By Jillayne Smyth Rogers

Straight To The Point

• Patients aren’t rejecting healthcare. They’re rejecting care that doesn’t work for them.

• When a system asks for patience without offering control, people don’t push back, they route around it.

• Fixing the whole system starts with creating solutions for individual patients.

Here’s the thing:  Across the healthcare landscape, patients are arriving at the same conclusion: waiting is a waste of time.

For decades, care was organized around institutional timelines. Intake forms. Referral loops. Weeks between appointments. But life doesn’t wait. Patients are living at the speed of their lives, sometimes while holding a puking baby, as I was the other night. (She’s better now, thank you. I wish I could say the same for my blouse.)

When a system asks for patience without offering control, people don’t stage a revolt. They find a workaround. That’s the moment healthcare leaders are in right now whether they like it or not.

What We See

Patients haven’t walked away from care. But they have changed how they get it.

Instead of moving neatly through traditional pathways, patients are turning to at-home diagnostics, wearables, AI tools, and self-directed options, often before the healthcare system even knows they’re shopping around.

And this isn’t a generational rebellion or some Silicon Valley fad. Healthcare populism cuts across age, ideology, and political identity. The unifying factor isn’t suspicion of institutions, it’s frustration with them moving too slow for modern life.

Our latest research explores how widespread this shift has become and what it signals for healthcare leaders navigating a new era of patient control. [Read the full report here.]

What It Means

This moment is often diagnosed as a collapse in trust. But that’s overly simplified and doesn’t tell the whole story.

What we’re seeing is a rebalancing of control. Patients haven’t become anti-institutional; they’ve become practical. When systems feel slow, opaque, or misaligned, people seek out tools to keep moving. The instinct itself isn’t new. People have always wanted control over their health.

What is new is the toolset—one robust enough to let patients act without waiting for permission.

I recently discussed this shift at Axios Live, because healthcare leaders are now managing a parallel care experience, one that runs alongside the system, not outside it. That parallel track is reshaping expectations in ways that won’t snap back. Organizations built on assumptions of patience, loyalty, and linear journeys are suddenly competing with experiences defined by immediacy, visibility, and control.

What To Do

The response to this moment cannot be to ask patients to slow down or trust harder.

At Purple Strategies, we spend our time in exactly these moments, when public sentiment, politics, and behavior are moving faster than institutions were designed to handle. Our work lives at the intersection of reputation, advocacy, and strategy, helping leaders understand not just what is changing, but why.

Patients are telling us, through their choices, that momentum and control now matter as much as clinical expertise. This is a healthcare populism era. And the rules are different.

Here are the shifts leaders need to make:

Stop talking “system.” Start talking “you.”
Patients don’t want institutional promises. They want solutions that feel personal, adaptive, and built for real lives. Frame offerings as tools. Emphasize choice. Make customization, not scale, the headline.

Don’t fight skepticism. Use it.
Credibility comes from transparency and permission. Invite scrutiny. Encourage comparison. Be willing to say: Try it. See what works best for you.

Put AI to work, without removing humans.
Patients want speed and insight. They are also watching institutions carefully. Spell out benefits and risks. Show your work. And always leave a clear path back to a clinician when judgment matters most.

Lean into direct-to-consumer realities.
The goal can no longer be to funnel people through a dictated path Instead, equip them with tools, data, and optional paths they can assemble themselves.

Treat politics as context, not background noise.
Health decisions now carry political meaning. Segment by worldview. Be honest about who you can reach. Speak to MAHA priorities without borrowing MAHA branding.

The Bottom Line

The organizations that win in this next chapter won’t be the ones defending the old contract with patients. The winners will be the leaders who recognize what has already changed and actively decide to move with it.

Interpreting cultural moments like healthcare populism and turning them into strategic advantage is just one more way Purple can help leaders like you succeed.

Straight To The Point

• The rules of advocacy in Washington have changed faster than most organizations’ strategies have.

• The gap between how influence actually works in Washington and how many organizations still operate is now costing companies time, money, and access.

• Organizations that update their advocacy playbook now will shape outcomes; those that don’t will spend more and achieve less.

What We See

At the end of last year, Purple Strategies convened corporate and association leaders alongside POLITICO for a candid conversation just steps from the White House — including a discussion with Susie Wiles, White House Chief of Staff to talk about a simple but urgent question:

How do you actually succeed in Washington right now?

The answer, made clear throughout the morning, is that Washington is operating on a fundamentally different advocacy operating system.

Power has centralized. Decision-making has accelerated. Traditional venues for bipartisan compromise have narrowed. And influence now flows through a wider and less predictable constellation of actors, many of them outside formal government channels.

In other words: the old Beltway playbook still matters but it is no longer sufficient.

We’ve captured the key insights from the evening — including perspectives from corporate, association, and advocacy leaders — in a post-event recap developed with POLITICO.

What It Means

The discussion reinforced what we are seeing across clients and sectors: advocacy is simultaneously more important, more scrutinized, and less forgiving of missteps than ever before.

A few realities stood out:

• The White House is the dominant center of gravity. Nearly every major policy decision ultimately runs through the administration, even those once left to agencies or Congress.
• Coalitions and associations are operating at peak power — and peak pressure. They are better funded, more aggressive, and more visible, but also at greater risk if governance and strategy are unclear.
• Agility is no longer optional. Velocity has increased dramatically. Influence now depends on speed, precision, and an ability to pivot as decisions move through unconventional pathways.
• Congress still matters — even when it isn’t moving. Lawmakers shape narratives, provide oversight, and often serve as critical channels into the administration, even in a stagnant legislative environment.

Perhaps most importantly, there was broad agreement on one point: You cannot win in today’s Washington by simply doubling down on the tactics that worked five or even two years ago.

What to Do

Winning in this environment requires a reset, not a retreat. Based on theinsights shared at the event and the joint Purple–POLITICO research, a few imperatives are clear:

Design coalitions for impact, not optics. Coalitions must be purpose-built, fast-moving, and able to say things individual members cannot say alone.

Rebuild your theory of influence around real decision pathways. Start with power mapping, not tactics and work backward from who actually shapes outcomes.

Treat speed and patience as complementary, not contradictory.Broad-based pressure campaigns often backfire; disciplined, targeted, well-timed engagement increasingly wins.

Translate advocacy value in terms leadership understands. Progress is not just policy wins, it is access, risk mitigation, and building enterprise value ahead of major decision points.

Advocacy has never mattered more and it has never required more precision.

We encourage you to take a look to see how senior practitioners are rethinking influence, coalitions, and engagement in Washington’s NewNormal. Click Here for the Purple Strategies & POLITICO Roadmap: Advocacy in Washington’s New Normal.

If you’re still running the old playbook, now is the moment to update it — before the next wave of hearings, rulemakings, or election cycles forces the issue.

By John Gatti

Straight To The Point

• Today’s brands live under constant, unrelenting scrutiny — every decision is visible and judged in real time. Chasing trust is increasingly futile when it isn’t reinforced by visible steps that connect a brand to the future.

• Managing messages isn’t enough — leaders must close the gap between perception and reality across the whole business, and be open to changing reality.

• Build alignment, create a story worth hearing, and make every part of the organization part of the solution.

What We See

The way brands are judged has fundamentally shifted. Trust isn’t dead. But it’s dying. Yes, it still matters, but in today’s environment it isn’t enough. Trust is a conclusion stakeholders reach based on what you’ve already done. And in an era where Gallup and others show trust in institutions at historic lows, past performance alone won’t carry you forward. Your stakeholders want to know: are your best days ahead of you? Are you connected to the future? They are more likely to engage and support you if you are part of how they define a better tomorrow.

In my recent conversation with Neil Golden—Panera Brands board member and former McDonald’s USA CMO—we dug into what this means for companies under fire. Over his 30+ years guiding global brands through high-stakes moments, Neil has learned that these challenges aren’t rare events. They’re constant stress tests.

Take McDonald’s for example. Years ago, a single ingredient controversy might have been a temporary storm. Today, questions about food sourcing, product decisions, and corporate responsibility are permanent weather systems.

Neil put it plainly:

“You don’t win back trust with a press release. You earn it with actions people can see — and feel.”

That means companies that step up authentically in tough moments can come out stronger. Those that hide, delay, or spin? They don’t just lose trust — they hand the narrative to their critics and provide evidence that, just maybe, their best days aren’t in front of them.

What It Means

Here are the major shifts to reckon with:

Scrutiny never ends

When McDonald’s changed menus, reconfigured the Happy Meal, or rethought employment practices, those moves weren’t isolated—every step was watched, debated, and dissected. You don’t just survive one test—you’re living in a test environment.

Narratives are forever open

You can’t draft a “corrected” version later. Once your narrative is framed—by critics, news, customers—it holds a bias. The best defense is to get in early, with sincerity and clarity, not smarter spin.

Every function is a credibility channel

Marketing, HR, operations, supply chain—they all either bolster or erode your standing. As Neil stressed, reputation is not just a communications problem; it’s a business problem because the most important outcomes are measured in business performance.

Expect tension — and show the trade-offs

You’ll get pushed to pick a side. Be prepared to communicate not only wins but also the challenges, trade-offs, and constraints. Show the “messy middle” rather than pretending there wasn’t one.

What this means is simple: your lessons can’t live only in comms. They must operate in your thinking, your decisions, and your structures. That’s how you close the gap between what you stand for and what you’re known for.

What To Do

I’ve distilled five lessons for leaders determined not just to safeguard reputation, but to earn trust and prove that their organization’s best days are ahead through their choices and conduct.

1. Aligning What You’re Known For with What You Stand For: If your brand’s purpose, intentions, and actions don’t align, people will decide for you—and not in your favor. Neil shared how moments of misalignment at McDonald’s, from marketing campaigns to public commitments, quickly turned into flashpoints. Leaders must make their values unmistakably clear, back them up with consistent behavior, and change when necessary.
2. Telling Your Story Better or Having a Better Story to Tell: When a message isn’t breaking through, the first reaction is often to double down: repeat it, amplify it, shout it from every channel. But that’s just yelling louder. Neil and I discussed how the real challenge isn’t the delivery — it’s the narrative. McDonald’s had real progress to share, from healthier menu choices to better employment practices, but those actions weren’t woven into a story that felt relevant to people’s lives. Messaging alone wasn’t enough. It had to be in service of a narrative that framed the actions and signaled the company’s best days were ahead.
3. Creating Buy-In Across the Whole Organization: Trust isn’t a marketing problem — it’s a full enterprise challenge. Neil emphasized that reputation lives or dies through daily decisions across the entire organization, not just in the marketing or comms department. Every function, every leader, every employee has a role to play in earning and protecting trust.
4. Public Affairs is Marketing, Marketing is Public Affairs: There’s no longer a line between these two worlds. The same audiences you’re trying to reach as customers are also influencing public perception, regulatory decisions, and media narratives. And those stakeholders, in turn, are more interested in how you show up in the world than what you tell them. Consistency is mandatory. Inconsistency is mercilessly, immediately punished.
5. Bait Needs to Taste Good to the Fish, Not the Fisherman: Good instincts are important, but they’re no substitute for research. Neil stressed that understanding what stakeholders really value is the only way to act effectively. You can’t just rely on what you think matters—you must listen and adapt based on what they care about, and what they need to hear and see.

 

Watch the Full Conversation: Reclaiming Trust When Your Products — and Intentions — Are Under Fire
A candid discussion with Neil Golden and Purple Partner John Gatti. [Watch the full video now →]

A Purple Strategies Conversation with Neil Golden

In this exclusive conversation, Neil Golden, current Panera Brands board member and former McDonald’s USA CMO, joins Purple Partner John Gatti to share hard-earned lessons from three decades leading iconic consumer brands.

From ingredient concerns to employment practices to public scrutiny, Neil reflects on how leaders can anticipate challenges, build resilient narratives, and protect reputation while driving business performance.

Whether you’re a communicator, marketer, or external affairs leader, this discussion offers practical insights into leading brands through today’s complex, high-stakes environment.

From the West Wing to the C-suite, Dayspring has shaped strategy at the highest levels of politics, media, and business.

Purple Strategies announced today that Brad Dayspring has joined the firm as Executive Director, bringing more than two decades of experience at the intersection of politics, policy, media, and strategic communications.

Dayspring stands out as one of the few Washington strategists whose career spans the White House, Congressional Leadership, national campaigns, and the corporate media C-suite. He joins Purple after nearly a decade at POLITICO, where he served on the executive team as Executive Vice President of Global Communications and Brand. During his time at POLITICO, Dayspring advised multiple CEOs, editors-in-chief, and ownership groups, helping drive growth, profitability, and brand impact. He also served as trusted communications counsel to hundreds of publishing professionals and more than 500 journalists, spanning Washington, New York, California, London, Brussels, Paris, and Berlin.

“Brad is a rare talent whose experience, instincts, and drive align perfectly with Purple’s mission to help clients navigate change and unlock opportunity,” said Steve McMahon, co-founder and CEO of Purple Strategies. “He’s built a career in high-stakes environments — in government and the private sector — and knows how to turn complexity into clarity for leaders and brands facing critical moments. When the going gets tough, there’s no one better in the trenches than Brad Dayspring.”

Throughout his career, Dayspring has been a trusted advisor to CEOs, C-suite executives, elected officials, candidates, and industry leaders, guiding strategy in moments of crisis, legislative and regulatory pressure, and market transition. He’s known for his leadership, relentless work ethic, and unwavering loyalty — traits that have made him a sought-after partner in shaping communications strategy, policy advocacy, brand positioning, and stakeholder engagement.

At Purple, Dayspring will counsel clients on reputation management, issue advocacy, crisis, corporate positioning, and enterprise-level strategic communications. His deep understanding of political dynamics and media landscapes will further enhance Purple’s reputation as a leader in corporate reputation, public affairs, and issue advocacy.

“What drew me to Purple is its campaign-style mindset: hyper focused, strategic, and built for high-stakes moments and high-impact activation. In times like these, leaders don’t just need support — they need a steady hand, a sharp strategic mind, and a team that plays to where the puck is going, not where it’s been — and that’s where Purple stands out. I’m thrilled to join a firm with bold ambitions, an offense-minded approach, and a team I genuinely admire,” Dayspring said.

Dayspring began his career in the White House press office under President George W. Bush and later served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, as well as Communications Director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. At POLITICO, he played a central role in transforming the brand into a global media leader, guiding the organization through acquisition, leadership transitions, and market expansion.

Brad is a native of Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, and holds a B.A. from Villanova University where he was an NCAA ice hockey player.

This season, we’re proud to celebrate the many promotions across our firm that reflect the growth and impact of our people at every level. Among them, four colleagues have stepped into new senior leadership roles.

• Tara Andersen – Executive Director
• Alec Jacobs – Managing Director
• Caroline Sage – Managing Director
• Jason Bargnes – Managing Director

Together, these client counselors and leaders bring decades of deep Purple experience plus prior backgrounds in policy, politics and management consulting to their work advising some of the world’s most important companies and industries. Each has made a lasting impact on our team and our clients — bringing bold thinking, deep collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to delivering results that matter. We are proud to recognize Tara, Alec, Caroline and Jason – along with all of our recently promoted Purple teammates – on their growth and continued leadership at Purple.

By Kevin Zier

Kevin Zier is an executive creative director at Purple with over 20 years of experience in brand and corporate reputation storytelling. His portfolio of work for Fortune 500 companies—in industries as wide ranging as healthcare, education, CPG, biotech, entertainment, energy, transportation, and manufacturing—has moved opinion, helped shape policy, and won creative awards. He also writes a lot of narratives.

Straight To The Point

• People don’t remember messages, they remember stories.
• The narrative was once how a company told its story, but most are just a messaging architecture written in paragraph form.
• When a narrative tries to say everything, it actually says nothing – too flat to guide decisions, too generic to get used, and more likely to end up on a shelf than in any hearts and minds.
• Return to real storytelling by building your narrative with ingredients people will care about –  conflict, characters, transformation, and even redemption.

What We See

“Narrative” has become a universal catch-all in the consulting lexicon. We all agree it’s important. Every company has one. Some have several—one for the brand, another for the product, another for the CEO, another for the crisis. What could be different chapters or plotlines within one clear, compelling story has been replaced with headlines and bullet points. Emotion and tension have been sacrificed to make room for all the messaging that tested well.

What makes matters worse, the same messages always tend to test well. It’s why the world ends up with so many narratives that sound the same. How many companies promise to be “patient-centric” or “innovative” or “people over profit”? Ever heard a legacy company begin their narrative like this: “For over 126 years…”? Everyone might say they want to hear these buzzwords. But no one will remember them.

There are lots of reasons a narrative loses the story. Marketing wants their priorities in, government affairs want theirs, the C-suite wants coverage, legal wants protection, and everyone wants it to work with the AOR’s brand new ad campaign. With all these competing demands, the focus shifts to blending. This is not how you write a story. It’s how you make soup. While you ladle your grey mush into your audience’s bowls, your critics and competitors will be out there telling a much tastier story no one can ignore. That’s their only box to check.

What It Means

Great stories all have one thing in common: tension. Characters face a conflict. They make choices. They transform, and they succeed. Or they don’t, and they fail. Yes, avoiding tension in your narrative is a lot easier — the focus groups will definitely hate it. So, many teams stick to the sunny side of the street, talking in platitudes and sanding off the edges until nothing is left to feel about your company. And when there’s nothing to feel, a story doesn’t work. It doesn’t inspire, energize people internally, or serve its main purpose: to change hearts and minds and move opinion.

To do that, you must start with an idea, not a list. Proof should serve that idea, not the other way around. Effective narratives find the intersection of what your audience values and what you uniquely provide.  When you find that, you’ll have an umbrella to guide smaller stories for products, issues, or moments. Make it memorable, human, and portable, too — and your leaders can carry it with them in shorthand, even (or especially) when crisis strikes. You’ll know you’ve done your job well when reporters, policymakers, and partners start using your language unprompted.

What To Do

At its core, a narrative is not a management exercise — it’s a story. And good ones have rules that endure, whether it’s on a Broadway stage or in a boardroom. David Mamet, the famous playwright, reminds us that drama only works when it puts real characters in motion, facing real tension, and undergoing transformation. A corporate narrative must do the same.

• Characters: In your narrative, characters are real people. You maybe can’t control who the antagonists are, but your protagonists need to be people your audience can relate to — leaders, employees, customers, even skeptics — not just abstract values and slogans.
• Setting: Where is the story happening and what are the details? This is the home for your data and messages. The trick is discerning which ones serve the plot, and which ones get in the way.
• Tension: All drama begins with conflict. A strong narrative doesn’t avoid the problem or chase consensus. It names the stakes, the obstacles, and the costs of failure. Without conflict, there’s no reason to care. No one to pull for or against.
• Transformation: A story that matters shows change — from risk to resilience, from problem to solution, from uncertainty to clarity. Transformation is what turns a list of messages into a journey people can believe in and rally around.

Does your narrative move your most important audiences the same way a good play or film does?

If not, maybe you should stop asking only what tested well. And instead, ask: Where is the tension? Who are the characters that matter? What is unique about us? What did we learn and how have we changed along the way? That is a story. One that will stir emotions, sharpen perspectives, and change the way people see the world.

People won’t remember the exact number of jobs you’ve created, how many billions you’ve poured into innovation, or how much you care about the environment or local communities. But tell a good story about why you’re doing all those things, and they’ll never forget it.

If you want to talk to Purple about your corporate narrative, get in touch with us.

By: Carrie Healey

Carrie Healey runs strategic communications campaigns at Purple Strategies and previously led immigration and policy communications at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, following years of experience in Democratic politics.

STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

• Immigration is no longer just a policy issue — it’s a brand risk. With increased enforcement, polarized politics, and employee fear colliding on the retail floor, companies can’t afford to be silent.

• Employees are walking off the job. Customers are paying attention. And ICE is showing up with or without warning. If your organization isn’t prepared to communicate quickly, compassionately, and in compliance with the law, you’re already behind.

• Silence is not safety. Transparency is the strategy.

What We See

American businesses – especially retailers, who are on the front lines of this issue – are under more pressure than ever before. Despite many undocumented workers being ineligible for employment, a recent survey from Pew revealed that 90% of Americans acknowledge undocumented workers take jobs U.S. citizens often won’t. But according to a recent Purple Strategies survey of the informed public, 67% of Americans still believe retailers should only employ verified workers, and 58% believe companies are breaking the law when undocumented employees are integrated within their supply chain — even if they aren’t directly employed by the retailer.

Immigration is also one of the most polarizing issues in American politics — and for companies, it often feels like there’s no safe ground. Move too far left, and you risk being labeled as soft on crime. Move too far right, and you’re branded as heartless. The left demands compassion and care for immigrants; the right demands strict enforcement and removal. At first glance, there seems to be little reward for speaking up — but plenty of risk for stepping wrong.

The threat of ICE activity, even if rumored, can trigger real disruptions; retail employees fear ICE raids and reputational damage is amplified when ICE agents take action on business premises. In addition, there is an expectation that companies publicly explain their policies — 79% of informed Americans say it’s important for businesses to be transparent — and that the status quo isn’t sustainable. In this climate, staying quiet isn’t neutral, it’s a missed opportunity.

What It Means

American Companies need a new playbook. Immigration enforcement is accelerating, and reputational risks are spreading across entire supply chains. The tools businesses have relied on to stay compliant — like E-Verify — are outdated. A 2019 CATO report found that E-Verify failed to detect more than 5 in 6 undocumented workers, and they’ve mistakenly flagged nearly 750,000 legal ones.

The public expects both lawful action and human compassion — 48% of informed Americans say companies should commit to both. For businesses, that means affirming hiring compliance and showing support for foreign-born employees who may be targeted by enforcement or fear for their families. The right message does more than signal intent — it demonstrates how you’re actively following the law while also standing behind your people. That includes communicating your compliance policies clearly and consistently and offering reassurance to employees whose lives — or their loved ones’ — may be disrupted by immigration enforcement.

And it’s not just about your direct employees. The public and the press won’t stop to parse your vendor contracts or supply chain structure. If an undocumented subcontracted employee is arrested at a store or warehouse, the headline will name the brand, not the subcontractor.  That means companies must extend their communications expectations, compliance policies, and crisis planning across their entire contractor network. In this environment, who’s wearing your logo matters more than who’s on your payroll.

What To Do

1. Audit your supply chain: Start by understanding where your risk exists. Review your vendors’ hiring practices and assess where visibility or verification may be weak. The public won’t parse fine print.
2. Communicate like you care — because you do: Employees should hear from leaders directly. And 40% of the public want regular emails from senior leadership during periods of immigration uncertainty. Town halls, video messages, and internal FAQs can also go a long way to reduce fear.
3. Pair compassion with compliance: Use messages that affirm you follow the law and support your people. We follow the law and care about our workers is not contradictory—it’s a competitive advantage.
4. Build a rapid response team: Legal, communications, HR, and business leads should scenario-plan for enforcement actions or raids anywhere in your supply chain. Know who drafts the first statement, who fields media, who supports employees on the ground. Don’t scramble. Be ready.
5. Stay proactive, not reactive: Don’t wait for ICE or activists to force your hand. Have a policy statement ready and train managers on what to do during a raid. Brief your suppliers on these policies and procedures and share your commitments internally and externally before a crisis hits.

 

Reputation and responsibility go hand in hand. The public expects clarity, not perfection. They want to know that businesses are following the law, protecting their workers, and communicating honestly.

Businesses don’t need to take a side in the immigration debate. But they do need to speak up, act smart, and be ready. Because right now, doing nothing is the riskiest move of all.

Want to talk about how to build an immigration-ready communications plan? Let’s connect.

Nina DeLorenzo has led and built communications and corporate affairs organizations at global companies including AbbVie, Sanofi and Emergent. She has also served in the White House, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Senate and on political campaigns. What is her take on what it really means to be “campaign ready”? It’s not what most leaders think.

Straight To The Point 

• Today’s landscape doesn’t reward the slow, the passive, or those who operate with a comms-only mentality of yesteryear. In an age of weaponized misinformation and instant backlash, any company can become a political target.
• If your organization can’t move in unison quickly, pivot smartly and speak credibly under pressure, you’re not ready. And in this environment, not being ready is risky and expensive.
• Start treating your corporate affairs function like a campaign: comms and government relations in lockstep, built to engage, equipped to respond and ready to lead. Integration is crucial, and that also means with commercial and business leaders. Because when the heat is on, a well-designed PowerPoint deck about your top product won’t win you any battles.

What We See

Campaign readiness starts with an essential question: does your corporate affairs organization understand the company’s business strategy—and is it built to advance it? In too many companies, the answer is no.

Leaders often replicate generic organizational structures or apply templates that don’t reflect the business context. That’s a mistake. Comms and government relations teams that don’t work closely together and don’t understand the business will always be reactive. And in today’s environment, that’s not just a vulnerability—it’s a liability.

Being campaign ready isn’t about a binder full of crisis plans or a quarterly offsite. It’s about knowing where your business is going and what the external environment needs to look like in order for it to succeed. Campaign-ready means comms and GR shaping the environment to your advantage when you can, and forcefully countering obstacles when they arise. A campaign-ready corporate affairs organization can think, move and act like a campaign: ahead of the curve, aggressive when it needs to be, quiet when it’s strategic to be so, but always ready and aligned with your business.

The outside world moves fast. It doesn’t care how big your company is or how beloved your brand was yesterday. It has zero regard for your C-suite’s comfort zone. You need a campaign-ready organization to navigate it.

What It Means

Too many comms or corporate affairs leaders walk into roles thinking their job is to communicate business priorities or lobby in DC. That’s the bare minimum. Your real job? Help drive the business strategy by shaping the external environment to protect and promote it—and pivot on a dime when necessary.

At the same time, companies that thrive have leadership that treats corporate affairs like it’s as much part of the business as marketing or sales: essential to growth. The ones that flounder see comms as the team that writes the press releases and GR as the ones who lobby. And guess who gets clobbered when the external environment turns hostile?

The readiness checklist isn’t complicated—but it is critical. You need:

• People: They’re smart. They’re scrappy. They’re strategic. Not just “pencil-pushers”—people who can flex, adapt and act under pressure.
• Assets: You need a clear, resonant story. Along with a brand and assets that reflect it. Channels that reach the right audiences—fast. A PAC that’s not dormant. And data that tells you what’s working (and what’s not).
• Mindset: You should be the one looking around the next corner, unafraid to tell the CEO what’s there—even if it’s ugly. And you need to have a bias for action when things get messy because they will. Freezing in place—or hiding under the desk—is not an option.

What To Do About It

1. Take your seat at the table. If you’re not helping shape business decisions, you’re not campaign ready—you’re an afterthought. Understand the business. Embed your team with their teams. Use that knowledge to drive strategy instead of just communicating the latest business updates.
2. Insights are your foundation. Don’t build your strategy on instinct alone. Know how your company is perceived, internally and externally, where your story is strong and where it needs work. Understand where your competitors or those who might challenge you politically have an advantage. Have assets ready that reflect your brand and your business, and ensure you have the ability to generate insights quickly. Don’t be paranoid, but do be prepared.
3. Act with the speed of a campaign, not of a legal department. Companies get paralyzed by perfection—and lawyers. Campaigns know perfection means losing the news cycle. Speed matters. Develop solid relationships with your CEO, Chief Counsel and others who can affect the speed of your response. Because the ability to say something smart and fast can often beat saying the “perfect” thing too late.
4. Hire a team that’s ready to rumble. You will be challenged, whether it’s by activists, politicians, competitors or an angry ex-employee on social media (maybe all of them at once!). The question is: do you know how your organization will react? Will you respond with confidence—or will you scramble? Here’s where having a corporate affairs team that has comms and government relations under one roof, integrated with the business, with the right people and the right attitude—will make or break your response.

Campaigns don’t win based on who made the best Power Point. They win by taking action, being resilient and staying sharp. The same is true for organizations. If your corporate affairs function isn’t ready to move, adapt and lead—you’re not campaign ready.

Need help building a campaign-ready external affairs operation? Let’s talk.

Editors note: As of December 2025, Nina DeLorenzo will no longer serve on Purple Strategies’ Advisory Board. We wish her well in her new endeavors.

Purple Strategies, a strategic advisory firm focused on reputation, issues and advocacy for many of the world’s most important companies and organizations, today announced the formation of its Advisory Board. This distinguished group of leaders brings meaningful experience across corporate strategy and operations, issues and risk, communications and marketing, government and policy, and law. With backgrounds spanning C-suites, boardrooms and campaign war rooms, these Board members bring powerful perspectives that have helped them lead through disruption and change.

The Advisory Board further deepens Purple’s trusted counsel at the highest levels of business, industry, and the debates of the day. These advisors give the firm an additional stream of insight, acumen and strategic connections to help clients seize advantage in a stakeholder landscape where influence is constantly shifting.

“Purple is often the first call a leader makes when their organization is at a critical crossroads, and our Advisory Board is one more resource that strengthens our ability to meet the moment our clients are in — navigating pressure from every direction,” said Kristen Morgante, Managing Partner of Purple Strategies. “These leaders bring hard-earned judgment from decades in the rooms where pivotal decisions are made. Tapping into their wisdom and experience helps us sharpen our counsel and focus on building and protecting value for our clients. We’re honored to have them as part of our Purple team.”

Founding Advisory Board Members include:

• Machalagh Carr, founder of Quell Strategies and former Chief of Staff to Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, combines decades of legislative and energy sector expertise with frontline experience steering disruptive-tech companies through fast-moving policy and reputation currents, helping organizations anticipate shifts and turn innovation-driven scrutiny into strategic advantage.

• Neil Golden, a seasoned marketing executive, currently serving as a board member for Panera Brands and as a senior lecturer at Northwestern’s Medill School. A former Chief Marketing Officer of McDonald’s USA, he brings deep consumer insight and firsthand experience demonstrating how integrated marketing, public affairs and government relations can drive growth. His track record guiding iconic brands through disruption adds practical depth to conversations around reputation, revenue and resilience.

• Nina DeLorenzo, corporate affairs advisor and former executive at Pfizer, Sanofi, AbbVie and more. She is known for reimagining corporate affairs functions that reflect how influence moves and shapes business outcomes to deliver results across healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and other regulated sectors. Prior to working in the private sector, she served in the administration of President George W. Bush in the White House and the U.S. Department of State, in the United States Senate, and on political campaigns.

• Jerry Krulewitch, former EVP and General Counsel of McDonald’s Corporation, has led global legal strategy and crisis response for one of the world’s largest brands. Prior to that, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois. He brings decades of insight on the connections between enterprise risk, governance and reputation.

• Donna Brazile, former Chair of the Democratic National Committee and of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute, is a veteran political strategist, author and nationally recognized commentator known for her work advancing bipartisan dialogue during the Clinton Administration and beyond. She brings decades of campaign, policy and public engagement experience alongside academic appointments at Georgetown, Howard and Harvard. She joined Purple in an earlier senior advisory role in 2022.

• David Bickerton, former senior advisor at BP and recent visiting fellow at the University of Oxford, has spent two decades steering global brands through the borderless currents of reputation, turning worldwide scrutiny into opportunity with integrated positioning, sustainability, and stakeholder engagement strategies across energy, financial services, food and beverage, automotive, and technology sectors. He joined Purple in an earlier senior advisory role in 2022.

Advisory Board members will provide strategic counsel to the firm on client challenges, contribute to thought leadership that advances our field and our thinking, and help push our offering and unlock new opportunities for Purple to add value for our clients.

Building out the Advisory Board is one part of a broader transformation underway at Purple — renewing how we lead, expanding how we think, and preparing clients for a world where influence is being reshaped in real time. To learn more about our approach at Purple – visit our collection of perspectives and insights.