Communications Strategy
Ideas, even powerful ideas, rarely catch fire by accident.
We work with our clients to develop focused and creative communications strategies. We are research oriented; we specialize in situations where off the shelf approaches are not enough. We help clients communicate clearly and accurately, particularly in complex and technical situations. We advocate and develop formal tracking and evaluation of communications efforts to demonstrate success.
We've worked on strategic communications projects with businesses, individuals, organizations and campaigns, including:
The Body Shop - Bechtel - The Hartford - Google - XM Satellite Radio - The Open Internet Coalition - Farallon Capital Management - Kleiner Perkins, Caulfield and Byers - George Soros - Robert Rubin - David Einhorn - The Open Society Foundations - The Gates Foundation - The Hamilton Project - The Center for American Progress - The AFL-CIO - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Johns Hopkins University - MDRC - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - Freedom to Travel to Cuba Campaign - The Athens 2004 Summer Olympics
Speechwriting & Media Training
TSD has helped leading corporate executives and heads of state use words and images to communicate their ideas clearly and powerfully.
We study the issues we write about seriously, and our clients have given us the chance to write about cutting edge issues in technology, finance, and social change. We have written for global business leaders speaking before audiences from Davos to Detroit. We have prepared formal speeches and presentations for the CEOs or Chairmen of Fortune 500 companies. Our team members have written speeches for the presidents of the United States, Mexico, and Brazil; the Secretaries of Treasury, Commerce and Labor; and the Democratic Leaders of the House and Senate.
We provide media training sessions tailored to the specific needs of each client. We help business and financial leaders prepare for investor, employee, and analyst presentations (DE Shaw, The Hartford). We have worked with non-profits and trade associations who interact regularly with press on politics and policy (Center for American Progress, Consumer Healthcare Products Association). We regularly prepare authors for media tours (including HarperCollins authors Tim Tebow, Kurt Anderson, Pastor Rob Bell, Bishop N.T. Wright and others). We prepare nominees for confirmation hearings, and NGO leaders for major announcements.
Crisis Communications
We have extensive experience running ‘war rooms’ in campaigns, conventions, governments, and businesses.
Our firm helps clients manage the press, act decisively and quickly in getting out a message, aggressively and successfully beat back negative stories, and restore calm in troubled times. We've done this for a number of globally recognized clients in high profile situations. We have worked for multiple portfolio companies of several private equity and alternative investment companies. We do not deliver miracles; we do work quickly and effectively to ensure a strong, clear and sustainable response and plan for moving forward.
Litigation & Regulatory Support
An effective and ethical communications strategy is critical for attorneys seeking to win victories in court, before agencies, and in the press.
Legal and regulatory issues often become matters of debate in the court of public opinion. We build communications teams that strategize and communicate seamlessly with attorneys, their clients, and the global media. Three out of five senior TSD principals are attorneys, and we fully understand, on the basis of both formal legal training and extensive experience, that legal strategy must never be compromised in the name of a day’s press story. We do, however, strongly believe in the value effective communications can add to the overall defense of a client’s interests.
Some of our legal clients have included:
Williams & Connolly LLP - Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP - Greenberg Traurig LLP - Fenwick & West LLP - Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP - Bingham McCutcheon LLP - Akin Gump Strauss Hauer Feld LLP
Communications Reviews
TSD helps organizations analyze their effectiveness in reaching key audiences and formulate plans to find a more successful approach to communications.
A communications review helps organizations answer these basic questions:
What are you trying to communicate to the audiences about which you care the most? In working to achieve this goal, how are you performing? Where are you succeeding? Where are you falling short? How could you be more effective? To succeed – to achieve your strategic communications goal –what resources do you need (strategies, personnel, budgets, and tactics) to be most effective?
We have worked with leaders and organizations that needed their best, most innovative thinkers to be better connected with policy elites and journalists; with organizations that are seeking to differentiate their brands; and with institutions that need to rewrite their communications plans so their voices can be distinctive in the marketplace of ideas.
We interview internal and external stakeholders, analyze communications material, and deliver a written report and presentation to leaders and practitioners within the organization with actionable steps for improvement.