About the Client

The Global Electronics Association (formerly known as IPC) leads and collaborates with more than 3,000 member companies, thousands of partners, and dozens of governments worldwide to strengthen supply chain resilience and industry growth.

The Business Challenges

Like many associations, the Association is constantly challenged to develop a robust, impactful communications strategy with limited staff and budget. As a global association with varied members and stakeholders, the Association needed to find a solution that would allow it to:

• Communicate complicated, nuanced topics in a way that builds support for policy goals

• Stay relevant in a crowded D.C. environment

• Advocate for members' interests in Congress and the Executive Branch

• Keep thousands of members updated on and engaged in D.C. advocacy efforts

DCC’s Solutions

• Created a weekly news brief for members on D.C. advocacy efforts

• Created a collaborative system to speed announcements to the media

• Targeted media relations efforts to secure interviews and op-ed placements

• Launched a grassroots advocacy program to engage members on important policy issues

• Drafted engaging content for social media channels to keep members updated on policy goals

Results

• Increased engagement with government policy makers, leading to legislative and policy wins

• Positioned the organization as a reliable resource, gaining prominent media placements

• Increased audience and impressions across all social media platforms

• Engaged hundreds of members in a grassroots advocacy campaign

The Business Challenges

Like many industry associations, NENA's one-person communications team needed help keeping pace with frequent inquiries from national, regional and trade media. Against this backdrop, the industry has faced chronic underfunding of 9-1-1 workforce and infrastructure, lack of recognition, and high rates of burnout, turnover and stress among 9-1-1 professionals and rivalry with other public policy advocacy groups— all communications and policy challenges.

DCC’s Solutions

• Set up protocols and practices to handle media inquiries and outreach

• Break down internal silos and foster stronger communications and teamwork among government relations, member relations and

  event management

• Simplify the technical messaging and play up authentic human emotions

• Create a nationwide #ThankYou911 campaign aimed at generating expressions of gratitude or 9-1-1

• Recruit and work with a professional fundraiser to help capture revenue opportunities

Results

• Achieve dozens of positive, accurate media mentions per year and ongoing media relationships

• Increase audience size, views and engagement across social media

• Partner with celebrities and sports teams to amplify the #ThankYou911 campaign, resulting in millions of multimedia impressions

• Grow a national movement highlighting 9-1-1 professionals as first responders

The Business Challenges

Digital television is part of our every day life now, but that wasn't always the case. More than a decade ago, the U.S. government, under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), sought to transition America's airwaves from analog to digital broadcasting—but the timeline to implementation was stalled by bipartisan opposition in the U.S. House. With just eight weeks before a crucial Congressional committee vote that would determine the fate of the initiative, we helped mobilize quickly.

DCC’s Solutions

• Developed a "populist" approach to messaging ("Better TV and stronger communities for everyone") and emphasized solutions for

  helping low-income and elderly populations who might most be affected by the transition

• Placed earned and paid media in affordable, hometown media outlets as well as Congressional-focused media

• Developed a targeted approach to educate and influence more than a dozen Members of Congress to support the digital TV transition

Results

• Mobilized influential constituents through "grass-tops" outreach

• Generated 500+ letters, e-mails and calls from VIPs and influencers to 11 key members of the U.S. Congress

• Helped secure the votes of 11 key members of Congress

• Won passage of a good bill

Dale chats with Chris Nussman, Communications Director of NENA – The 9-1-1 Association, about the value DCC delivers for the “unsung heroes of public safety” — America’s 91-1- professionals.

Dale chats with Chris Mitchell, Vice President, Global Government Relations, and Sandy Gentry, Director, Brand Communications, at IPC, the global association of electronics manufacturers, about the various ways DCC supports their custom content and communications outreach.

America’s 9-1-1 agencies face rising public scrutiny, rapid technological change, and growing operational complexity. Yet the public information function within 9-1-1 has not kept pace. This gap creates operational, reputational, and political risks. Agencies that professionalize and formalize the public information function can reduce misinformation, improve public trust, and strengthen support for needed funding and policy changes.

Working with Mission Critical Partners, we pulled these themes together into a short white paper, “Building Public Trust in 9-1-1: Optimizing the Public Information Function in 9-1-1.” The paper takes a practical look at:

• What’s changed in the operating environment

• Where agencies are running into challenges

• What it looks like to build a more effective public information capability

 If this is something you’re seeing in your own 9-1-1 agency or network, we’d welcome the chance to compare notes.