In spite of its challenges, 2020 presented opportunities to rethink how we do digital marketing and public relations. Our clients’ social justice work and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and critical conversations about racial equity illustrated the power of communications in times of rapid change and crisis. For example, some of our projects included challenging the narrative about youth apathy in politics and amplifying efforts to support the Latinx community during COVID.
At the 2020 Bernays Awards, we won in 15 categories and, more importantly, empowered our clients to lead important conversations and spearhead initiatives that benefited the San Diego community and beyond. Here’s what we accomplished:
Earthjustice – 2 Bronze Bernays Awards in Collateral and New Digital Platform
Earthjustice, the premier nonprofit public interest environmental law organization in the U.S., called on this social justice digital marketing firm to translate its deep research on lead policy work into approachable, understandable materials that helped community advocates across the country protect families from leading poisoning. It truly is challenging to simplify governmental policy language and make it a simple process for a community member to follow. But, if not for our team taking on this challenge, we’d leave community members across the U.S. poisoned by lead, so certainly a challenge worth taking on.
We met our objectives to produce both a simple 10-page PDF and a 5-page website for the Better Lead Policy initiative, which we expanded to include the FAQ blog. Unfortunately, we won’t know for years if the materials actually helped change policies. Creating or changing policies like this takes 2 – 5 years sometimes. We do, however, have an email thank you from the client sharing how wonderful the final pieces are and how they will help her do her job.
ACE Fitness – 2 Bronze Bernays Awards of Excellence in Op-Eds and Executive Communications
The American Council on Exercise (ACE) is a nonprofit organization with global reach that works to increase physical activity to fight obesity-related diseases and funds its mission by certifying exercise professionals and health coaches. We helped ACE advance its mission through tailored media relations enhancing its reputation as an informed physical-activity advocate, specifically relying on its executive leadership for thought leadership in exercise and behavior-change science.
When COVID-19 upended the fitness industry, ACE turned its attention to supporting its certified professionals and the fitness industry as a whole. Mixte turned its attention to repurposing tools and content the organization created to directly support its large network of certified professionals. Rather than trying to create a new PR plan that could anticipate rapidly changing needs, we worked with the team to be in the moment with an eye always open for opportunity. While not a sexy task, this pivot allowed our team to be a critical resource connecting ACE to journalists moving at a fast pace to cover a rapidly changing set of safety protocols that fluctuated from state to state.
In addition to the fitness space being heavily saturated and the pandemic demanding we be quick and nimble with our messaging, we created timely tie-ins that explained the science behind the expertise of ACE’s CEO and included human interest stories to secure coverage – including this COVID-19 toolkit.
Father Joe’s – 3 Silver Bernays in Community Relations and Public Affairs
As San Diego’s largest homeless services provider, Father Joe’s Villages ensures that each person can rediscover hope and leave homelessness behind. When the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect the San Diego community, we worked with the Father Joe’s Villages team to address the threat of widespread infection amongst the homeless population. We proactively connected with internal and external audiences, including the media, to address the developing situation in tandem with the organization’s health professionals’ and City and County of San Diego’s efforts.
More than six months into the pandemic, the population that the organization serves has had a significantly lower rate of cases than the general San Diego community as a result of this work.
Parks California- 6 Bernays Awards in Campaigns, Newsletters and Research
Parks California has a goal of connecting a younger and more diverse audience across the state to the beauty found in state parks. Parks California worked with Mixte Communications on integrated marketing and communications strategies to elevate the organization’s leadership and bring California’s parks into the homes of new audiences.
We led with the personal stories of park visitors and partners and – instead of trying to feature every single state park in California – we strategically highlighted park stories and milestones. In addition, when we had to change our strategy because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we leaned even more into digital content to engage audiences and stakeholders in timely conversations.
For example, in the midst of Black Lives Matter protests, we created Parks California Facebook Live equity conversations to spark conversations about equity in the parks space. When the pandemic closed state parks, we created a virtual tour experience that caught the heart of new audiences.
What did we learn from this?
Like most other things in this pandemic, we’ve learned to be agile and flexible with our plans and strategies. We had to grab reporters’ attention in flooded inboxes to land agenda-setting coverage and equip our clients with the tools they needed to break through the noise and become leading voices during the ever-changing pandemic. Although their plans didn’t play out exactly as we imagined, we change in-person events to virtual experiences that amplified our clients’ work and further illustrated their commitment to their communities and mission to improve them.
Did this spark your interest in improving your digital marketing in 2021? Inquire about Mixte’s digital marketing and PR services by contacting: mixte@gomixte.com or 619-732-0789
