Purple’s Rory Cooper recently authored a client memo with observations, context and recommendations on building and protecting reputation amidst the global spread of the Coronavirus that was mentioned in the March 12, 2020 edition of POLITICO Influence.

To request a copy of the memo or learn more about Purple’s experience helping clients navigate complex issues, email: rory.cooper@purplestrategies.com

From POLITICO Influence, March 12, 2020.

MORE CORONAVIRUS MEMOS: As more and more Americans stay home from work due to the coronavirus, Washington consultants are still at work, drafting memos to clients on how they should respond to the pandemic. “Companies shouldn’t feel compelled to immediately change their prices, services or policies, but should be compelled to review them and review them again periodically,” Rory Cooper of Purple Strategies wrote in a memo to clients on Wednesday. “Are there business plans in place that are perfectly normal in a routine environment but could be seen in a different light amidst a pandemic?”

 

As a huge college basketball fan on a six-year streak of going to the Final Four, I’m disappointed that there will be no fans in the crowd for March Madness, but it was the right call.

And Americans agree. A Purple Pulse Poll found 84% of the informed public believe the NCAA’s decision to close arenas to fans was the right one.

And among the most passionate March Madness fans, 43% said they would be even more likely to watch games. Only 8% said it would cause them to watch less.

The decision to prioritize player and public health is likely to give the NCAA a much needed boost to its reputation, which has been under fire for years. Among those who regularly follow sports news, 52% believe the NCAA would do anything to maintain its power even if it meant harming student athletes (compared to only 21% who believe they would sacrifice power for the good of student athletes). But making this difficult decision around their marquee event will likely serve as powerful evidence of their commitment to student athletes, with the March Madness decision leading sports fans to a 62% favorable/11% unfavorable view of the NCAA.

Purple Pulse Survey of the Informed Public. N=1,000. March 11-12.

For more information please contact: bradley.engle@purplestrategies.com

 

Purple Strategies, a leading strategy and reputation management firm, has welcomed award-winning communications and organizational culture leader Rebecca Ballard as managing director, communications, marketing and engagement. In the newly created role, Ballard will build out and lead internal and external communications on behalf of the firm as it begins its second decade helping some of the world’s most important organizations address their most important challenges and opportunities.

“Rebecca’s deep experience partnering with both client- and agency-side leaders through times of growth and change will be an invaluable asset for us at Purple as we start on our next 10 years,” said Kristen Morgante, partner and COO at Purple. “Her work at the intersection of communications, strategy and talent is very much aligned with the Purple culture and approach, and we’re thrilled to welcome her to the team.”

Ballard began her career at Public Strategies, a business advisory firm specializing in public affairs, crisis management and public opinion research. Her work with the firm for nearly a decade covered a broad spectrum of industry sectors, including automotive, retail, manufacturing, health care, energy, and financial and professional services. In 2011 when the firm merged with Hill+Knowlton Strategies, a global communications consultancy and public relations network, Ballard took on a series of roles leading communications for the agency and developing its people and culture. Most recently, Ballard was head of communication and culture for H+K U.S. and founder and executive director of the firm’s women’s network.

Ballard was named to the PRWeek 40 Under 40 class in 2014, and in 2016 was named to the inaugural class of the PR News Diversity in PR Individuals of the Year. In 2018 Ballard was elected to serve as co-chair of the PR Council’s “PRC Next” shadow board of directors of next-generation industry leaders.

“I’ve watched through the years as Purple has built a reputation for being both a true strategic partner to clients in times of immense change, as well as a great place for great people to work, so I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to contribute to what’s next for Purple,” Ballard said.

WASHINGTON and CHICAGO, Dec. 19, 2019 — Purple Strategies, a leading strategy and reputation management firm with offices in Alexandria, Virginia and Chicago, Illinois has made Chris Durlak a partner. Durlak joined Purple as the firm was founded and was previously a media strategist with McMahon Squier & Associates before it joined with Alex Castellanos to form Purple.

Durlak has advised senior corporate and communications leaders at companies in the U.S. and globally, across categories that include energy, consumer packaged goods, health care, pharmaceutical, sports and gaming, food and beverage, financial services, defense and aviation, trade associations, and nonprofits. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the George Mason University Foundation, which administers private gifts made in support of the University.

Leading reputation strategy firm’s survey points to belief the NCAA puts its own interests ahead of student athletes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 10) – New research from Purple Strategies, a leading reputation management and advocacy firm, indicates the NCAA – despite its recent decision to allow athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness – remains vulnerable to criticism it won’t do what’s best for student athletes. Purple’s findings are drawn from a poll conducted October 5-6, 2019, with 1,008 members of the informed public (defined as adults 18+ who follow the news regularly) in the U.S.

Among the most troubling findings for the NCAA, 59% of those aware of the California legislation believe the NCAA will do anything to maintain its power, even if it means hurting student athletes. That is 36 points higher than those who believe that the NCAA would sacrifice its own power for the good of student athletes, and nearly double compared to those who aren’t familiar with the legislation.

“Once there is perceived evidence that an organization’s motives no longer align with its mission, we often see a rapid decline in the public seeing that organization as indispensable. While the NCAA has taken a positive first step in indicating it is open to change, the findings in our study points to a perceived willingness on the part of the NCAA to put its own power over the good of student athletes,” said Robert Fronk, Managing Director of Reputation Strategy at Purple.

Today, people hold institutions to higher standards, and they expect no less from companies and organizations than from individuals. They require that actions match words, and if an organization is not perceived as part of the solution, it can be cast as part of the problem. Purple’s polling indicates the NCAA finds itself facing exactly that kind of public opinion challenge: those aware of the California legislation see the NCAA as part of the problem (49%) rather than the solution to issues facing college athletics (32%).

On the topic of paying collegiate athletes, Purple’s findings showed the informed public favors paying them (55% strongly/somewhat agree college players should be paid, versus 36% who strongly/somewhat disagree), though the gap narrows among those who feel most strongly: 26% strongly agree college players should be paid; 19% strongly disagree that collegiate athletes should be paid. These data suggest opinions can still move on the topic of paying college athletes.

“Whether student athletes should be paid is still very much an open debate, but people don’t believe the NCAA is a credible voice in finding the best path forward,” said Denise Brien, Managing Director of Insight Operations at Purple, “And while the NCAA has signaled its support for changes, it’s still unclear what those actions in support of student athletes will be.”

The NCAA has withstood headwinds in the past partly because people couldn’t imagine a future without them. The California legislation, along with that proposed in other states, has the potential to be a serious turning point, with more people thinking the NCAA’s best days are behind them than ahead of them.

“When people question the purpose of any brand or organization, as they are here with the NCAA, you can’t just tell your story differently or louder. You need to change the way you do business,” noted Brien. “Beyond saying it is embracing change, the NCAA will need to make decisions that fundamentally alter how it does business or risk further public opinion backlash and potential action from the nation’s policymakers.”

Purple reputation experts Robert Fronk and Mark Squier were quoted in a Washington Post column by Sally Jenkins on Nov. 7, 2019. Excerpts are shared below, but to read the full column click here. [Subscription may be required]

The NCAA is an entity that has to be restrained by threat of law from abusing athletes’ rights to their own names and likenesses and that reforms only hedgingly, grudgingly and deceitfully. It’s a body that has become so universally offensive to the nose that even politicians on the opposite poles have formed a consensus against it. Liberal California Gov. Gavin Newsom, conservative Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and moderate Republican senator Mitt Romney of Utah are all championing state and federal legislation to curb its maltreatment of athletes.

NetBase, a category leading social analytics platform, took over the Intercontinental in downtown Los Angeles to host a summit focused on the next era of social analytics.

The two-day conference was packed with sessions and demos featuring major brands, agencies and industry experts. Plus, to cap off the event, NetBase experts provided training on how to best use the tool for users at all levels, from introductory to master.

At Purple, we believe integrated insights will be a big part of what’s next for social listening analytics. This was the topic of our presentation at the conference.

Since you couldn’t join us in LA, here are some key takeaways from our presentation.

It turns out a retweet really doesn’t equal an endorsement.

“Retweet doesn’t equal endorsement,” may be a popular Twitter bio disclaimer, but the concept has merit. What people post on the popular social network is often not a real endorsement of an idea or content in a tweet. So how can you fill in the gaps? One data source we frequently combine with social listening research is search data. We’ve found in our campaign work that search is often a powerful predictor for when a topic or issue is truly starting to resonate. By combing these two methodologies were able to get a better understanding of whether or not social conversations are causing people to take more action than a simple retweet and learning more about an issue

What people read and what people post online are often different.

Many people are guilty of retweeting a story with a flashy headline without ever opening the link. Even if someone clicks the link on a media article, it’s not always true that they read every word in it. By pairing social listening with media analysis, you can make up for the gaps in both data sets, and determine if the media narrative, beyond headline sharing, is influencing conversations on social media.

Understanding what your customers are saying on social, not what everyone is saying, is a critical nuance.

In no other part of a marketing organization is more time spent on people that don’t matter to a specific cause or brand than in social listening. When you flip from analyzing every post, no matter the author, to analyzing what relevant groups of people are saying, you can unlock the true power of social listening. This is an important tool today especially as more companies look to take political stances on issues. Distinguishing what reporters, politicians, brand enthusiasts are saying online can help you determine what is resonating with your target audience.

Connecting social conversations with changes in opinions and beliefs powers insights that are valuable at the c-suite level.

From millions of impressions to a tweet authored by a high-profile user, in social listening, it’s easy to get distracted by something that is interesting. The real value you can provide to stakeholders at the highest level of an organization is when you connect this data with opinion data. This allows you to truly understand when a high-volume online conversation is translating to shifts in beliefs, and helps you provide strategic guidance on whether to act or not on an issue.

Go here to learn more about the conference, including the detailed agenda and list of speakers.

 

 

Purple Founding Partner, Mark Squier, sat down with Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, co-hosts of New Hampshire Public Radio’s Civics 101 Podcast, to share his experiences in presidential campaigns as part of Civics 101’s limited series: How to Run for President. Check it out!

Link: New Hampshire Public Radio Civics 101 Podcast: How to Run for President

20 Democratic presidential candidates traveled to Detroit, Michigan for the second primary debates on July 30 and 31st. While much of the media reporting and online conversation in the aftermath focused on the biggest winners and losers of the night(s), we took a slightly different approach to understand the impact of the debates.

Utilizing Quid, a natural language processing tool, we produced a graphical representation of what was said by each candidate and moderator at the debates in the Motor City. By focusing on what was said by each candidate, we’re able to glean insight into key topics and how they’re connected.

With a wide field, and still 462 days until Election Day, candidates spent a lot of time defining themselves and how they would lead the Democratic Party while on the debate stage.

Although news coverage speculated that the economy would account for a majority of discussion in Detroit, it actually took a backseat to another prominent issue, healthcare. On night one of the debates, which included Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Rep. John Delaney (D-MD), former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and activist Marianne Williamson, healthcare was mentioned in over 21% of statements. A driving force of this topic was frontrunner Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All proposal, which moderators not only asked Sanders himself to defend, but also posed questions to the Vermont senator’s competition about their stance on his signature healthcare proposal.

Another reason behind the prominence of healthcare both nights of the debates at the Fox Theater were critiques of the healthcare industry as a whole. “What I don’t believe is that the profit motive of big pharma or big insurance companies should ever determine, in our great nation, whether somebody gets healthcare or not,” Obama’s former housing secretary Julian Castro said on night two of the debates.

This criticism of industries for their greed was not just specific to the healthcare or Big Pharma, Wall Street, the fossil fuel industry and generic corporations also came under attack by candidates. But these attacks were kept broad and did not zero into specific companies or corporations by name. In fact, less than 1% of overall statements from each night of the debate mentioned a specific company by name.

Castellanos has served as communications consultant to seven U.S. presidential campaigns and has helped elect more than a dozen U.S. senators and governors. As Chairman of Purple Strategies, he employs over four decades of political consulting experience to help some of the largest and most valuable brands in the world solve their toughest challenges.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 17, 2019) – On April 3^rd, 2019, in Napa, California, The American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) inducted Purple Strategies’ Co-Founder and Chairman, Alex Castellanos, into its Hall of Fame at their 50th Anniversary Celebration. It is the highest honor the association bestows upon political consultants and strategists who, throughout their career, have demonstrated extraordinary leadership, excellence and accomplishment.

Throughout his storied career as a strategist, Castellanos has helped elect U.S. presidents, governors, senators and congressmen, running campaigns that expressed each candidate’s story with a clear and powerful focus. Before his acceptance speech, Castellanos’ life and career were summarized in a short 2019 AAPC Hall of Fame Honoree Video  (Please click on volume icon, bottom right of video for sound and narration). Castellanos’ approach has always been to help candidates find the truest thing to say and the most emotionally powerful way to say it. In addition to his electoral successes, Castellanos has been credited with being the father of the political attack ad, coining the phrase “soccer mom” and redefining how we talk about voters and their values.

In his remarks, Castellanos expressed his gratitude to the AAPC and noted, “Campaigns are often small things that divide people on issues. Causes are larger. They unite us by giving us a purpose greater than ourselves. We are at our best, not just when we help candidates run great campaigns, but when we help them lead great causes.”

A decade ago, Castellanos, a Republican, and Democratic political strategist Steve McMahon joined together to form Purple Strategies with the goal of bringing campaign speed and strategy to issues, organizations and companies seeking to succeed in a rapidly changing economic and political environment. With its iconic name signifying the harmony of both red and blue perspectives, and a growing slate of national and global clients, Purple has become a recognized leader in the strategy and communications field. Today, it is home to over 100 political campaign, brand strategy and corporate reputation experts who work together to help global brands and organizations address their toughest challenges.

“Alex is incredibly deserving of this honor from AAPC. It’s a great recognition of the significant contribution he’s made to the art and science of winning campaigns,” said Steve McMahon, Purple’s Co-Founder and CEO. “While his induction in to the AAPC Hall of Fame speaks to the legacy he has built as one of the country’s most gifted political strategists, the need for Alex’s unique talent for identifying issues of consequence and the trends that are shaping the future is in more demand now than ever. We feel lucky to have his leadership, wisdom and mentorship at Purple.”

In his role as Purple’s Chairman, Castellanos continues to provide counsel to clients as they look to understand and navigate the social and political forces that determine their success. He also spends a great deal of time working with the firm’s next generation of leaders, helping them develop as thinkers, creators and strategists. His advice to leading brands and companies is rooted in his belief that you speak to stakeholders the way candidates must speak to voters: with an eye toward the future and an authentic voice, providing the largest uniting purpose possible.

Multimedia:

AAPC Hall of Fame Honoree Video (Facebook)

Please click on volume icon, bottom right of video for sound and narration.