austin Powder.

Our work for Austin Powder was recognized in the categories of Corporate Communications and Internal Communications & Employer Branding. These awards reflect our team’s efforts to enhance Austin Powder’s strategic communications with both internal and external stakeholders, while also helping to maintain a strong employer brand that resonates throughout the entire organization.

“This recognition highlights the importance of strategic, transparent communication during periods of transition,” said Brad Kostka, president of Roopco. “We take pride in helping our clients navigate these moments with certainty, ensuring their stakeholders remain informed, engaged and supportive.”

An Investment Sparks Explosive Growth

When Austin Powder secured a strategic investment from private equity firm American Industrial Partners (AIP) to fuel its future expansion, company leadership knew that announcing the investment and explaining its impact to key stakeholders would be no small undertaking.

The challenge was clear: Austin Powder needed to convey how this strategic investment would bring positive changes to the organization without compromising the company’s core values, including its family-like culture and deep-rooted commitment to quality. For such a sensitive communication initiative, Austin Powder turned to Roopco to help get the messaging right.

With just three weeks to plan and execute this initiative, our team at Roopco jumped into action. We understood that private equity investments often spark concerns, particularly among employees and customers, about potential layoffs or declining product quality. The key was to ensure that Austin Powder’s stakeholders—employees, customers, suppliers and the communities they serve—felt reassured about the company’s new direction and its continued commitment to its values.

Our first step was to conduct in-depth research to identify key concerns among these groups. This research uncovered several critical themes, including fears about how the investment may impact the company’s day-to-day operations, product quality and overall stability. It was clear that the message we crafted had to emphasize continuity, stability and alignment with Austin Powder’s longstanding values.

With our research findings in hand, we got to work on developing a comprehensive messaging strategy. Our approach focused on ensuring stakeholders understood that AIP’s investment wasn’t about changing Austin Powder—it was about enhancing it. We positioned the investment as a way to fuel growth, foster innovation and streamline operations, all while preserving the qualities that had made Austin Powder a trusted leader for nearly two centuries. A key message was that AIP shared Austin Powder’s commitment to its people, its products and its rich heritage.

Once the transaction closed, our team launched a strategic communications campaign, beginning with Austin Powder’s most crucial audience: its employees. We knew that getting employees on board and easing their concerns needed to be the foundation of our strategy. To achieve this, we facilitated employee town halls, where leadership explained the deal in detail and answered questions directly. In addition, we provided tailored memos and personal letters to employees, reinforcing the message that the investment would ultimately strengthen the company and support future growth.

From there, we expanded our communication efforts to customers, suppliers and community partners. Each group required a slightly different approach, so we customized the messaging to speak directly to their unique concerns. For customers, we emphasized that the investment would drive innovations that would ultimately improve the products and services they rely on. For suppliers, we stressed that their strong relationships with Austin Powder would remain a priority and the investment would create new opportunities for collaboration. Community partners, too, needed to understand that Austin Powder’s commitment to its core values and local engagement would remain a priority.

What made this campaign even more complex was Austin Powder’s global presence. To ensure that stakeholders worldwide received and understood the messaging, we translated our communication materials into 11 languages. This step was crucial in ensuring that the nuances of our messaging were accurately communicated across different cultural and linguistic contexts.

The results were overwhelmingly positive. Employee engagement was strong, with high email open rates and participation in virtual town hall meetings. This demonstrated that employees felt connected to the process and reassured about the company’s future direction. Feedback from customers and suppliers was similarly encouraging, with both groups appreciating the focus on continuity and innovation. Media outreach was also a resounding success. We secured nearly 260 media placements, reaching more than 176 million people—with only positive or neutral sentiment reported.

Bringing Local Expertise to a Global Stage

As a proud longstanding member of the Public Relations Global Network (PRGN), Roopco continues to benefit from the collaboration and support of more than 50 PR agencies around the world. These latest awards for our strategic communications work with Austin Powder reflect not just our in-house capabilities, but the strength of the global partnerships that we’ve cultivated through PRGN.

“Our ability to offer clients a combination of local expertise and international reach is what truly sets us apart as a strategic communications agency,” said Kostka. “We’re incredibly honored to have this recognition.”