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Case Study 4
The Situation
In 2017, Island Conservation prepared for a major restoration project on Lehua Island, Hawaii. It became controversial fast, picked up by local Kauai media and pulled into agendas that had nothing to do with the science: well-meaning but misinformed residents, local politicians, and outright conspiracy theorists. Every project we ran depended on a reputation for rigorous science and full transparency. This one put that reputation directly in the crosshairs.
Getting Ahead of it
Before the situation escalated, I built the infrastructure to fight it with facts rather than reaction: a landing page explaining the project in plain terms, every permit made publicly available, every scientific paper validating our methods posted openly, a dedicated media section, and an original content strategy built specifically to answer the questions and accusations we knew were coming.
When it Hit
It hit anyway. Island Conservation was suddenly everywhere in local media, radio, TV, social media, all of it hostile. My strategy was straightforward in concept and demanding in execution: counter misinformation with an overwhelming volume of factual, well-optimized content, published consistently enough to outrank the bad information in search results and push it down the page.
The same landing page I'd built ahead of time became the primary tool for colleagues on the ground in Kauai who were getting stopped by media directly. I trained them and gave them the resources to handle those moments themselves.
The Moment that Stuck With Me
During the worst of it, a detractor went on national radio and said Island Conservation had "a multiple million dollar marketing machine" working against them. It wasn't. It was one person.
The Result
The misinformation lost momentum. The factual information stayed on top of search results. The project moved forward. And the broader effect outlasted the crisis itself: Island Conservation came out of it perceived as a far bigger organization than our actual budget reflected, which is part of what positioned us for the bigger partnerships that followed.
What I'd Do Differently
Nothing about the strategy itself. If anything, I'd want to build the "before it hits" playbook, the landing page, the public permits, the pre-built content, earlier and standard on every controversial project, rather than assembling it in a rush the first time a real crisis showed up.
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