Case study: Turning a thorny situation into a blooming success

Residents in a beautiful residential suburb were initially less than thrilled earlier this year when one of our clients installed a small piece of infrastructure in a reserve nestled behind their homes.

However, when the complaint came through to Spectrum Comms’ community engagement team, we saw that this wasn't just a case of sour lemons; it was an opportunity for sweet lemonade!

We immediately reached out to the residents and had a chat with them at the reserve behind their houses about what they would like to see – within reason – to make the new piece of infrastructure less visually imposing, and from there we were able to form a plan to move forward.

The crew got to painting the infrastructure in a eucalyptus green to help it blend within the landscape and then planted some beautiful native plants all around it to create a natural screening. And when it came to the choice of plants, we ensured that we consulted heavily with one resident in particular – a talented landscape designer – who was able to advise on which would be the best types of plants to create a screen and be low maintenance.

The outcome? It is now one of our client’s most aesthetically pleasing pieces of infrastructure, all while Spectrum Comms has successfully addressed a customer complaint and polished our client’s reputation.

A big shout out to the Project Manager for being switched-on and happy to go the extra mile to turn a thorny situation into a bed of roses.

The lesson learnt from this case study? Engaging the residents in such an involved way earlier on would have been a better outcome, and we should always engage as early as possible. However, in this case, it seems that even by engaging them later rather than not at all, we were able to turn a prickly problem into a blossoming success story!

If you would like Spectrum Comms to help with your tricky project or situation, get in contact with us today! We love to make lemonade!