The Situation
In 2019, two large professional membership and advocacy organizations – Cultural Access Washington and Washington State Arts Alliance – were on the cusp of an opportunity to merge and create a more robust cultural advocacy coalition. Team Soapbox worked with the new coalition, Inspire Washington, to develop key messaging and communications strategy to support the launch of the merger and annual communications plans for outreach to both internal coalition members and external public audiences.
The Approach
As a first step in message and strategy development, we reviewed how CAWA and WSAA had communicated about past programs and initiatives, including their communications materials and approach.
We interviewed staff, board and stakeholders, who provided context for us on past and current initiatives, and surveyed peer cultural advocacy organizations from other states about their messaging and what topics were engaging their partners and the public.
We also conducted an extensive phone interview process to inform messaging and communications plan development. This included collecting feedback from internal and external Inspire Washington stakeholders who worked in communities across Washington State.
Based on our audit of materials, peer survey, and stakeholder interviews, Team Soapbox developed an identity framework, including key messages segmented by audience groups, and a robust two-year communications plan with recommended priorities for tactics that could be immediately implemented.
Team Soapbox has continued to support Inspire Washington as they develop specific campaigns and projects around the state, including an advocacy campaign to support cultural access legislation (Go, Tacoma Creates!) and programs at the city and county level.
