Case Studies

The call that PR professionals dream of came not once, but twice — on the same day. Two different TODAY Show producers had given E&V Strategic Communications the green light for segments airing the same morning: a breaking news story on train safety following the Hoboken disaster, and a cooking segment featuring local chef Matthew Register’s North Carolina pork belly hash. National breaking news and Southern cuisine, simultaneously? Challenge accepted.

In communities across America, Sears Heroes have quietly transformed the lives of veterans and military families through thousands of home improvement projects. Since 2007, more than 4,100 volunteers had dedicated 39,000 hours to Rebuilding Together initiatives—yet these stories of service remained largely untold. When E&V joined the team in Fayetteville, North Carolina, they faced a challenge not of construction, but of connection: how to amplify these acts of service to a national audience.

A major utility’s grid reliability project faced a critical challenge: extensive construction and tree clearing work scheduled along a busy highway threatened to significantly disrupt school traffic, daily commutes, and even a planned gubernatorial visit to a local elementary school. With environmental sensitivities and community relationships at stake, the utility company engaged E&V to ensure the essential infrastructure work could proceed while maintaining positive community sentiment.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, an eerie silence fell over Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Takeoffs and landings plummeted by nearly 70%, threatening not just vacation plans but the economic heartbeat of North Carolina’s Triangle region. E&V, longtime partners of the RDU Airport Authority, faced a daunting challenge: prepare to rapidly restore public confidence in air travel when restrictions lifted — with virtually no budget amid the airport’s severe financial strain.

Two lives lost every week. That was the devastating toll of underage drinking in North Carolina — a crisis that respected no boundaries of race, geography, politics, or economic status. Despite this alarming statistic, no comprehensive effort had ever addressed the problem statewide. In 2014, the North Carolina Alcohol Beverage Commission stepped into this void, facing a challenge that had remained unspoken for too long.

On April 28, a social media post from the Raleigh Police Teamsters ignited a firestorm. The claim: Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q employees in Garner, North Carolina, had sung N.W.A.’s “F*** tha Police” while officers dined, forcing them to leave hungry. Within hours, the story exploded across FOX News, the Drudge Report, and the Associated Press, thrusting a beloved local restaurant into the center of America’s heated debate on race and policing.

At 11:30 pm on a February Saturday, a spark in a second-floor office ignited a crisis that would test House of Raeford Farms to its core. Within minutes, flames consumed their Wallace, NC processing plant. As dawn broke, 600 rural employees faced unemployment, a community stood in shock, and company leadership confronted the most challenging moment in their history.