Corporate communications:
JHT Holdings, Inc.

Challenge

When JHT Holdings, Inc. faced reorganization in federal bankruptcy court, it turned to Mueller Communications to develop a plan to communicate to its employees, customers, vendors and the media.

Solution

Our staff worked to craft a communications plan that told a clear story about the “perfect storm” of challenges that led to the need to reorganize. More importantly, it made clear to key audiences that this was a strategic financial decision by JHT that would not impact the day-to-day operations of its subsidiary companies. Despite the challenges, both JHT and its lenders were confident in the future success of the company and the fundamental strength of its business model. Mueller Communications crafted letters, fact sheets and FAQs that clearly explained the situation to all key audiences and developed call scripts and presentation notes for use in meetings and calls with key customers and employees.

In addition, we conducted proactive outreach with local and national trade media concerning the decision to reorganize. JHT recognized that in the transportation industry, Chapter 11 had often signaled the “beginning of the end” for companies, and wanted to make it clear that JHT’s situation was unique. We coordinated interviews with targeted outlets and conducted background briefings in advance of the filing.

Results

The result of our outreach was that media coverage of the filing was universally favorable and contained clear and consistent messages concerning the company’s future prospects for success. In addition, it retained the vast majority of key customers, vendors and employees.

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