Challenge

The Republic of Panama was determined to turn their nation into a destination for foreign direct investment by advancing market-based reforms that would make the economy one of the fastest growing in Latin America.  U.S. approval of the U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was the nation’s top priority - coupled with the need to reinvent Panama’s image with foreign investors who continued to associate the country with Manuel Noriega’s regime and controversies surrounding the Canal.

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The Orange Solution

Panama turned to the strategists and creatives of The Orange Agency to help secure support for the final approval of the U.S.-Panama FTA, while executing an image campaign targeting U.S. investors branding Panama as a stable democratic nation with a fast-growing economy.  Orange helped develop a comprehensive communications plan that included paid advertising, online targeting, and earned media.  In the lead up to the FTA vote, our efforts in Washington, DC focused on opinion-leaders and decision-makers.  Simultaneously, we ran a multi-million dollar national print and digital campaign that educated investors about the new reforms and directed interested parties to an Orange developed comprehensive web portal that included investment information, economic news, and video content.

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Results

The efforts paid off - on October 21, 2011, the FTA was signed into law - opening new investment avenues between the two countries.  In addition, the Orange-led outreach to educate U.S. businesses about the sweeping economic reforms helped instill confidence in investors – increasing foreign direct investment nearly 140% in just 3 years as Fortune 100 companies, including Procter & Gamble, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, and Dell moved key operations to Panama.