Building an Effective Creative Advocacy Team

As the African proverb states: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” A simple equation that helps to identify the primary components of your effort is that Catalysts + Creatives = Campaigns. In creative advocacy, the community organization that is working to improve the issue or people with lived experiences are defined as the catalyst. And in order for this intentional approach to narrative disruption and mindset shift to be most effective, the advocacy team expands to include a creative(s). Undertaking creative advocacy requires that the unique skills, perspective, and work style of each team member is respected and understood.

Catalysts

Advocacy campaigns must begin somewhere. Someone, either a group or an individual must identify an issue and begin the process of addressing it. A catalyst is, quite simply, an organization or individual leading the development of a creative advocacy campaign. In this context, the word “organization” is used loosely. Catalysts can be grassroots community leaders, an unincorporated coalition, a nonprofit organization, funding partners, or a collaboration of organizations.

In drafting this playbook, we considered the varied audiences that may use it to organize their efforts. While we acknowledge that nonprofit organizations are most likely to have the need, partner network, and motivation to engage in creative advocacy, they are not the only potential catalyst that can launch a campaign. While broadly applicable to anyone working towards positive community change, the words “nonprofit” and “catalyst” are used interchangeably for our purposes, considering that even smaller resident-organized groups are, indeed, not-for-profit and therefore face similar challenges to registered nonprofits.

Throughout a campaign, catalysts will likely collaborate with organizations and individuals who directly and indirectly align with their cause. This approach allows for building a layered network of support and engagement around an issue. Leveraging collaboration is crucial to campaign success, extending beyond the walls of the initial catalyst. This is important to create a critical mass of affinity and reach around a cause, demonstrating that there is indeed power in numbers.

The Catalyst Mindset

Catalysts are generally fuelled by passion and a desire for change. In many cases, a catalyst will have a fairly defined area of service or impact as well as an existing network of relationships. Often, this audience has been curated and cultivated over time, with the catalyst building an affinity with this group. Ideally, the catalyst has a network of dedicated volunteers, donors, or followers that may be helpful in amplifying campaign messages.

While catalysts often focus on many different issues and topics, it is important to consider the proper timing for elevation of messages and the immediacy of action. A catalyst who constantly makes requests and demands of their audience can unintentionally dilute the ability to act when the opportune time comes. Catalysts must maintain a careful balance of audience, message, and frequency, so when it is time to act, the audience can easily see and sense this distinction and importance. When considering whether to launch a campaign, catalysts should understand the characteristics of their audience and the relationship it holds with them.

Although many catalysts have an intuitive ability to cultivate (and activate) their supporters, they often lack the organizational capacity to do so in strategic ways. Sadly, catalysts are often understaffed, overworked, and underappreciated. Many lack strong, clear messaging, data collection, graphic design skills, or the internal capacity required to manage a creative advocacy campaign.

The most effective catalysts are generally those who develop strong social capital outside of the sector in which they are located. They can be surprisingly well connected, so taking the time to document these relationships can often be critical to understanding the impact that a catalyst may be able to have on an issue. Many catalysts have ongoing conversations with necessary legislators about mission and geographic-aligned issues. On a hyper-local level, they are likely very active with, composed of, and connected to the communities they serve.

Creatives

Defining the term “creatives” is a somewhat elusive pursuit. Creatives range from artists to musicians, writers to marketers, designers to performers, and just about anywhere in between. While creatives come from diverse backgrounds and deploy varied practices, they often think in a different way from others around them. Importantly, they often have an ability to understand and connect with audiences in ways that may elude catalysts. Creatives can conceptualize unique and different information, actions, and activities that can spark interest and passion. They invoke emotions in their audience that persuade and inform in ways traditional media may be less capable of doing. At their best, creatives will enable an organization to connect and engage with the community and further its mission in memorable ways.

Creatives often demonstrate a unique capacity to deepen audience engagement that can help to promote the subject of a campaign. In the campaign environment, creatives can often conceptualize unique concepts, content, delivery methods, and engagement strategies. This becomes increasingly critical with the myriad of information (and misinformation) that campaigns must stand out amongst in our busy and changing world. Many times, though not always, creatives steer away from traditional forms of media and marketing and instead focus on alternative ways to capture the audience’s attention and invoke the desired emotion from the community. Though more traditional methods are important and should comprise some part of most any campaign mix, intentionally adding a disruptive “creative spark” can often aid in creating a more successful and memorable campaign.

A key component of creative advocacy campaigns is understanding the relative level of cultural capital one has in a community. This assessment allows relationships with creatives to flourish, helping to build, design, and create tactical elements of campaigns. For campaigns to work, creatives must balance curatorial, artistic, and programmatic development with marketing and communication tactics. It is typical that these roles are distributed across a few partners in a campaign.

Attributes of Creatives

Not all creatives will be the best fit for creative advocacy campaigns. Similar to assessing community partners, it is important to consider the attributes of creatives before inviting them onto the campaign team. It takes a special type of creative to meet the established campaign goals of community organizations. The most ideal creative partners will generally demonstrate some mix of the following characteristics. Exercises to help you understand the ideal creative traits and roles for your campaign are included later in this playbook.

Passion: Creatives are passionate about what they do. No matter what creative avenue they’re pursuing, they are dedicated to their craft and are always searching for the next new idea or next trend within their specialty. When they find new ways to inspire others using their creative passion, they find joy and happiness by witnessing the influence that their work had on the broader community.

Resourcefulness: Creatives are generally very resourceful, making their ability to understand constrained campaign and organization budgets quite valuable to the process. They can help brainstorm the best ways to make use of a budget in order to maximize the engagement with the audience and the community. Chances are, they’ve had to be resourceful for decades.

Knowledge of the Audience: Understanding the audience of your campaign is one of the most important prerequisites for success. It’s difficult to engage with your audience without understanding them. Creatives can help bridge that divide by disrupting the media monotony and capturing attention in novel and artful ways.

Open-Minded: Having an open mind is an important attribute for everyone involved in a campaign. Open-mindedness tends to come more easily to creatives. Many creatives are used to free-flowing ideas and concepts. This is useful in the campaign process because creatives are able to evolve one concept into another as things unfold, without feeling stuck on one aspect of the campaign.

Curious: Curiosity is not only an important part of life, but it is also one of the features that can drive audience engagement. Creatives are typically curious about the newest trends and the next new ideas because of their passion to communicate through their medium of choice. This attribute allows creatives to expand on already existing ideas and explore new possibilities in creative advocacy to break through the white noise of media to engage audiences more effectively.

Risk-Taking: Creatives tend to be risk-takers. They aren’t afraid to do something different or experimental. They will push the envelope. They embrace the unknown. If organizations are willing to listen to out-of-the-box and unique ideas, the results can often be quite impactful. Taking risks is part of the campaign process. There is no campaign without a risk. Creatives help define those risks and turn them into opportunities to be brave and appealing in the eyes of the audience and community.

Engaging Creatives

When engaging creatives, finding those within your community who have a passion for the issue or geography of your campaign is key. Think about what motivates you to get behind this specific campaign. Are there people within your community who might feel the same way? Passionate people, creative or not, are going to be more willing to dedicate time and energy to your specific project.

As we have noted time and again, creatives generally offer a perspective that cannot be provided by other assets. It is therefore critical to recognize and value creative partners for the work they’re contributing. Find a time early in the process to discuss this recognition. As part of formalizing such recognition, we strongly encourage fair compensation for the expertise and work creatives provide. Often this includes financial compensation. In other instances, if mutually agreeable, this can mean providing alternate forms of recognition that have value for those working alongside you on a project. Whatever the arrangement may be, begin early in the process to ensure that catalysts and creatives have a proper understanding of expectations from both sides. Such clarity and role differentiation will be most likely to provide a healthy working environment and a more cohesive and creative campaign.

When working with creatives, it is also critical to allow ample time for brainstorming. Brainstorming and open thinking allows creatives to bounce ideas off of the campaign team to develop a strategic direction. Creatives may need more time to conceptualize certain ideas around a campaign. Creativity doesn’t always “just happen” on demand. It often takes time to develop the right idea for a campaign by considering a bunch of wrong ideas. Often, the best way to support creatives is to give them ample space to communicate their ideas and provide feedback. Patiently engaging with creatives not only creates a healthy environment for the campaign, but also creates conditions most likely to move a campaign toward success.

It It is important to note that there are often multiple stages of creativity needed throughout the lifecycle of campaign planning and implementation. Therefore, creativity shouldn’t fall on one individual, or be expected to happen all at one time or all during one gathering. While one creative can support a campaign, multiple creatives can accelerate it. So, whenever possible and appropriate, consider including multiple creatives in your process so that a variety of perspectives may be represented.

Perhaps it goes without saying, but the form, structure, and size of campaigns are as beautifully diverse as the communities who envision them. There is no one size fits all. Over time, and in different contexts, consider experimenting with when you bring creatives into the planning process. Of course, there is no one right time or place for creatives to enter a Creative Advocacy Campaign. Undoubtedly, adding them at different stages will produce different opportunities, challenges, and results.

Things to Consider Before Launch

When considering whether to use your limited capitals towards a campaign, it is critically important to consider a number of factors that will help to ensure that your time and resources are well spent. While the following list is certainly not exhaustive, we have found it important to reflect carefully upon the matters below before undertaking such an endeavor.

Relevance of the Campaign

Before starting the creative process, it’s necessary to reflect honestly on the issue at hand. The subject at the heart of your campaign should be something that matters or something that can be made to matter to the community. This observation is critically important and should not be passed over too quickly. In many cases when campaigns fail, they do so because of an overly optimistic assessment about how community members will respond to the issue. In a world that is increasingly vying for our attention through all kinds of channels, we must be sure that the issue at hand is truly of concern to those whom we seek to engage through a creative campaign.

Cost vs. Benefit

At the beginning of the campaign development process, a cost-benefit analysis should take place. Ultimately, the amount of resources put into a campaign must be worth the expected outcome. Along with your team and using the exercises provided in this playbook, spend time discussing what features of your campaign will require time and effort, and do your best to determine the cost both financial and otherwise of each piece of the campaign. After having that discussion, talk about what impact you want your campaign to have on the community. Is the amount of time, resources, and money worth the expected outcome? Is the community impact advantageous even if lack of funding forces you to forfeit portions of your campaign? Is there inherent value in enacting the project that extends beyond the success or failure of the campaign? Put a bit differently, can you identify value that will result from conducting the campaign even if you ultimately fail to achieve your central persuasive appeal? These are difficult conversations, but having them at the beginning of the process will allow you and your team to have realistic expectations throughout the campaign process.

Timing of the Campaign

Timing is another key factor to consider when discussing whether or not you should launch a campaign. By this we don’t mean the amount of time required to complete the campaign. Instead we are referring to what is going on in the community at the time of your launch. For instance, if your plan involves the use of an ice cream truck to help spread your message, then launching your campaign in the middle of winter probably doesn’t make sense. Or, if your campaign involves extensive outdoor meetings, it may be most sensible to schedule your project during the late spring and early summer. As another example, suppose you are seeking to enact a campaign that will culminate in a particular event, vote, or public gathering. In such instances, it will be critical to plan the timing of your message to align with these key events. Although predicting community dynamics and optimal timing is always a tricky affair, the wise planner will do all they can to ensure that their campaign is as well poised as it can be for success.

Location of the Campaign

Location can be every bit as important as timing. Launching your campaign in the right environment could make or break your campaign. Once again, consider the subject of your campaign and what you hope to accomplish. Is your location optimal for what you want to do? Is the size and functionality of a given space well-suited to your needs? Is it better to have an event indoors or outdoors? Do all possible stakeholders have adequate visibility and access to your event? Should you conduct an in-person or virtual gathering? Carefully considering these kinds of questions should help you to connect with your target audience more effectively, more efficiently, and more persuasively.

Limitations of the Campaign

Every campaign is going to have limitations. Identifying those potential limitations on the front end of your project may help you to avoid lost time, frustration, unutilized resources, and more. Limitations can come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes we are limited by time, money, or personnel. Our message may also be constrained by the comfort level of our board of directors. Or, we may be limited by the assumptions, education level, or ideological composition of our target audience. And, despite our best efforts to understand such limitations ahead of time, challenges often arise in unexpected ways. Doing your best to identify predictable challenges before your launch will help to make your process as smooth as possible.

Campaign Goals

Every campaign should identify a specific goal that the project is seeking to accomplish. Without clearly stating this goal, a campaign may easily become lost along the way and find it difficult to stay focused on its central priorities. While perhaps not an exhaustive list, we have found it useful to call out the following five goals undertaken by the vast majority of creative advocacy campaigns: to inform, inspire, connect, mobilize, and resource. Though most campaigns will undoubtedly take a measure of inspiration from each of these goals, the most effective campaigns are generally those that intentionally focus their efforts on primarily accomplishing one or two of these identified priorities.

To Inform

Raising awareness of a subject is often the starting point of a campaign, even if it’s not the main goal. Skillfully informing your audience can give the community a reason to care and help your audience to advocate alongside you by educating them about your subject’s value. This educational component helps the audience more fully comprehend the reasoning behind your campaign, preparing them to become more active advocates.

Informing the audience can be done in a variety of ways. Coming up with creative ways to raise awareness of the subject of your campaign can often generate more of an impact than traditional comments and data points. While writing a press release might get some media coverage, strategically combining that with a creative intervention like a flash mob is likely to increase engagement with the media and community.

To Inspire

Inspiration and passion are paramount. Sometimes a campaign’s main goal is to inspire the community. This could mean inspiring them to take the campaign further, to take action on an issue, or to envision a better future. No matter what inspiration is behind your campaign, if the people behind it are passionate, that message will capture the attention of your audience.

Passion and inspiration can naturally steer a creative avenue for a campaign. By considering ways that people with different personas are emotionally connected to the issue, you can build a creative strategy that will inspire engagement. When appropriately inspired, a community can often take on a life of its own, generating movement and results that could never be achieved otherwise. The wise campaign designer will both encourage such inspiration and feed off of it as much as possible.

To Connect

Strengthening connection between stakeholders matters. When building movements that affect systems, networking is often more valuable than what any one individual or organization can do themselves. In order to build connectivity, there often needs to be some kind of relationship and communication established between the campaign and the community. People are more likely to engage with your campaign and your organization if they feel connected to it, and they recognize you.

Often, community movement fails due to a lack of connectivity among aligned stakeholders. Particularly in communities that have suffered from various forms of trauma and decline, organizational silos and the duplication of effort is often more common than not. In such contexts, the very act of connecting like minded parties can itself be a revolutionary act. When done creatively, a campaign aimed at forging community connections can generate multiple , cross-sector, and unanticipated synergies that can fuel all kinds of community movement and passion.

To Mobilize

Many times campaigns are started with the intention to compel the community and audience to do something. This could be spreading awareness about a topic or issue, signing a petition, raising funds, or a multitude of other activities. Using a campaign is one of the most effective ways to mobilize the community to take action.

In our experience, community members often understand key elements of an issue and want to do something to make a difference. However, we have also learned that many of those same individuals often struggle to know where and how to step into an issue. Campaigns focused on community mobilization can help to generate a specific call to action that clearly engages the audience and helps to translate their knowledge and passion into tangible action.

To Resource

Sometimes the goal of a campaign is to raise additional resources for the community. This could be anything from funding, volunteers, supplies, food, or staffing. One way to identify necessary resources is by considering the surplus or deficit of community capitals around the issue. Helping people to acquire resources can build capacity and accelerate progress towards goals. Campaign activities can provide many important ingredients for successful fundraising, such as increased visibility, demonstrated community support, better understanding of the issues, and contextual expression of community need.

Securing resources is ultimately based on your ability to connect with someone who has what you need, who can communicate your story, and who can compel those resources to invest in your effort. Creatives can serve a critical role in connecting your audience with issues in a personal and experiential way, which can help move towards action.

Catalysts will use these five primary campaign goals to determine the focus of their effort. Once identified, the primary goal(s) become a common thread to establish initial baseline parameters, limitations, goals, creative interventions, and measures of success.