Company: Indo Pacific Reputation Management Consultants, Jakarta, Indonesia

Company Description: Indo Pacific is the largest PR firm in Indonesia with 90 staff offering corporate communications, government relations, public affairs, media relations, crisis management, and consumer PR. In the past five years, Indo Pacific has won the IPRA Frontline Award, the Stevie Award, the Cakram Award as Indonesia’s PR Agency of The Year, the PR Week Award, and the Indonesian IPRA Award.

Nomination Category: Team Awards Categories

Nomination Sub Category: Best Communications Team

Nomination Title: A Message of Hope in Disaster-Torn Land – Indo Pacific’s team for Lafarge

   1. Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

The year 2004 in Indonesia ended with shock as the deadly tsunami hit the shores of Aceh, killing more than 132,000 people. Journalists – international

and local, rushed to Aceh to report on this disaster without knowing where to go and who to talk to. In the beginning there was only negative news to report: destruction, death, malnutrition, poverty, disease, lack of responsiveness, and lack of coordination.

Many businesses in Aceh could not operate due to destruction to offices and plants. One company in particular, cement giant Lafarge, decided to econstruct its plant in Aceh that was completely wiped out by the tsunami with new upgraded facilities. While the commitment to stay was good news, upgrading also meant 100 less employees required to operate the plant.

Lafarge management team in Indonesia created a golden handshake package. It included a lucrative financial package, entrepreneurial training and technical assistance for those who would like to start their own businesses, and vocational training for an additional family member so there is a second person in the household that also can be a breadwinner.

Indo Pacific’s role was to train Lafarge’s spokespersons to communicate this decision to employees, as well as preparing them with messages that highlighted the upside of “being an entrepreneur” and “pursuing other interest”. The result was 106 people voluntarily agreed to take the package, all of them attending the training sessions with a family member. Some of them have since started their own businesses, or have found another job.

During the period of communicating the downsizing and reconstruction plan, Indo Pacific also helped Lafarge communicate its recovery program for Aceh, which included its plan to rebuild the factory, building 274 permanent houses, develop mobile health services in some neighborhoods, construction and mechanical skills training for individuals who would like to get a job in relation to the huge reconstruction effort in their area, and providing school supplies for children.

With various positive topics on Lafarge’s business and community commitment reaching the media, the government and the local communities, downsizing became just one of many topics.

There was no news on the downsizing in national media. One Aceh-based newspaper wrote just one article on the downsizing issue, but the news was clarified the next day and there was no more news on this topic. Meanwhile, news about Lafarge’s reconstruction plans and community program gained a lot of attention locally and internationally.

   2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, http://www.youraddress.com:

http://rapidshare.de/files/19037023/MedRelJul0705Fin-Eng.pdf.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/19037202/KeyMessJul2005-Eng.pdf.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/19037272/KompasJul0905.jpg.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/19037438/TranscriptBBCSep0605-E.pdf.html

   3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of this nominated team:

Elina Ciptadi is Indo Pacific’s crisis, litigation and reputation management specialist, with blue chip client list including Playboy Enterprises, Bausch &

Lomb, Qantas, Prudential, Total SA, AIG, Petronas and Lafarge. She has led and been involved in Indonesia’s largest crisis communication and reputation building programs.

She is also Indo Pacific’s industrial relations specialist, who currently provides analysis and counsel to all clients on manpower regulations and their impact on corporations, industrial dispute processes, and compliance issues.

Her previous work for Nike and the Indonesian Constitutional Court has won and been nominated for various local and international PR Awards.