Featured Clients

CHALLENGE

The Aspen/Pitkin County Airport hadn’t seen major upgrades in over 40 years and no longer met modern FAA safety or environmental standards. A citizens’ group opposed necessary improvements—particularly widening the runway—and launched a ballot initiative to strip decision-making authority from the County Commissioners. In response, Pitkin County placed a competing measure on the ballot to retain local control.

SOLUTION

To advocate for a safe, sustainable, and modernized airport, the Coalition for a 21st Century Airport was formed. Led by a bipartisan group of 15 former elected officials and key community leaders, the coalition hired MC to run a comprehensive political campaign. This included polling, crafting ballot language, community organizing and executing a $300,000 communications strategy across advertising, social media, video, direct mail, and 10-plus community events.

RESULT

Voters decisively backed the County’s measure, with 67% voting in favor. The opposition’s initiative failed, with 61% voting against—a clear mandate for moving forward with critical airport improvements.

CHALLENGE

For more than 40 years, the City of Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley have been discussing the best transportation options in and out of Aspen - an effort known as the "Entrance to Aspen". After more than 20 votes over four decades, the community has not come to a consensus about a solution. Since the existing Castle Creek Bridge is nearing the end of its lifespan the City has reignited the community dialogue.

SOLUTION

Our team led the first phase of the public outreach which was focused on getting the community up to speed on plans to build a second bridge and rehabilitate the original bridge that were approved by CDOT in 1998.

RESULT

We hosted 12 events, 26 small group meetings, and 11 one-on-one meetings resulting in dialogue with 1,293 people in less than three months. This was complemented by print, digital, social, and radio advertising as well as a project video, newsletters, utility bill inserts, guest columns and commentaries. A palpable buzz was created about the project. Our team won the RFP for phase two.

CHALLENGE

Manifest Communication was hired to create an in-depth community awareness and engagement campaign to strategically address county commissioner’s concerns and garner support for a 150 acre terrain expansion to Aspen Mountain Resort. 

RESULT

The campaign resulted in the county commissioners voting 3-1 to approve the project. 

SERVICES

Brand strategy, messaging platform and tagline, website, identity, advertising, online petitions, social media outreach, press release and media outreach & email marketing.

CHALLENGE

Pitkin County needs to communicate to 18,000 residents, as well as all employers/employees in the county about the everchanging COVID-19 guidelines/restrictions as well as vaccinations.

SOLUTION

Starting in July 2020, MC has brought leadership and support to the team with strategic planning and advising, communication material audit, campaign and messaging development, operational analysis, and personnel management. 

RESULT

The result is clear internal processes to produce strategic communications at breakneck speeds resulting in a 350% bump in website traffic, 55% increase in newsletter subscribers, and dramatic expansion of messaging visibility via print/digital/social media. 

CHALLENGE

The A2PCCC is a cross-sector coalition of leaders from Aspen to Parachute. Their goal was to achieve a complete 2020 Census count in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River Valleys.

SOLUTION

MC worked with 12 government offices, 200+ organizations, businesses and media to plan/execute a comprehensive outreach and educational campaign that deliver thousands of impressions to 80,000 people from Aspen to Parachute. This included a focus on historically undercounted populations like the Latinx/Hispanic community, young kids, seniors and seasonal workers.

RESULT

7 out of 9 cities/towns from Aspen to Parachute exceeded their 2010 self-response rates by up to 7%.

CHALLENGE

The City of Aspen spent almost two year crafting SHIFT, a three-month initiative offering numerous types of alternative mobility options to reduce traffic congestion. They needed input and buy-in from the community to inform the planning process and help support it being passed by city council.

SOLUTION

MC crafted a two-month, valley-wide outreach effort to:

• Listen to/solicit feedback from Roaring Fork Valley residents

• Understand public sentiment towards this initiative

• Educate/inform

The strategic plan included one-on-one interviews, small group meetings, and online surveys. In addition we envisioned and produced an ice cream trike that was the cornerstone for a host of pop-up events from Glenwood Springs to Aspen that piggybacked on existing community happening like concerts, farmer’s markets and more.

RESULT

The outreach plan resulted in feedback from 509 surveys and 53 interviews, representing a diverse group of individuals from New Castle to Aspen. The community input was sent to City Council and has been influential in refining the design and implementation strategy for the SHIFT initiative. It has also highlighted some widely-held community perspectives that the City is now addressing in various ways.