An Eikon Prize is the most important Argentine prize for communicators, public relations officers, journalists, advertisers and organizers of events. Edesur, subsidiary of Enel Group, won the Gold Eikon prize in 2016 in the Crisis Situation Communication category for the campaign “Los cirujanos de las redes” (Network Surgeons).
On October 13, 2015 a tunnelling machine, which did not belong to the company, damaged two high-tension lines, affecting some neighbourhoods, such as Recoleta and Barrio Norte, in the City of Buenos Aires. As a result, Edesur, acted immediately and proposed the following actions:
- At a time of crisis, act quickly and efficiently, focussing on the fact that it was a problem caused by an external contractor that performed works outside the company.
- Help employees working with high-tension networks, to show the huge commitment at all levels so that all the consumers affected recover their energy supply without delay.
As a result of a very effective communication action, the media centred the focus of the news on the workers, highlighting the commitment they undertook to resolve such a major crisis.
It should be mentioned that, during this issue, several meaningful conversations were held with journalists and opinion leaders in order to absolve Edesur of all responsibility for the incident and reinforce the “anonymous heroes” concept which arose from the damage caused by the tunnelling machine.
Publicity for the company provided exposure for the work, seldom acknowledged, of the teams of high tension workers.
The different channels were used to focus the need to reinstate the supply in the least time possible, highlighting the fact that the company was not responsible for the damage caused, but the workers were already involved in the situation and would not rest until solving the problem for all the affected users.
A year later, this work was acknowledged by their colleagues, in this case the judges of the Eikon Prizes, where the Gold prize in the Crisis Situation Communication category was awarded to Edesur.