Experience With Real Clients

D. Gregory Dunn, STAY!NG POWER’s Founder and President, has built an impressive team of communications professionals, all of whom have achieved excellence and sustained success working with some of the world’s strongest corporate and product brands.

Team members’ work includes:

Hormel Foods

This decade-long program was designed to help reshape the image of the long-time Minnesota-based meatpacker into a more modern, relevant player in the rapidly changing food industry. Dunn's team employed a holistic program that included innovative consumer programs, aggressive corporate positioning and digital media outreach to expand awareness of the company beyond SPAM and Hormel Chili to include value-added products such as Jennie-O Turkey Store and Natural Choice Deli Meats. The program garnered more than two dozen top-tier industry awards and supported the company as it more than tripled in sales.

Burger King

STAY!NG POWER team members worked with the BURGER KING® brand to address growing concern about childhood obesity and create a nutrition program that would take the company from “laggard to leader” in providing nutrition solutions for its guests. The team worked with the brand to demonstrate that it was a true partner to mom and a good corporate citizen that offered and promoted viable options that kids would want to eat. The effort showcased the BURGER KING® brand’s commitment to childhood health, nutrition education and product innovation, with the program generating hundreds of millions of media impressions, new product introductions dominating the airwaves and the company garnering widespread praise from industry, government and nutrition activists alike.

Takeda Pharmaceuticals

Dunn oversaw a multi-year program to establish the North American headquarters of Japan-based Takeda, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Dunn designed and executed a holistic effort that facilitated the company’s expansion from a small toe-hold in its Chicago offices into a significant player in the North American market. Efforts included unveiling a new headquarters building, employee relations to introduce hires to Takeda’s culture, significant community relations, media relations surrounding Takeda’s expansion and issues management to safeguard the company’s reputation.

HealthMarkets

Dunn guided HeathMarkets, a mid-tier insurance provider, through a multi-year effort to redefine its national reputation internally and externally. Dunn helped reshape the company’s image through national media, a revamped digital presence and a comprehensive issues management program that safeguarded perception of the company in a challenging litigation environment.

Kellogg Company

For the iconic breakfast brand, Dunn led an integrated team of consumer marketing, food and nutrition and corporate reputation experts that successfully launched new products, helped integrate acquisitions, shaped company culture and burnished the company’s reputation through programming that translated the best of the brand’s rich heritage to contemporary consumers.

True Partners Consulting

Through a blended program of media relations, event management, executive positioning and employee communications, STAYING POWER team members created the brand (from name through identity and brand promise), generated awareness and effectively positioned the CEO and other senior executives as leading experts in a range of relevant disciplines for this tax and business consulting start-up built by Arthur Andersen alumni.

Seventh-Day Adventist Church

When church member Dr. Ben Carson emerged as a leading Republican presidential contender during the 2016 primary season, the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists turned to Dunn and sister resource, Kurth Lampe, to craft an effective media strategy to help convert significant national and regional media interest into positive coverage of the church and help educate the general public about the church, including its beliefs and important societal contributions. The team helped rapidly create a microsite, developed and disemminated fact sheets to reporters and provided a “rapid response” resource to help dispel myths and correct inaccuracies, while also proactively generating favorable stories about the church.

AIG

During the 2008 financial crisis the companies that suffered reputational damage were the lucky ones; at least they survived. But when global insurance giant AIG found itself adrift, the U.S. government stepped in to help right the ship, deeming the company "too big to fail". As the corporate brand and reputation suffered significant damage from angry regulators, investors, clients, the general public, and more, Dunn and several other senior colleagues, at the time, stepped in to help AIG triage the many communication and information demands flooding in from around the globe. In particular, Dunn worked with many of AIG's business units to help put an appropriate distance between themselves and the issues afflicting the parent brand. Dunn helped develop overall strategy and messaging, as well as provide media training for business unit leaders in order to start telling the story about how they planned to navigate through the storm ultimate emerge stronger and even more customer-centric.

Rayovac

For leading battery-maker and portable power provider, Rayovac, Dunn's team delivered a blend of corporate communications and consumer marketing services. The team's work included providing counsel to the executive team in conjunction with the acquisitions of both German battery maker, Varta, as well as Remington Products. In addition, the team helped Rayovac successfully launch a variety of new products, providing effective media relations and other services that positioned Rayovac effectively against market-leading brands Duracell and Energizer.

Seaway Bank & Trust

Seaway Bank & Trust, the largest black-owned bank in the Midwest, encountered regulatory challenges that threatened the bank's reputation as a financially sound lender focused on low-income urban neighborhoods. Dunn provided strategic counsel and issues management support and conducted media training for senior bank executives focused on protecting the bank's reputation and telling a forward-looking story. He also developed media strategy and engaged in media relations on Seaway's behalf to help the bank sustain the reputation it had cultivated over its 50-year history.