Strategic Communications Plans

The most effective communications initiatives begin with a strategic communications plan. Working with key leaders, I nail down outcomes and impacts, key messages, effective messengers, branding, and tactics that will impact audiences and effect change. These great plans are designed to suit clients’ mission, expertise, and budget.

The best way to do this is through:

Research and discovery – undertaking appropriate opinion research and message testing, as well as interviewing key players
Creative sessions with key leaders to surface important issues and build consensus
Agreement on goals and outcomes
Identifying target audiences and what we actually want them to do
Developing powerful messages that work
Building an array of tactics to repeat the message enough to have an impact
Re-tooling staffing and creating communications budgets
Evaluation
Rinse and repeat

Some recent plans:

Family Planning 2020

The Organization

The Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) partnership is growing stronger and more resilient. The family planning community faces new challenges and obstacles, but is working to overcome those challenges, seize new opportunities and bring this critical health care service to women and girls who need and want it. The report tracks progress in 69 of the world’s poorest countries to advance access to rights-based contraceptive options for girls and women.

The Work

Working with Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) and our London-based partner, Bartley Robbs Communications we led the communications planning and media outreach for the launch of FP2020’s 2017 annual progress report, FP2020: The Way Ahead. We helped the organization develop the key messages they wanted to push out, hosted a media telebriefing, and ultimately helped them earn over 160 media placements, including Reuters, The Lancet, Financial Times, and Devex.

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Know Violence in Childhood: A Global Learning Initiative

The Organization

Launched in New Delhi in November 2014, the Initiative was established as a collective response by individuals from multilateral institutions, non-governmental organizations and funding agencies concerned about the global impact of violence in childhood and the lack of investment in effective violence prevention strategies.

The Work

Know Violence in Childhood hired us to lead media outreach for the launch of their flagship global report which documents shockingly high levels of violence against children. We led a workshop to create their messages, developed the social media strategy, and hosted telebriefings for reporters around the world. Along with our London-based partner, Bartley Robbs Communications (BRC), we reached out to media based in Europe, the Americas, Africa and other countries throughout the world. Combined, DG+CO and BRC earned over 90 media placements, including The Guardian, Reuters, and Voice of America.

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National Institutes of Health

The Organization

The National Institutes of Health funded researchers to publicize the results of a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Academic Medicine.

The Work

DG+CO’s media outreach secured coverage in mainstream and trade press including BuzzFeed, Mother Jones, and the Boston Globe’s new medical vertical STAT.

I Have a Dream Foundation

The Organization

The "I Have A Dream" Foundation empowers children from low-income families to achieve higher education and fulfill their leadership potential by providing them with guaranteed tuition support and equipping them with the skills, knowledge, and network of mentors they need to gain entry to higher education and succeed in college and beyond.

The Work

DG+CO helped the national "I Have A Dream" Foundation launch a major organizational growth plan around its 35th anniversary. Through placements in media outlets across the country, we helped to highlight the foundation’s success stories and a landmark partnership with “CBS Cares.”

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Echoing Green

The Organization

Echoing Green identifies tomorrow’s transformational leaders today. Through its Fellowships and other innovative leadership initiatives, Echoing Green spots emerging leaders and invests deeply in their success to accelerate their impact.

The Work

DG+CO has managed the announcement of multiple classes of Echoing Green fellows. By securing stories in key media outlets and developing relationships with journalists at top-tier national news organizations, we positioned Echoing Green to continue growing its public profile. We also refined the organization's overall communications strategy and conducted message training with Echoing Green Fellows and leaders.

Center for Jewish History

The Organization

The Center for Jewish History is home to one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive archived of the modern Jewish experience. It offers diverse cultural programming, exhibitions, and scholarship.

The Work

DG+CO developed the Center’s communications strategy, with an emphasis on media outreach and audience development. By cultivating relationships with key cultural and news media, we have helped to boost the institution’s overall visibility.

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World Peace Foundation

The Organization

Established by the publisher Edwin Ginn in 1910, the World Peace Foundation aims to educate the world about the waste and destructiveness of war and to promote international justice and goodwill among humankind.

The Work

DG+CO launched a new report titled “African Politics, African Peace” – the most extensive review of the African Union’s peace missions ever conducted. We secured prominent media coverage of the report in media outlets across the globe and coordinated a virtual news conference in advance of the African Union Summit in Kigali, Rwanda.

World Health Organization Independent Accountability Panel

The Organization

The Independent Accountability Panel (IAP) was appointed by the UN Secretary General under the auspices of the World Health Organization to assess implementation of the United Nations’ Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Health 2016–2030. Composed of distinguished panelists from backgrounds that range from human rights experts to humanitarian leaders to statisticians, the IAP was tasked with creating an accountability framework to hold the global community accountable to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Global Strategy.

The Work

DG+CO worked with the IAP to create a comprehensive multi-year communications plan, messages, branding, and design. We helped them release the group’s first report, including web and print design, copy editing, media outreach, and social media support. DG+CO created a plan for the IAP, which identified key messages, target audiences, communications opportunities, and tactics. The strategy was crafted to highlight the urgent need to hold local, regional, and global health leaders accountable to health commitments made to women, children, and adolescents. We helped to launch a new website for the IAP’s first report, which takes visitors through key sections of the report in a visually engaging way.

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Arkansas Community Colleges

The Organization

Arkansas Community Colleges (ACC) collaborates with government agencies, educational institutions, and private foundations to improve the ability of member colleges to meet the needs of their students and local community members. The CollegeCount$ project is a research project funded by the Winthrop Rockefeller, Ford, and Annie E. Casey Foundations to document the impact of Arkansas Career Pathways – a unique statewide program that prepares recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families for jobs that require associate degrees or professional certificates. Through intensive support services and counseling, this unique program has demonstrated dramatic completion rates and has improved the incomes of participants.

The Work

Doug has led the creation of the overall communications strategy, the naming, logo design, website design and development, design and development of infographics, design of written reports, and written or helped write the releases for this project.

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Physicians for Human Rights

The Organization

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) uses medicine and science to stop mass atrocities and severe human rights violations against individuals.

The Work

After an organizational audit, Doug and colleagues devised messages focused on protecting the safety of healers in conflict zones and branding elements to strengthen the main themes of the campaign. We provided strategic advice to effectively communicate messages using media outreach, online communications, publications, celebrities, events, and activists.

Science Friday

The Organization

Science Friday is American Public Media’s flagship science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide, which aims to increase understanding and appreciation of science.

The Work

Working for the program and its education and outreach arm – the Science Friday Initiative, Doug, and colleagues at Washburn Carmichael, a fundraising firm, identified goals, key messages, and effective messengers, as well as sharply defined activities to increase visibility and funding.

Social Innovation Fund

The Organization

The Social Innovation Fund is a government initiative of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) that invests in promising, community-based solutions with evidence of success.

The Work

Working with our strategic partner – Campaign Consultation, Inc. – Doug created a strategic communications plan that outlined key audiences, messages, and promotional tactics. We then executed our plan – securing media coverage in a range of blogs and newsletters and identifying speaking opportunities focused on the social sector for the Fund’s Executive Director. We advised on the organization’s annual grantee convening and also prepped grantee spokespeople before a major White House event.

Origins Project at Arizona State University

The Organization

Dr. Lawrence Krauss, best-selling author and theoretical physicist, founded the Origins Project at Arizona State University to convene the world’s leading scientists to study the origins of all things.

The Work

Working in partnership with our colleagues, Washburn Carmichael, Doug created a multi-year strategic communications and development plan to expand the project’s visibility.

Workforce Opportunity Services

The Organization

Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS) connects early career professionals with leading companies and invests in their continued success. The nonprofit promotes upward mobility, professional success, financial independence, and lifelong learning for veterans and underserved jobseekers.

The Work

DG+CO created a strategic communications plan and new message platform for WOS and its newest service – WOS Digital.

Seed Savers

The Organization

Seed Savers works to save North America’s diverse but endangered garden heritage by building a network committed to conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

The Work

Working to highlight Seed Savers’ vital role in the movement of seed preservation and build long-term public engagement on key issues, DG+CO conducted proactive media outreach to top regional influencers. Published stories focused on practical tips for garden maintenance, while increasing consciousness about the critical role heirloom seeds play in a healthy, genetically diverse food supply.

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Center for Medicare Advocacy

The Organization

The Center for Medicare Advocacy advances access to Medicare coverage and quality health care for older people and people with disabilities by providing exceptional legal analysis, education, and advocacy.

The Work

DG+CO has worked with the Center for many years, establishing their reputation as an expert media source on Medicare issues. Through a proactive, strategic approach, we have secured media placements in a number of national outlets, such as NBC Nightly News, The New York Times, and many more. We also provide strategic direction on the Center’s advocacy campaigns – helping to drive important policy changes in the process.

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Lown Institute

The Organization

The Lown Institute, a nonprofit, action-driven think tank, is dedicated to transforming the culture of medicine and building a health care system that is affordable, effective, personal and just. The Institute was founded by renowned cardiologist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Bernard Lown, MD, and supports his vision for compassionate health care.

The Work

The Lown Institute's "Right Care" series, authored by 27 international health experts, examines the twin problem of medical overuse and underuse of global health care. This first of its kind scholarship was featured in a special print edition of the Lancet, highlighting the global financial and personal cost of inappropriate care. In partnership with our London-based strategic partner Bartley Robbs Communications, DG+CO led media outreach for the papers and launch event, securing widely syndicated coverage in the BBC, Reuters, HealthLeaders Media, PharmExec and more.

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Milbank Memorial Fund

The Organization

The Milbank Memorial Fund works to improve the health of populations by connecting leaders and decision makers with the best available evidence and experience.

The Work

Doug led the Milbank Memorial Fund through a full-scale communications strategy. We audited the organization’s existing communications output and website. Then, we provided actionable recommendations to be incorporated into new messaging and initiatives. Doug is currently coaching the Fund’s team on the development of a new plan.