Greentarget

Greentarget

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At Greentarget, we’ve formed a small working group that is advising clients on communications considerations surrounding the Supreme Court’s imminent ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. Based on the inquiries and conversations we’ve facilitated thus far, we’ve created a discussion guide, which can be downloaded below, designed specifically for the unique dynamics professional services firms must navigate in their communications considerations.

We hope you find this tool useful in your ongoing discussions.

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Over the past two years, reporters have increasingly turned to online video calls as convenient ways to conduct interviews with faraway sources. The result has been an influx of opportunities for business leaders to engage with the media and establish themselves as authorities in their areas of expertise.

To take maximum advantage of this, one must be ready to not only interview with reporters, but do so via Zoom or similar programs. These interviews come with their own set of challenges and considerations…but don’t worry: we’re here to get you and your firm prepared.

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For decades, PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have been used in everything from non-stick pans to firefighting foam. The so-called “forever chemicals” make things durable because they are resistant to efforts to break down their atomic structure – but that fact also makes disposing of the chemicals extremely challenging. In recent years, PFAS’ durability ran headlong into a growing awareness of their potential dangers as early (and still developing) research suggests that PFAS may link to certain cancers, liver and kidney issues, and other health problems.

Lathrop GPM, an Am Law 200 law firm, has an industry-leading environmental and tort practice with a focus on PFAS. The firm first dipped its toes into PFAS work around 2009 and spent the following years studying this emerging contaminant and figuring out what to do with it. By 2019, with a decade of experience under their belt and insight that this was going to be a growing area of demand, they dug into a marketing and business development plan.  As predicted, public and regulatory pressure around PFAS began to increase in 2020 and companies whose products included PFAS faced liability issues going back years, if not decades, and needed guidance on how to navigate the evolving landscape. Lathrop GPM’s team of lawyers had the knowledge and experience to provide that guidance – and reached out to Greentarget for a strategy to stand out as a voice of authority amid a crowded landscape and while much of the world’s attention was fixed on COVID-19.

Solution

Greentarget first identified individual PFAS topics that were in line with Lathrop GPM’s knowledge base that might fuel a thought leadership campaign. Then, to be sure that the firm’s point-of-view aligned with its audience’s most critical concerns and expectations, Greentarget turned to tools that measure search engine activity to identify terms that PFAS-related users were searching for.

Greentarget sought out terms with high relevance, robust monthly search volume, and little if any relevant legal content in top search results. Greentarget was able to pinpoint white space that Lathrop GPM could own by publishing novel, relevant, and useful perspectives. Together, Lathrop GPM and Greentarget decided on the topics of “PFAS in groundwater,” “PFAS in food,” “PFAS Action Plan” and later added “PFAS in cosmetics,” among others, as the focuses offering the best opportunities to assert Lathrop GPM’s authority.

Several calls with Lathrop GPM’s thought leaders and Greentarget were held to discuss the SEO-informed topics with the goal of creating articles stemming from the above terms and showcased Lathrop GPM’s knowledge and practical guidance.

Results

The campaign earned more than 42 media results, for 9 million impressions. That included bylines in Food Safety Magazine, Bloomberg Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Industry Today, HAPPI, Food Industry Executive, Law360, FDCC Insights and DRI’s For the Defense, and Lathrop GPM lawyers being quoted in 16 articles in such publications as Law360, Bloomberg Law, Water World, Agripulse, Food Safety & Quality, Environmental Health News and Cosmetic Design.

Additionally, Bloomberg Law now regularly turns to Lathrop GPM as legal authorities on PFAS. The campaign also led to several new business inquiries as well as outreach from current clients and a prominent environmental lobbyist — who said Lathrop GPM was analyzing the issue in mostly uncovered ways.

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Challenge

Ignite, a Chicago based non-profit, has been dedicated to supporting homeless youth for 45 years. But they continue to run up against a significant problem that inhibits their ability to deliver services: specifically, how the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines homelessness.

HUD currently defines homelessness by assessing the number of people on the streets and shelters within one night. But homeless youth generally fly under the radar, often by staying on people’s couches: of the 1 in 10 young adults between 18 to 25 who encounter homelessness in a year, half only do so through couch surfing. As such, HUD doesn’t count these youth as homeless, making it much harder for community organizations like Ignite (who rely on the department’s funds) to help them. This problem is only getting worse, especially with COVID-19 having exacerbated housing instability across the US. 

Legislation exists to change HUD’s definition, but it had stalled in Congress. That’s why, in the fall of 2021, Greentarget jumped on board to help Ignite draw attention to this legislation and the growing problem of youth homelessness.

Solution

The Greentarget team began by engaging Ignite’s Executive and Program & Leadership team members to understand precisely where the HUD issue stood, why it was more important than ever we address it now, and how the Ignite team’s experiences could establish them as authorities on this topic.

From there, we conducted extensive research into the issues at hand and the current media landscape, and interviewed two homeless youth who were using Ignite’s services – knowing that to really illuminate this story, we had to back up our claims with data and place firsthand experiences front and center.

This gave us the foundation to shape media pitches and develop an op-ed geared towards target audiences on Capitol Hill and in Chicago.

Results

“Your time and energy make these life-changing programs possible and mean that we can help more young people achieve personal and economic independence and reach their full potential.” – Stephanie Piccirilli, President & CEO, Ignite.

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The ground-breaking nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court means professional services firms have a lot to consider when it comes to their PR strategy. The key question is whether – and how – to weigh in publicly on an appointment that could have far-reaching business and social implications.

As her Senate confirmation hearings begin this week, Jackson stands on the threshold of one of the most consequential jobs in the country, ruling on issues that are critical to U.S. business, governance and civic life. If confirmed, she would be the first Black woman on the court as well as the first justice to have worked representing poor criminal defendants.

Her nomination comes as the public is increasingly looking to business leaders for guidance and opinions at important moments of civic discourse. Offering a point of view at such times shouldn’t be done without care. But organizations that consider the matter strategically have an opportunity — and in some cases, a responsibility — to express true positions of authority at a key juncture in U.S. history.

Jackson’s nomination isn’t the only high-profile personnel move that might tempt professional service organizations to speak up. We asked Greentarget’s senior leaders about the advice they offer clients who come to us for guidance in these moments, and it starts with a few questions.

Is There a Direct Connection?

The first couple queries are fairly open-and-shut and pertain to the direct connection to the person being nominated or appointee.

Does the nominee/appointee have a personal connection to your organization?

An organization that has such a connection almost certainly has the authority to say something. That might not be the case if, say, a 67-year-old is appointed to a significant position 40 years after working at a law firm as an associate. But if the connection is stronger, putting out a short congratulatory statement that acknowledges the connection is probably a smart play, assuming things didn’t end on bad terms.

Making such a statement is a point of credentialing for an organization, even if it’s not one that will likely generate tons of headlines. Of course, there’s the inverse to this question …

Does your organization have an obvious conflict when it comes to commenting?

This is probably another question without much gray area. The decision to say something publicly might be a simple “no” because there’s a direct conflict – in the case of Jackson, a law firm might be set to argue before the Supreme Court in the next term. That might not automatically rule out saying something, but it could limit what can be safely said. And a milquetoast point-of-view might not be worth the time it takes to work it up.

What if There’s No Direct Connection?

Depending on the answers to the first two questions, some organizations may simply shrug and move on. But there are other important questions to consider before doing so.

Does the position relate directly to a major focus or emphasis of your organization?

Say your organization does a lot of work in securities or finance. It’s likely that your team includes someone – probably multiple someones – with strong perspectives when a new SEC chairman is named. Or, perhaps your organization has expertise on workplace issues. The appointment of a new secretary of labor will probably elicit a reaction or two from members of your team.

Still, making public comments in such moments isn’t a given. It’s important to actually have something to say about the person being nominated – and that what you’re saying is insightful enough for the reward to outweigh any potential risk.

So how do I know if what we have to say is insightful enough?

For either of the above examples, your organization’s subject matter experts might have thoughts on how the new SEC chair or labor secretary might perform, how policy or enforcement might change and, ideally, practical guidance on how companies should adapt. Importantly, subject matter expertise doesn’t have to be confined to the focuses of practice groups within your organization.

In the case of Jackson’s nomination, Littler utilized an existing podcast on inclusion, equity and diversity to post an interview between Cindy-Ann Thomas, the co-chair of the firm’s EEO & Diversity Practice Group, and Bernice Bouie Donald, a federal judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. Thomas and Donald, both of whom are Black women, discussed the importance of diversity on the Supreme Court, strategies for female jurists of color in managing biases and advice from Donald for other female attorneys of color, among other topics.

Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk

The life and professional experiences of Thomas and Donald meant they had gravitas to comment on Jackson’s nomination. But Littler as an organization also could authentically and effectively weigh in because the firm has addressed similar issues for five years on the podcast (in addition to a variety of other channels). These factors tie directly to the next question on our list.

Is your organization able to speak to that point effectively and authentically, particularly in historic moments?

This was a question that came up a lot over the past couple years as organizations decided whether and how to contribute to the conversation in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and a broader racial reckoning. As my colleague, Steve DiMattia, smartly noted last year, it’s important that public comments in these moments aren’t just words:

The authenticity and credibility of any statement issued to address a fraught moment will not be judged against the values that you claim to profess but by the values you demonstrate through your actions. Values reveal themselves in observable behavior. And an organization that claims to stand for diversity and inclusion, but which has done nothing to advance diversity and inclusion, needs to think carefully about how it participates in the conversation about diversity and inclusion or risk alienating its audience.

The Need(?) to Say Something in the Digital Age

Here’s one more piece to the puzzle: Not only do we live in an era when news can make it around the world in minutes, we live in one in which technology makes it easier than ever to hold organizations’ feet to the fire.

Take what happened during International Women’s Day earlier this month. A slew of organizations posted what were fairly banal comments meant to celebrate the day – and were then quickly skewered by a bot that replied to the original posts with pay gap data about the organizations. The organizations, many of which quickly deleted their original tweets, learned the hard way that it’s never been more important to think through points-of-view before going public with them.

But that shouldn’t keep companies from commenting at all. As my colleagues Pam Munoz and Howell J. Malham Jr., noted last year, “It’s not an option for companies and their leaders to avoid entering into the fray of complex social challenges anymore.”

It could be argued that companies can enter the fray without entering it at every possible moment – and in the case of Jackson’s nomination, the moment might simply not be right based on the criteria outlined above. Indeed, organizations should pick their spots, because an empty/by-the-numbers move will be at best a non-factor.

But smart and incisive commentary, delivered thoughtfully and at the right time, is likely worth the risk, and it can make for a smarter conversation.

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Smith’s arrival comes after more than two decades in journalism, including 10 years at The Wall Street Journal

Greentarget, a leading public relations firm focused on helping professional services firms establish positions of authority, announced the addition of award-winning journalist Jennifer Smith as Director of Content & Editorial Strategy. Smith, who spent more than a decade as a reporter covering a variety of topics at The Wall Street Journal, will lead Greentarget’s content team, which serves some of the world’s largest professional services organizations.

“Jennifer’s experience at such a prestigious publication will advance our embrace of journalistic principles. Her natural curiosity and creative energy make her a strong cultural fit and will further our mission to create unique positions of authority for our clients,” said Aaron Schoenherr, founding partner of Greentarget. “With content needs evolving so quickly – especially given ever-shorter attention spans and new information-consumption habits stemming from the pandemic – we think Jennifer is the perfect person to lead our content team in the years ahead.”

Smith, who will be based in Greentarget’s New York office, joined the Journal in 2011 and spent three years covering the legal profession, where she broke news on the biggest law firm dissolution in U.S. history. She then spent two years as a culture reporter before moving in 2016 to cover logistics and supply chain – an area that has taken on critical importance amid the ongoing pandemic.  

“I got to know Greentarget during my time covering the legal profession at the Journal and was impressed by the organization’s consistent professionalism, diligence and respect for journalistic principles,” Smith said. “While it wasn’t an easy decision to step away from journalism, I’m excited to approach the work from a different direction and join an organization with such a clear focus on creating compelling content that puts audience needs front and center.”

Before joining the Journal, Smith was a reporter at Newsday on Long Island, where she covered environmental issues and other topics. She also served as an adjunct professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

“Our content capabilities continue to be in high demand as the written word in particular carries significant weight among the sophisticated audiences our clients are trying to reach and influence,” said John Corey, president and founding partner of Greentarget. “Jen’s arrival is a tremendous step forward for Greentarget as we strive to preserve the principles of journalism in our approach to content while embracing what we know to be the fundamental attributes of compelling points of view – novelty, urgency, relevance and utility.”

Greentarget’s Content & Editorial service line has grown steadily in recent years to become an increasingly important part of the company’s offerings for a client base that largely competes on the basis of expertise and point of view. The team has an array of capabilities, including content strategy development, primary research reporting, op-ed campaigns, bylined articles, podcasts, audio storytelling and digital magazines.

Smith earned her M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband.

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