251467 Smart strategies for campaign coordination

Wednesday, November 2, 2011: 11:20 AM

Erin Boltz , Spitfire Strategies, Washington, DC
     
Throughout 2010, a coalition of nutrition advocates and a newly established campaign called the Child Nutrition Initiative (CNI) worked together to educate policymakers and enact smart policy changes that will improve the health of kids across the country. The unique partnership of funders (coordinated through CNI) combined with the a coalition of leading advocates created a formidable and united front that convinced policymakers to improve child nutrition.

This presentation will identify the best practices for overseeing a campaign that accomplishes funder goals and effectively coordinates with the advocacy community. We will discuss how CNI worked to identify the strongest policymaker pressure points and provided support to key advocates to successfully educate and move policymakers. This included identifying which advocates were most influential with various policymaker targets and providing tailored support that maximized the strengths of a wide variety of advocates while recognizing changing policymaker priorities. Tactics included message and materials development, earned and paid media campaigns, and direct policymaker outreach.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education

Learning Objectives:
Identify the best practices for overseeing a campaign that accomplishes funder goals and effectively coordinates with the advocacy community. Discuss how the initiative worked to identify policymaker pressure points and provide support to advocates. Identify which advocates were most influential with various policymaker targets and providing tailored outreach maximizing the strengths of various advocates in response to a changing political landscape.

Keywords: Nutrition, Advocacy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be a session panelist on the content I am responsible for because I have expertise in campaign management, communications and advocacy, with extensive experience developing strategic communications plans and creative content for politicians, nonprofits and private companies. At Spitfire, I have worked on a wide variety of successful policy initiatives. This includes developing a communications strategy to position and launch a campaign that helped lead to the passage of federal legislation banning unfair and deceptive credit card fees, as well as implementing a successful communications strategy to help to secure passage of state and national legislation banning dangerous toxic chemicals from children’s toys. I also served as the campaign manager for the Child Nutrition Initiative where I oversaw all campaign strategy and tactics to help ensure passage of strong and robustly funded legislation reauthorizing the child nutrition legislation in 2010.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: School Meals Matter: How Foundations and Advocates can Join Forces for Policy Change
See more of: Food and Nutrition