Success can be a risk

I had the opportunity to attend my first PMI NS Breakfast Chapter Meeting last month. What a great group of people!

One of the reasons I choose this particular event was the speaker’s topic: The project management of an advertising campaign. This particular campaign for Halifax Harbour Bridges (HBB) had 2 goals:

1. Communicate the elimination of tokens after 50 years of use in Halifax/Dartmouth.

2. Increase macpass use by daily commuters.

The speaker, Allison MacDonald, Communications Manager for HHB, took us through the project, 3 years in the making, which involved almost every area of the organization. Communication channels included newspaper advertising, radio advertising, collateral, earned media (media releases and a partnership with Feed NS) and clever use of signage at the point of service delivery – in the toll plaza areas.

The takeaway for me was the lessons learned. The campaign was a huge success: HHB received very few complaints about the elimination of tokens and Macpass adoption increased 3 times over the previous year.

I didn’t get a chance to ask Ms. MacDonald whether success goals were set for macpass adoption, but they did have difficulties meeting demand. They experienced a shortage of macpasses at one point and staffing challenges in their customer service centre.

When looking at risks in your projects, remember to plan for success. One PR professional I have worked with encourages clients to imagine or visualize what success looks like. From that visualization, think about how that success would affect every area of your business and put some contingency plans in place, if appropriate.

Success can be a risk if you are unprepared for it.