33 StateWays n www.stateways.com n November/December 2015
BEST PRACTICES
AWARDS
on news stories. Additionally, some of the panel pre-
senters and attendees have since referred media to the
OLCC, citing them as an
additional source to con-
tact for articles.
OLCC Commission
Chair Rob Patridge says
the panel event is reflec-
tive of a major cultural
shift by the commission.
While the OLCC contin-
ues to focus on social re-
sponsibility and enforce-
ment, an additional goal is
to collaborate more with
industry leaders and iden-
tify ways to help ensure its
success.
"If you look back to al-
most three years ago, we
didn't talk about anything
in our press releases related to branding or industry,"
Patridge says. "We changed our whole communications
strategy to be more in line with the mindset of our in-
dustry partners, as well as with our community partners.
This way of thinking has
been in place for a while
now and will continue to
grow and evolve."
Although the OLCC
has no current plans to
host another panel event,
Patridge says the com-
mission is brainstorm-
ing how to take industry
collaboration to the next
level, which will enhance
its plans to expand retail
liquor stores across the
state in the coming years.
"The most important
thing is to continue fos-
tering the sense of the
OLCC not just being a
regulator, but being a partner," he says. "That's what's
important, and that's what we succeeded at here."
We changed our whole communications
strategy to be more in line with the mindset
of our industry partners, as well as with
our community partners.
– Chair Rob Patridge
