Building Blocks
of Early Learning Event
Message Development | Media Relations | Events
The Situation
MomsRising mobilizes Washington families to ensure the state legislature makes critical investments in early learning programs, a fundamental part of our education system and our children's academic development. So why not put smiles on legislator’s faces at the same time? Team Soapbox was enlisted to develop a media and event strategy during Washington State’s legislative sessions to remind legislators not to cut early learning and care for our children when balancing the budget in Olympia.
The Approach
The theme of the event was Building Blocks of Early Learning and we made sure we captured the fun, whimsical but serious side of MomsRising but also conveyed the seriousness of the importance of high-quality early learning and affordable child care. Fitting the theme of the event, we orchestrated the creation of large two-foot tall alphabet blocks that spelled out key words and phrases related to early learning and managed the logistics for an event occurring on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Building.
Critical to the event was securing legislative and education leaders. Working in collaboration with MomsRising, Team Soapbox helped managed outreach and invitations to legislative and national leaders, securing: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, House Minority Leader Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Representative Katherine Clark (D-MA), Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Representative Donna Edwards (D-MD), Representative George Miller (D-CA), Representative Jared Polis (D-CO, and Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).
The Results
National, local and social media was an integral part of the event. To ensure maximum coverage, Team Soapbox wrote and released the press release for the event and did one-on-one media relations outreach to national and local outlets. As a result, photographers and journalists from UPI, NBC, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Politico, AP Photo and PBS attended - stories and photos were published s in Politico, The Hill and UPI.
Team Soapbox also ran point on social media, developing #BuildKidsUp which was used by legislators, legislative staff and the news media. Live tweeting and event photos were posted to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram the day of the event, resulting in more than 200 posts, a reach of 1.1 million, and over 2.1 million impressions. Specifically, Representative Nancy Pelosi’s tweet about the event was retweeted more than 100 times.