Public Affairs

Your organization was just hit with a major regulatory bill in the legislature and you have to find a way to deal with it. You can hire lobbyists and spend time at the capitol, but you must mobilize public opinion on your side as well. This is where public policy meets campaign technology head on. While several techniques may accomplish your goal, there are two primary avenues of attack - through the grassroots and grasstops organization. Welchert & Britz has successfully executed both.

Grassroots - Letter and post-card campaigns, patch-through calls and community meetings educate and encourage feedback from real folks in the community. While members of Congress will tell you they are immune from postal bags full of mail, every one of them knows the letter count for and against a particular bill. At city hall or the statehouse, ten letters is an avalanche to a lawmaker. A well-orchestrated campaign of calls and mail from the folks back home can have an enormous effect on legislation; conversely, mean-spirited or poorly implemented plans frequently backfire and provoke unintended consequences. Welchert & Britz can help you maximize the impact of this important process.

Grasstops - Slightly different than a grassroots campaign, grasstop activities rely on mobilizing "opinion leaders" in the community. By holding editorial board meetings with local newspapers, briefings for the chamber of commerce and generating messages from industry leaders, grasstops campaigns are effective methods for influencing public opinion.

Corporations, associations and non-profits are moving to legislative lobbying campaigns in growing numbers. As policy questions become more complex, news and communications become instantaneous and decision makers are more overwhelmed with their tasks, new and innovative tactics must be implemented to create desired outcomes. Welchert & Britz's experience weaving media and public relations strategies, political technology, grassroots and grasstops campaigns is the advantage your side needs to win.