Crafting Effective Response Communication

Guatama Buddha once said, “Do not learn how to react. Learn how to respond.”

This sentiment is the foundation for the strategy our team developed for brands and organizations to respond to “national signal events.” A national signal event is an event that negatively impacts a marginalized group of people and captures the news cycle. The murder of George Floyd and the California Wildfires would both be considered national signal events of 2020.

Background:
In 2020, our CEO was asked to present ideas on how healthcare DEI leaders may respond to national signal events impacting their communities. The invitation came from the healthcare chair of CEO Action’s healthcare group and Penn State Health’s VP and Chief Diversity Officer.

Solution:
The first step to crafting a response to a national signal event is to simply look around. Is your organization geographically located in the affected community? Does responding to the affected community demographic align with your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion mission? Your response should serve a community – brands and organizations aren’t newscasters. For example, if an event takes place in another state and doesn’t have any relevance to an organization’s mission, it’s unnecessary to respond. A hospital in Missouri doesn’t need to comment on wildfires in California.

Organizations need to maintain their credibility with the general public. A response to a major event needs to be backed up by some subject matter expertise. IBM set an excellent example of this in their response to George Floyd’s murder in 2020. IBM announced that it would no longer offer or develop facial recognition technology on June 9, 2020. Rather than offer empty words of support, they uplifted the Black community and used their position to truly make a statement – and draw a line in the sand. Think about ways that your organization is uniquely positioned to make a difference.

Lastly, if you talk the talk, walk the walk. Brands need to offer tangible resources in their responses to major events. In 2021, empty words do nothing. People are surrounded by conversations about covid, race relations, the environment, and more. It’s tough to grab anyone’s attention without something to offer. Organizations can offer educational resources, financial support, supplies, and even mental health support if applicable.

A memorable response from an organization must contain the three elements discussed above to be successful. Community engagement, subject matter expertise, and resources are the three keys to a meaningful public statement. Considering how these elements work together will take your communication from a reaction to a response.

Our CEO, Yareli Esteban, has presented this framework to an audience of over 600 in the CEO Action Organization. Strategar also digs deeper into these principles to provide our clients with the tools they need to respond to crises within and outside of their organizations.

If you or your organization is interested in a walkthrough of the model and how this can be applied to your organization, please contact us at info@strategar.com to set-up a one on one with our team.

In this together.

It has been a few weeks since our last email that included what to do to flatten the curve. We have been in contact with many of you and the recurring theme is fear of what is to come and how we move forward once we overcome this COVID-19 pandemic.

As you, we’ve been watching the news and seeing the numbers increase around the globe. Today, it was confirmed that the United States has surpassed China and Italy in the number of Coronavirus cases.

While we remain hopeful and productive during these uncertain times, we feel there is a need to give hope. To that end, today we are releasing our “Be Human” message. We hope you find yourself remembering that after every storm comes the calm. We have no doubt in our ability to overcome this, but it will take work, empathy and working together to get through what’s ahead.

If there is anything we can do to help you communicate to your constituents during these uncertain times, let us know. Our mission to help brands connect with communities is what keeps us going. We’re here for you.

In the spirit of partnership during this uncertain time…

As many of you know, the COVID-19 virus has been designated as a global pandemic. Since day one, Strategar has been set-up to allow our team to work remotely. We have always had a flexible schedule with working from home as an option for everyone. All of our files and systems are on the cloud and we can access everything from anywhere with an internet connection.

We also have a strict stay-at-home policy if anyone is sick. No one in our office has been affected by COVID-19. While we are watching the situation closely, we are following the CDC mitigation guidelines to keep our office safe and healthy.

Since we work on a variety of projects relating to stopping the contagion of diseases in food, we wanted to share the CDC guidelines:

To Protect Yourself

Clean your hands often

Illustration: washing hands with soap and water

  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds especially after you have been in a public place, or after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
  • If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
Illustration: Woman quarantined to her home

Avoid close contact

man in bed

To protect others

Stay home if you’re sick

 woman covering their mouth when coughing

Cover coughs and sneezes

  • Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze or use the inside of your elbow.
  • Throw used tissues in the trash.
  • Immediately wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not readily available, clean your hands with a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.

 man wearing a mask

Wear a facemask if you are sick

  • If you are sick:  You should wear a facemask when you are around other people (e.g., sharing a room or vehicle) and before you enter a healthcare provider’s office. If you are not able to wear a facemask (for example, because it causes trouble breathing), then you should do your best to cover your coughs and sneezes, and people who are caring for you should wear a facemask if they enter your room. Learn what to do if you are sick.
  • If you are NOT sick: You do not need to wear a facemask unless you are caring for someone who is sick (and they are not able to wear a facemask). Facemasks may be in short supply and they should be saved for caregivers.

cleaning a counter

Clean and disinfect

  • Clean AND disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily. This includes tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, and sinks.
  • If surfaces are dirty, clean them: Use detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection.

Products with EPA-approved emerging viral pathogens 

If you need to reach us for any reason, please see our information below. 

Yareli Esteban
CEO/President
Cell: 972-948-3781
Email: yareli@strategar.com
Dean Willis
COO
Cell: 214-282-1376
Email: dwillis@strategar.com
Joshua Patron
Chief Creative Officer
Cell: 469-346-9168
Email: joshua@strategar.com
Angelica Ocampo
Brand Story Thinker
Cell: 469-285-8141
Email: angelica@strategar.com
Molly Gonzales
Brand Account Director
Cell: 806-773-6123
Email: molly@strategar.com
Pablo Ocampo
Brand Account Coordinator
Cell: 214-830-4839
Email: pablo@strategar.com

365 days of Gratitude

With the holidays approaching, the time to reflect has come. 2019 has been filled with change, growth and joy. I am grateful for the time spent with family/friends and the opportunity to do meaningful work in a great industry.

Professionally, this year has been filled with great opportunities, one of which was participating in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program. A takeaway from the program was the connections made and relearning some of the fundamentals of business ownership. I also walked away with new friendships and I’m incredibly grateful to have met other business owners who are also creating great opportunities for the teams they lead. I would definitely recommend the program to any entrepreneur looking to grow or expand into new offerings.

Another great opportunity that arose this year, was speaking at panels and conferences. From empowerment to professional development, I am discovering my innate sharing personality, is a great fit for these events. Thank you to everyone who invited me to speak.

Lastly, one of the greatest opportunities of this year was doing meaningful work with the Strategar team. We volunteered at the North Texas Food Bank for North Texas Giving Day, Frisco ISD Career Day and are currently working with the non-profit ROSAesROJO on a health awareness initiative for Latina women. It’s remarkable to see our mission come alive each day and what a group of people can do when they come together for great causes.

As Thanksgiving approaches this week, I’m curious what you’re thankful for and what you’re looking forward as this year and the end of this second decade of the new millennium nears to a close.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

National Hispanic Heritage Month and National Boss’ Day

With a team comprised largely of Hispanics, we wanted to celebrate the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month. This team was not built by accident but as a part of our CEO Yareli Esteban’s American Dream.

Her story starts like any other immigrant story but she has truly made it her own success story. She immigrated to the U.S. in elementary school and by the time she graduated High School she was recognized as a National Hispanic Merit Scholar in high school. She earned a full academic scholarship to attend The University of Texas at Austin where she earned a bachelor’s in business administration with a concentration in marketing. Following UT Austin, Yareli has spent 15 years working in the communications industry, where she led multicultural insights teams for large advertising companies and managed brands like: Chevy, Univision, Whataburger, Bank of America and Sprint.

As a part of her American Dream, she started Strategar in 2013. Strategar is a boutique advertising agency, focused on helping brands connect with communities. She believes the power of the collective is a strong force and is committed to working with brands that are not only for profit – but for purpose as well. At Strategar, she has developed training materials for both U.S. and migrant workers and she has worked with a pool of university clients to ensure graduating seniors understand the path to affordable college options. She also works with the department of agriculture in Texas developing various campaigns that range from educational awareness to economic development strategies that impact millions of people.

Outside of her advertising life, Yareli likes to give back to her community. Many of her efforts support education in bicultural and bilingual classrooms. She also volunteers across North Texas schools and mentoring programs fostering education among the most diverse and socio-economically challenged communities. Later this month, she will be moderating a panel at the Hey Chica! Latina Leadership Summit and in February she will also share her expertise at the National Association of Bilingual Educators’ (NABE) national conference in Las Vegas, where she will lead a workshop on best communications practices. She’s also a proud daughter, sister and aunt.

We are so proud of her accomplishments and journey, not only as a Hispanic woman but as a great boss and caring human being.

Camp Strategar, planting seeds for the future

About three years ago we started Camp Strategar. The week long program started off with my niece Eliana Sandhir, who was 10 at the time. We wanted to give her a real life project to make the most of her time.

The program is very important to me. I feel it helps her get a real world view on topics that go beyond the classroom as well as instilling a strong work ethic in her. It also helps build skills that prepare her for school and life in general. Over the past three years, the program has evolved. This year, the topic evolved from food and nutrition to gender equality. We chose the topic together during a family dinner discussion about the United Nations’ 2030 sustainable goals which include so many important topics like clean water for everyone, ending poverty to gender equality. We both felt that gender equality was an interesting topic to research and an important issue to address.

To help her undertake this big topic, we invited a new camper to join us this year. Marissa and Eliana both worked independently on their presentations but shared their ideas with one another. The week’s activities consisted of researching the topic, answering daily questions and compiling all the research into a presentation. On the last day of camp, our team was presented both their findings and proposed solutions that could solve gender inequality.

They came up with five solutions to solve this important issue: 

1) Create educational materials gender positive

2) Parental rights that treat men and women equally post the birth of child

3) Appreciate a woman’s work through equal pay

4) Stopping girl bashing

5) Inclusive decision making to achieve equality for all

We were so impressed by the presentation and ideas. We have uploaded the deck to slide share, you can see it  here.  In the years to come, we hope to expand Camp Strategar to include more girls and boys who are interested in learning and providing real world experience.

If you have any ideas or are interested in having your teen join us next year, please drop me a line.

Strategarian Awards for Public Service

At Strategar we believe in giving back to the community. We are involved in non-profit and professional development organizations, dedicating our spare time to volunteering.  Volunteer work often goes unnoticed but there are instances when volunteers get recognized for their work.

Our Brand Story Thinker, Angelica Ocampo was recently recognized at the 2019 American Advertising Federation (AAF) National Club Achievement Awards. As the AAF Dallas Public Service chair, one of her duties was to write a Club Achievement report that recapped club projects and initiatives that helped the non-profit community in Dallas.

Angelica’s work on the Public Service report helped the club place 2nd, an improvement from last year’s 3rd place. Her experience has motivated her to continue as the Public Service chair for the upcoming term.

Strategar’s ties with AAF don’t stop with Angelica, our newest Strategarian, Vivian De La Cruz is also a member. I actually met Vivian at an Ad 2 Dallas event, I was a panelist sharing career advice to a group of young professionals. Vivian is the copy writing chair for the Ad 2 Dallas Marcom team and is working as an account coordinator, writer and social media expert at Strategar.

Learn more about AAF Dallas and Ad 2 Dallas below.

About AAF Dallas:

AAF Dallas is the oldest civic organization in the Big D and has been the trusted business partner by connecting our corporate members and sponsors since 1908.

Our working board of volunteers is dedicated to our mission to protect and promote the wellbeing of the advertising industry through our government relationships, to provide thought leadership to our members through innovative programming, to attract top talent by supporting and growing future industry leaders via our Educational Foundation, to foster diversity in advertising, and to honor advertising excellence.

About Ad 2 Dallas:

Ad 2 Dallas is an affiliate of AAF Dallas for advertising professionals who are 32 or younger.

Through networking and educational events, public service opportunities, and social gatherings, we help up-and-coming professionals gain the skills and contacts they need to become tomorrow’s industry leaders.

Younger Population Is A Growth Opportunity for All

Watching season 3 of “Stranger Things” this past weekend, I was reminded of my experience as an 80’s kid. We saw when the Berlin Wall came down, the Challenger explode, Reagan’s 1986 Amnesty Reform and so much more. Wrapping up the millennium, there was also a lot of excitement around the 2000 Census. The hypothesis for many pioneers of Hispanic marketing then was that the 2000 Census would validate the enormous growth of the Hispanic/Latino population from the 1990’s.

It’s amazing how quickly 20 years have passed and how the consumer continues to evolve. Reading Pew’s latest research published this week, it is astonishing to get confirmation that Hispanics (18% of the U.S. population), contributed to 50% of the country’s growth from 2008- 2018. Growth is driven by U.S. births, or homegrown as I like to call them, but the population growth is slowing down some, and the median age has shifted from 26 to 30 years old.

What does this mean for brands? 

Targeting Latinos has transcended language. Depicting culture and community is just as important to Latinos as language once was. This mindset is supported by media, proximity to LATAM, and social networks. In this millennium, we (Latinos) have become mainstream with a plethora of crossover artists, food, and even celebrating “dia de los muertos” as shown in the Pixar movie Coco.

Having spent 20 years in the business, I’m excited to see what this youth accomplishes in the next decade. My advice to young Latinos is to stay humble, have fun, study, take care of your body, and save as much as you can. Also, use those pennies to travel and see the world. On the money and education front, culturally, many of the U.S. Latino homegrown population came from little means and there’s still a big opportunity to learn more about money and financial literacy. These are areas I predict will continue to develop in the next decade. At Strategar, we are exploring creating content that will raise financial literacy and close the educational gap. I am very excited about what’s to come next for U.S. Latinos. What are your thoughts on how the Latino population will evolve over the next decade?

“Social Good” – The Advertising Winner of Super Bowl LIII

Well folks, Super Bowl LIII is behind us and like every year many of us who work in advertising or marketing sit back to see what this year’s sponsors had to say during the coveted broadcast.

Today, I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews on what the experts thought of the ads. Many have said, “the brands fell flat”. Some said, “they better try harder next year”. While I’ll admit there was some of the usual Hollywood flare missing in this year’s advertisements, as the Forbes article “Super Bowl 2019 Commercials: 10 Themes Emerge That Reflect Consumers’ Fears, Desires, And Hopes” points out, we saw some definite trends this year. The trend that most stood out, was the move by blue chip brands to use their premium air time to promote “social good” messaging.

If you’re wondering what social good messaging is – don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Social good messaging is when a company or brand showcases work they do for a social cause. A social good campaign may highlight causes related to the environment, helping disadvantaged groups, supporting non-profits or improving people’s lives. As marketers and global citizens, this is important because it recognizes a shift from brands focusing on themselves to showing support for something bigger. In essence, these brands are showing us what they are doing to make the world a little better.

So what brands did this best? Of the television ads that aired, here are my top 3 – with explanations for each:

Microsoft’s “Everybody plays, Everybody wins” ad featured disabled children whose playing field is equalized by the use of their gaming console. For anyone who has ever interacted with a kid with special needs, it was heartfelt and very touching to see those kiddos feeling included with their peer group. The brand showed in a tangible way how it is helping the quality of an underserved group. I give a thumbs up both on message and a brand promise the audience can understand.

Google’s “Job Search for Veterans” ad featured a tool that veterans can use to find employment best suited based on their military experience. This ad seemed more neutral among the experts, but again, if you have ever volunteered with veterans or have spent an hour talking to them after they retire or return from deployment, you would understand it was a great social good message to promote. We also learned Google had a special search feature to make employment search easier for veterans. Well done Google.

Verizon’s “All Our Thanks” (First Responder) ad was also memorable. This one featured an NFL coach who survived a car crash. He was thankful to the first responders who were there every step of the journey. Much to the coach’s surprise, the people he was there to talk to were the people who had been there at that critical moment. While the ad is very moving and definitely took premium air time to recognize the importance of first responders, I struggled to understand the connection to the brand. The only connection I could make is that they were trying to make good on recent press about throttling data plans of firefighters during California fires, and of course donating to a fund that will benefit them. Maybe it was opportunistic, but it seemed Verizon is on the right track talking about this important issue – after all in the case of the coach, it all started with a call. The question moving forward is how will Verizon be involved in the process? The ad seems to miss the connection to a direct service and how they improve people’s lives.

As your brand is looking to do social good work, I recommend you consult with creative agencies that understand how to bridge the two worlds. Work with a partner who will take an insight or cause you care about to create a brand message that promotes social good and is related to your product or service. Ideally, you want to connect the message to your brand’s vision and share how it stands for something bigger. When you do so be authentic and do not leave your audience scratching their heads trying to figure out the message.

Of course this assessment is missing additional channels and results, but the key takeaway is that more brands are moving in this direction. What did you think of the social good work that aired? I am personally excited to see the trend head in this direction. I would love to hear your comments.