Ocean Planning in the Northeast

New England was the first region in the nation to respond to the National Ocean Policy’s call to better manage the nation’s oceans and coasts. In 2012, the Northeast Regional Planning Body was launched to develop the region’s ocean plan. The RPB knew that ocean planning, to be worth its salt, needed to involve stakeholders in a meaningful way throughout the process.  Ocean planning staff turned to ERG for creative, effective, and affordable strategies and tools to help make this happen.

ERG listened carefully to the RPB’s needs and challenges, then crafted, implemented, and tracked a bold but realistic outreach strategy. Key features included an easy-to-navigate, responsive website; simple but memorable branding for print and online materials; plain language messaging for all communications; and a social media presence for the RPB. The result: the RPB and stakeholders could count on timely, accessible information and opportunities for involvement at every step of the ocean planning process.