Case Study: Mobile Baykeeper becomes a national authority during the Deepwater Horizon crisis with Caplan Communications

Mobile Baykeeper becomes a national authority in 87 days with Caplan

Mobile Baykeeper faced the challenge of having its community's voice and perspective on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill overshadowed by corporate and federal narratives in national media coverage. The frontline environmental organization needed to reframe the crisis around local impact and accountability. The vendor Caplan Communications provided crisis communications services to address this.

Caplan Communications positioned Mobile Baykeeper as a primary national authority, translating the environmental harm into clear stories about community livelihoods and public health. Over the 87-day crisis, the vendor drove sustained earned media, aligned local testimony with national stakes, and imposed message discipline. As a result, coverage shifted to focus on grounded accounts of community impact and systemic failure, establishing Mobile Baykeeper as a trusted national source that shaped public understanding of the spill.

Mobile Baykeeper