Info

JTA was retained by Altria Corporate Services, Inc. to craft and manage an Illinois-focused campaign to raise public awareness of the need for a legislative solution to the state's outmoded appeal bond rule in anticipation of a multi-billion appeal bond set by a Madison County Judge on March 21, 2003. JTA created an integrated crisis and public relations campaign including editorial board outreach, third-party advocacy, press conferences, ongoing clip merchandising and rigorous press follow-up and support. JTA focused its Illinois campaign on the potentially devastating impact to state budgets in Illinois-and across 45 other states that receive tobacco Master Settlement dollars, which this bonding requirement clearly threatened-to great success. We helped generate more than a dozen supportive editorials and obtained strong Illinois media coverage on the issue, which fostered national and indeed international press attention to our client's plight. We also managed an educational awareness campaign focused specifically on members of the Illinois General Assembly, in which we showcased strong support from the business community for appeal bond reform to prevent a potential chilling effect on the state's ability to attract economic development opportunities.