The Full Court Press team is celebrating a milestone this week: two years ago, Caitlin Scott (Senior Communications Counselor) and Audrey Baker (Communications Counselor) joined our team. A lot has changed over the past two years. Our state, our nation, and the world of communications are not the same. FCP sat down with Caitlin and Audrey to discuss how much has changed and what they’ve learned over the years.
How is the communications environment different than two years ago?
CS: Media has evolved pretty drastically. It’s been a real democratization of media with options like Medium, Nextdoor, the ease of podcast creation, etc. Everyone is empowered to create and publish content. This change has coincided with shifts in traditional media outlets, such as the consolidation of our local Bay Area News Group and the decrease in radio resources. This has led to an evolution in how news is made and spread, and we’re leaning into that when thinking about how our clients can get their messages out.
Also, the news cycle is in warp-time speed right now. It used to be that Obama administration would be giving a State of the Union and that was what would be in the news for the few days leading up to it and maybe five days after it. Now it seems like every single day is a melodrama of the Trump administration. As a result, we have to move so much more quickly. We had a client who wanted to comment on the confirmation of Ben Carson, and we had to be much more expedient because the news cycle is turning over much more quickly than it did before.
AB: I agree, in the past six months we’ve really been doubling down on our established strategies and they feel even more relevant. We need to be incredibly strategic and move at a fast pace so that we can keep up in this media market.
I’ve also noticed that in the past two years media outlet resources have continued to decrease. Local TV and radio and even print sources have extremely limited staff. It is now acceptable to send TV stations video footage or send radio stations sound bites when they can’t afford to send a reporter to a press event. The media is evolving, and now we can shoot something on our iphones and it can appear on the 5 o’clock news that night!
How has messaging changed in this new media environment?
CS: We work to identify audiences, find the vehicles to reach them, and figure out the messages that will resonate with them. We’re still using that same methodology, but the messages that bubble up are a bit different. The environmental messages we would normally use, for example, were impactful in speaking to people who recognized the reality of climate change. With an administration that denies climate change, we need to make environmental arguments that appeal to economics, infrastructure, and jobs.
AB: We’re working with our clients to shift their messaging to “now it’s more important than ever to be a champion for climate change, people with disabilities, public education, etc.”
And Caitlin’s right, we used to assume that we’re advocating for climate change issues and environmental clients because it’s obvious to us that it’s an important issue. Now, we’re approaching these issues differently. A significant part of the country was frustrated enough with the status quo to elect Trump, and our messaging needs to reflect that potential disconnect and be that much more powerful and strategic. We can’t assume anything if we’re going to make national change.
If audiences and messages have been changing, how have your tactics changed?
AB: We’ve always been a proponent of the power of storytelling, but that feels more important now than ever. I’m thinking of our client, Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan and her Fight For Medi-Cal campaign. What we’re asking for right now, as we’re figuring out how healthcare access may change, is for people in Alameda County to tell their stories so it puts a face to the work we’re doing and to the funding that we stand to lose. That’s another tactic we’re doubling down on – telling a story, putting a face to a name, and pushing it out to our audience on social media, in op-eds, eblasts, press releases, etc.
The social media environment has changed as well. We’ve seen a massive increase in video, Facebook Live launched, videos are all over your feed on Twitter and Facebook. It’s all quick clickbait videos trying to figure out how to get people to click on stuff. How do we get people to feel this and get emotionally attached and understand this story?
CS: I agree with Audrey. Once you start putting those human faces on stories, it’s a lot harder to deny the reality of some of the policies being proposed by the Trump administration.
How has the way you’ve felt about your work at FCP changed since you started?
AB: Social change communications feels much more relevant. Explaining my job feels more grounded in people’s lives. If I were explaining my work in 2015 or 2016 to people, they wouldn’t take quite as much of an interest. Now it’s like, wow, this is relevant and important work.
CS: I feel a greater sense of urgency than before. A lot of our client’s work feels more fragile. We have a lot of clients facing the looming question of if they will keep their funding, and if they will be able to continue the work.
And, lastly, what are two things you’ve learned about each other?
CS: Audrey is very dexterous with a puppet. [To explain: Audrey was recently in a local production of Avenue Q]. She is also very outdoorsy, which I admire, because I really like air-conditioning.
AB: I learned Caitlin has the most incredible memory of anyone I’ve ever met. She is able to remember from a one-off story about your dinner last week, who you were with, where you ate, and what music was playing in the background. She also inhales books, and can provide excellent book recommendations. She is just a library of memory and books.