Inspire Washington

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.

King County Firearm Safety: Lock-It-Up

The Situation

In 2018 Team Soapbox was hired by the King County Department of Public Health’s Lock It Up program to create a public campaign to motivate gun owners to change behaviors and use safe storage devices.

The Approach

King County wanted messaging to speak from an authentic gun owner perspective and knew that gun owners were wary of the government. Team Soapbox reviewed data and then engaged gun owners and retailers, starting with a series of “expert interviews” with gun retailers, safety instructors, veterans, and police officers to better understand the landscape and to inform focus group recruitment. We then set up a series of focus groups held at shooting ranges, gun stores, and law enforcement agencies across the county.

Based on what we learned, we designed a campaign that emphasized what gun owners articulated about their motivations to use safe storage devices: the fear that their guns would be stolen (and, for gun-owning mothers, the fear that members of their family would access their firearms inappropriately).

Using this research, we developed a brand identity and logo, messaging, and web content for the Lock It Up campaign and a photo shoot to create culturally relevant images that focused on positive behavior rather than scare tactics. The campaign included materials for law enforcement, media outreach, and social media. We developed audience specific radio ads that played on conservative talk radio, hunting programs, and sports radio. To reach gun owners where they already are, we worked with local sports retailers and gun shops to carry Lock It Up materials, including posters in gun stores and shooting ranges across the county and in permit licensing offices, and provided branded give-away ear plugs at shooting ranges and retailers with Lock It Up messaging.

MomsRising

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.