Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Relationships Matter

by tracy

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In New Hampshire, relationships matter. For nearly two decades, the operators of Mount Sunapee Ski Resort have built a relationship of trust, good stewardship and economic prosperity as the lease holders of the state-owned mountain.

During that time, Sunapee has surged to become the second most visited ski mountain in the state. Led by GM Jay Gamble, the ski resort offered great conditions and great hospitality. That popularity generated revenue to pull the formerly struggling operation out of the red and even provide new funds to help cover expenses and upkeep of New Hampshire’s other state-owned ski area, Cannon Mountain.

Over time, every ski resort in the state offered new amenities and expanded the number of ski slopes; except for Sunapee.

For years, Sunapee’s operators worked to convince state lawmakers that a limited expansion of trails in exchange for setting aside hundreds of surrounding acres of private land would be set aside for state ownership and conservation.

For years, lawmakers rejected the idea.

Today, after two years of work on a specific proposal to allow four new ski trails, a lift and a ski lodge, the NH Executive Council endorsed the expansion of Mount Sunapee Ski Resort. I was proud to work with the lease holders and with the many community and business leaders in the Sunapee region who support this plan.

All five towns in the region endorsed it. Hundreds of locals weigh-in to support it.
The Governor publicly supported it.

This is a good and balanced plan that took into account the demands of ski enthusiasts and the concerns of environmentalists.

The process was done in the bright light of public scrutiny and both political parties applauded the thorough and accessible approach by the Department of Resources and Economic Development.

The Spradling Group is honored to share in this moment. This is a good day for NH.

Scott

Click Here for Union Leader Story

 

Proud New Partners

by tracy

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We are always happy to help.  That’s why the Spradling Group was created in the first place.

We are very excited to announce we’ve signed on as partners with three new clients!

NH Institute of Art –   Something exciting is always happening at the NHIA and we are very excited to lend a helping hand in reminding everyone about the great things this amazing institute is doing!

Families in Transition – A non-profit organization helping homeless families in the greater Manchester area and throughout the state.  We will proudly assist them to spread the word about all the good this organization is doing.

Riverwood’s Retirement Community –   We are honored the folks at Riverwood’s have asked us to join their team! We are happy to assist in their efforts to spread the word about this amazing community in Exeter.

The Spradling Group was recommended to these three clients by others in the community.  We are incredibly proud to know people in the business world think enough of us and our work, to recommend the Spradling Group to others.

We guarantee you’ll be hearing, reading and learning a lot about the NHIA, FiT and Riverwoods in the near future!

In the meantime, think Spring!

Scott and Tracy

What do you do?

by tracy

Ever wonder exactly what we do for our clients? We get that question frequently and understand that “public relations” can be a pretty vague concept.

Here is a recent example of a successful project:

A few weeks ago, we received a phone call from the superintendent of the Londonderry school district. He expressed frustration that the federal government was going to reclassify his high school cafeteria kitchen as a “food processing plant”, mainly because they had opted out of the national school lunch program.

This was, by all descriptions, a food fight. With their data, we built a message together that explained what was happening, why it was happening, and the consequences in terms of costs to the district if this change was allowed to be made by the federal government.

With a summary in hand, we reached out to local media and the story was picked up by reporters. Not only did the media cover the school board meetings which discussed the problem, but it triggered an editorial in support of the school district, arguing the federal government had no right to punish a school for opting out of the school lunch program.

We also helped craft a letter to the congressional delegation on behalf of Londonderry, to ask for their help for a waiver. Within two weeks the waiver was received and the school could go back to preparing lunches the way they were before without the threat of being classified as a food processing plant.

Using our contacts in politics and in the media, we were able to step in and play a small role in helping the school district rectify a potentially expensive problem.

That’s what we do.

Scott & Tracy

Click on the links below to see some of the press coverage:

NH1 story

WMUR story

Union Leader article