As you know, recently we had an occurrence within the ACORN organization in which ACORN employees gave advice to a group posing to be creating an illegal business. Without an appropriate response, this occurrence could be disastrous to the company's image. We propose that 3 responses will be necessary. These responses should be in the format of a press release, a recorded message for customers and a internal company memo.
The press release will target the broadest range of audiences and should be executed with that in mind. Not only will ACORN customers and the general public see this, but important politicians will see this as well. Many conservative politicians have attacked liberals for being involved with ACORN and the company is losing its’ support from those liberals. We will attempt to appeal to those politicians in this press release. It is important that the ACORN CEO is the speaker in the release, so that we show that we are taking this situation seriously. While the tone should most certainly be apologetic, it needs to be explained that this was an isolated event. After the press release, it should be clear that ACORN does not actively support criminal organizations. To prove this point we will release information stating that those involved have been fired and that training operations are now in effect to help ACORN employees identify potential illegal operations. It should also be stated in the release that when future illegal operations are brought to the attention of ACORN employees, they will be reported to the appropriate authorities.
The recorded message should be in a quick video format and posted on the front ACORN webpage. This will show how serious we consider the situation to be and that we aren’t ignoring the subject. The tone for this video should be initially apologetic. After this apology however, we should go on to show what we have done now and plan to do in the future to keep this from happening again. It should be clear that our business is and will continue to be in operation.
The internal memo will be targeted towards ACORN employees. This will be a professional document and will be one to two pages in length. As it is targeted towards a much different audience than the press release and recorded message, it should be created accordingly. The document will be informative rather than apologetic. The memo will inform employees of what has occurred and what they should do to avoid a similar occurrence. It should also warn employees that giving advice towards illegal operations will result in those employees involved being fired.
RE: ACORN Proposal Report
This document is on the right track. The structure is right, and it's clearly addressing its primary audience. Going forward you'll want to flesh out your breakdowns of the press release, recorded message, and internal memo by pointing to specific elements in the completed works themselves. Show how they create a particular tone, reach their audiences, and accomplish your goals by pointing to elements in the works themselves.