The Work
The gap between strong work and how that work is understood shows up in different ways across different organizations. Here are three examples of what closing that gap has looked like in practice.
Northern Illinois Food Bank
The Northern Illinois Food Bank serves some of the most affluent counties in Illinois. The challenge was perception: donors and community partners could not reconcile the image of the community with the reality of need.
Strategic communications reframed the narrative around the face of hidden hunger present in the same neighborhoods and schools where donors lived.
The result: communities that had difficulty believing the need existed in their own backyard were moved from awareness to action.
American Academy of Dermatology
This nationally respected medical society was losing ground in policy discussions without knowing why. Policymakers knew one condition. The specialty managed thousands of complex diagnoses.
We reframed how the specialty was understood and aligned executive messaging around its full clinical scope.
Within six months, more than 100 earned media placements were secured and members gained measurably stronger standing in the conversations that shaped their livelihoods. The specialty finally had a voice that matched its scope.
IIllinois Credit Union League
When the U.S. credit union movement reached 100 million memberships, Illinois had hundreds of credit unions with no unified voice to make the moment matter.
I led a statewide task force to turn the milestone into coordinated action. Through aligned PR, advocacy and community engagement, the campaign generated more than 100 statewide events, exceeded national performance benchmarks, and positioned Illinois as a leader within the national movement.