CRAFT LAUNCHES CONSUMER ADVOCACY, HEADED BY CORY MARAN
★★★ Changes in media consumption have given birth to a new generation of activists – consumers. These new activists are impacting regulatory and legislative efforts by targeting brands, businesses, and industries. If you aren’t engaging consumers like they’re constituents online, then you’re missing an opportunity to activate audiences on your behalf. CRAFT’s HEAT Advocacy campaigns leverage data, digital and social media to turn customers into advocates.
★★★ CRAFT’s CORY MARAN, a rising expert in advocacy campaigns, will officially head up CRAFT’s latest consumer advocacy program.
→ → →Learn more about CRAFT’S CONSUMER ADVOCACY here.
QUICK READ
★★★ In case you missed it, check out CRAFT’s recent piece on how digital democracy is turning consumers into activists. The article shares how companies like Uber, Airbnb, United Healthcare, and People Magazine aren’t relying on traditional lobbying to protect their interests. Audience interaction with media and politics is forcing dramatic change. Read the MediaPost here.
LEADING THE CHARGE
★★★ CRAFT’s HEAT Advocacy drives consumer and constituent engagement like never before. Here are some of the latest battles we’ve waged on behalf of our clients:
1. West Virginia wanted to become the 26th Right-to-work state. CRAFT helped make it a reality.
★★★ The West Virginia Workplace Freedom Coalition partnered with CRAFT to help pass Right-to-work legislation in the state legislature. The stakes were high, with West Virginia poised to become the 26th Right-to-work state.
West Virginia’s business climate presented an uphill battle: a state with deep union history, with recent job loss, looking for an economic solution that appeased all interests.
CRAFT executed a multi-phase campaign, designed around the legislature’s interim and regular sessions, driving constituents to urge elected officials to make the “Workplace Freedom” bill a priority in the 2016 general session.
CRAFT built the campaign infrastructure and produced its digital and social media advocacy, targeting individuals most likely to support freedom, fairness, and choice in the workplace.
With the opposition dedicating heavy resources towards this campaign, we faced a competitive environment. Given near certain expectations of a veto from the Governor, we knew we had to reach as many elected officials as possible. Our campaign drove individual letters from constituents of each of the 34 state Senators, and 82 of the 100 Delegates.
As a result, the legislation not only passed in both the state House and Senate — it did so with a veto proof majority.
At a time when relationships are in constant flux with changing offices and staff, campaigns like this one are letting elected officials know what the electorate really wants.
2. New York restaurants were singled out by Governor Cuomo. CRAFT gave constituents a platform to voice their concerns.
★★★ Governor Cuomo wanted to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour only for fast food workers in New York State. His scheme included circumventing the legislative process by having an unelected board mandate the increase. Besides utilizing an unfair process, the wage increase discriminated against the fast food industry, potentially crippling small businesses in local communities. On behalf of a coalition, which included the National Restaurant Association, the NFIB, and the International Franchise Association, CRAFT launched a campaign to educate New York residents of the unreasonable act and encourage them to express their outrage over it. The campaign targeted conservatives with small business interests in Republican represented districts, generating hundreds of emails to the unelected board protesting the unfair measure.
✪ Generated hundreds of letters to board members
✪ Delivered over 400,000 ad impressions to 175,000 people
✪ Ads produced 8,769 website visits
3. Franchisees faced a discriminatory fight in Kansas City. CRAFT leveled the playing field.
★★★ Kansas City Mayor Sly James and the City Council proposed a discriminatory minimum wage increase that would have only affected small business franchisees. The proposal would have forced many small business owners to close their doors, since they were going to be treated differently than non-franchised small businesses.
On behalf of the International Franchise Association, CRAFT developed and implemented a campaign to raise awareness of the unjust proposal. The campaign deployed a landing page, radio and digital advertising targeting the Mayor, city council members, and their constituents. By doing this, we applied direct pressure on the key decision makers, demanding equal treatment for franchise business owners and forcing policymakers to reconsider the measure. Ultimately, the discriminatory language was stripped from the final version of the legislation – a win for small business owners in Kansas City.
✪ 250,000 Kansas City residents reached on Facebook
✪ 5,180 clicks to the website
✪ Over 2.6 million impressions
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