A group of Washington’s CEOs and corporate leaders created a new coalition, Washington Employers for Racial Equity (WERE), committed to action building equity and opportunity for all.

The Challenge

The Washington Employers for Racial Equity, coalition of CEO’s and corporate leaders in Washington, hired S360 spearhead public relations with the aim to build momentum in the business community in support of a more equitable future in Washington. To begin, it focused on advancing equity for Black Washingtonians in recognition of the long history of injustice and inequity experienced by this community.

Why S360

S360 was hired for our deep knowledge of the media landscape and proven track record of generating positive PR, our suite of in-house services, and our demonstrated commitment to advancing equity in policy and practice.

The Approach 

Our team built a strategic communications plan from which we built out messaging, content development, earned and paid media, website development and targeted digital media. Within the plan, our first priority was to get the message right. We developed a framework from which we crafted a strong media pitch and supporting materials. We built a list of stakeholders, targeted media, and key reporters for outreach, and issued a wire release for national coverage.

We placed digital and print ads as well as sponsored stories in local publications. Finally, we created videos to sustain WERE’s message after the surge in initial PR.

WHY IT WORKED

Eighty-seven earned media stories generated over $1 million in ad value equivalency. Through organic social media, we reached over 12,475,000 users, and generated 1.37 million impressions with targeted audiences through paid ads.