Hurricane Wilma throws firms into `Extreme P.R.': South Florida Sun-Sentinel

It's Wednesday, more than a week after Hurricane Wilma hit South Florida. Gary Bitner is on his cell phone, as his public relations firm's newly purchased generators hum in the background.

Extension cords snake through his Commercial Boulevard offices, linking generators to the firm's computers, server, fax machine and several other devices. Bitner likens his predicament to that of an episode of the sitcom Green Acres, where the characters learn how many items can be plugged into their generator.

"You can only plug in so much stuff before it blows," joked Bitner, a partner of Bitner Goodman in Fort Lauderdale. More importantly, the generators empower the employees to meet their deadlines. "This is like `Extreme P.R.' The people pull together and do what they need to do to get the work done."

Hurricane Wilma left marketing agencies scrambling to serve clients, meet deadlines and stay operational. While few agencies contacted suffered physical damage, the widespread power outages could have effectively shut the offices. Instead, executives turned to technology, generators and intuition to keep their doors open.

Agencies improvised to stay atop work and meet deadlines. Executives at Beber Silverstein Group, veterans of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, powered up a pair of generators used to run the agency's phones, servers and a handful of computers, agency partner Mitch Shapiro said. He charged his laptop for 45 minutes every three hours so he could work and charged his BlackBerry by plugging it into the laptop's USB port.

Within 36 hours of losing power in its Fort Lauderdale offices, Zimmerman Partners trucked a van packed with computers and other technology to the offices of vendor Direct Mail Express in Daytona Beach, said Michael Goldberg, the agency's chief marketing officer. The hardware later was followed by more than 100 employees, who within a day had produced 100 ads. Dozens more employees worked from agency offices in New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas.

"We just became a networked agency," Goldberg said. "It is amazing what humans can put together when they have to."

O'Connell & Goldberg's Hollywood offices regained power by Oct. 30. But while power was out, employees worked from home, keeping in touch via phone, e-mail and text messaging. Work became very informal. With schools out through last week, employees brought their children to the offices.

"It's been quite a bonding experience," partner Barbara Goldberg said.

As Wilma battered the Yucatan, executives at Boardroom Communications put a disaster plan into action. They gathered hard copies of media, client and vendor contact lists, as well as documents and news releases. They e-mailed digital versions to personal e-mail accounts, said Don Silver, the firm's chief operating officer. Those with Internet and power worked from their homes.

From previous hurricane experience, they knew what journalists' top stories would be, like legal, financial and insurance issues, and pitched their clients to reporters, Silver said.

At Green Advertising in Boca Raton, Art Director Cristin Jarson inline-skated 3 miles to the offices after her car was crushed during the storm. Employees with power brought in food each day.

Phyllis Green, president of Green Advertising, saw that same resourcefulness from her Orlando office, which shipped down a generator, five days of gasoline, and two coolers of food to the Boca Raton office. Since banks were closed, she also had $10,000 wired in from parent shop Pace Communications in New York to give each employee $500 to carry them through the weekend.

"By 3 p.m. on Tuesday, we had our server and four computers powered up," she said. "We made all our deadlines."

Bruce Turkel, executive creative director with Turkel in Coconut Grove, knows how bad the damage could have been. Like Beber Silverstein, his agency also suffered damage during Hurricane Andrew. This time, power outages forced employees to relocate to the Miami Beach offices of Multivision Film & Video, a production company Turkel uses.

But the Gulfport, Miss., offices of Turkel client Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau, were leveled during Hurricane Katrina. That left Turkel to ponder what's important: Planning ahead, backing up data and files, having cash on hand, and keeping everything in perspective.

"There are people who are truly suffering," he said. "If you look at it that way, this is really just an annoyance."

Jeff Zbar is a freelance writer. He can be reached at jeff@jeffzbar.com.