The death of Justice Ginsburg has injected more uncertainty into delicate negotiations around a government shutdown and coronavirus relief. Does partner Ron Bonjean think a relief package can still get done? Find out in this article from the Wall Street Journal.
The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Fight Complicates Coronavirus Aid Talks, Spending Bill
With elections closing in, the White House is stepping up its efforts through policy changes and direct spending to try to shore up support for Republican candidates in competitive races, as well as bolster President Trump’s own standing in swing states. Get partner Ron Bonjean’s perspective in this Wall Street Journal article.
After Justice Ginsburg’s death, how soon could a confirmation vote in the Senate take place? Ron Bonjean’s point of view is captured in this Washington Times article.
Washington, D.C. – ROKK Solutions, a bipartisan public affairs firm at the nexus of policy and politics, is pleased to announce the promotion of Lindsay Singleton to the newly created role of Managing Director.
Singleton joined ROKK in 2018 as a Senior Vice President, taking on a significant role in the day-to-day management and expansion of the firm. With Singleton’s support, ROKK’s strategic expansion over the past 24 months has resulted in double digit growth and a 360-degree integrated suite of capabilities across areas including but not limited to paid media, digital strategy, campaign development, cybersecurity, and corporate social responsibility.
“Lindsay has been indispensable to the firm’s growth over the past two years,” said co-founder and partner Rodell Mollineau. “From finding and retaining top talent to expanding the capabilities we deliver on to meet changing client needs, Lindsay is the perfect leader to continue to grow our culture and our agency.”
In her new role, Singleton will assume responsibility at the highest level for client relationships and account management within the agency, ensuring best in class strategy as well as building internal infrastructure as the firm continues to grow and diversify its offerings.
“Lindsay is a sought-after mind for our clients, bringing fresh perspective and proactive strategy to every business challenge,” said co-founder and partner Ron Bonjean. “She motivates our teams to give 110% every day for our clients, and our account teams will continue to flourish and exceed expectations under her leadership.”
Lindsay’s career has spanned over fifteen years of international government and private sector communications roles, including six years as a foreign service officer serving throughout Latin America and successive responsibilities in the private sector as an expert on Corporate Social Responsibility. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University and is fluent in Spanish and Italian and proficient in Russian.
Is Florida a must-win state for Trump? Partner Ron Bonjean weighs in with The Hill.
Smart businesses are increasingly releasing their Corporate Social Responsibility programs and foundations from internal silos and opening paths to engagement with their government relations and communications teams. Learn more about how this important strategy from Lindsay Singleton in this op-ed in Morning Consult.
The COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating a vast and long-term shortage of cybersecurity professionals across the globe, even as cybercriminals increase their attacks, some experts say. ROKK’s Kaylin Trychon weighs in on the opportunities for workers in this important field.
Last week, Facebook announced new ad policies aimed at tightening its Election Day advertising reigns. The point of the new policies is to mitigate disinformation during the days immediately preceding the election. Net-net for businesses, while ads that focus on social issues, elections and politics in the US can still have edits made to targeting, or even be paused if needed, there will be a period of time before the election where ad creative and copy cannot be changed.
The details of the new policies are as follows:
- Facebook (and Instagram) advertisers will not be able to create new ads about social issues, elections or politics in the US between October 27 and November 3 (Election Day). This will provide time for advertisers to ensure their campaigns are accurate and allow the content of these ads to be seen, discussed, and responded to before the polls close.
- Ads about social issues, election or politics in the US that are approved and delivering impressions prior to October 27 will be allowed to continue through November 3, although advertisers will not be able to edit certain aspects of these ads, such as ad creative (including image/video assets, destination, and text), placement, and optimization. Advertisers will still be able to update targeting, budget and bids for these ads on or after October 27.
Since there is a high likelihood that something societally significant will happen right before Election Day, businesses should prepare as much as possible for these restrictions and be ready with alternative social strategies based on changing circumstances.
ROKK’s digital team recommends all businesses consider the following steps to prepare:
- Identify category content early: Make sure your team knows what types of content might fall into the social issue, government or politics category. Be sure to have proper authentication for advertising in this bucket.
- Focus on evergreen messaging: Avoid inadvertently creating new chains of disinformation by ensuring content is as evergreen as possible. Remember that you can still pause or shift targeting for potentially outdated ads accordingly throughout election week.
- Complete system set-up in advance: Ensure ads about social issues, election or politics are set up in the system as far in advance as possible, because system review and approval times will likely get hours or even days longer as the election gets closer.
- Review in-market messages: Plan a review of all relevant ads between October 22 and 24, with all changes to ad creative, placement and optimization submitted to Facebook by October 24 at the latest. Ensure all necessary stakeholders for those changes are aware of the review period and ready to provide feedback and approvals.
- Leverage other platforms for additional promotional inclusion and last-minute changes: Should something come up where an applicable creative edit or optimization is needed between October 27-November 3, have other viable digital advertising platforms and accounts already in motion and/or set up and ready to launch.
- Stay up-to-date on changing policies: Be on the lookout for other platforms to potentially follow Facebook’s lead and create similar rules, or for Facebook to extend this new policy in the event that a clear winner of the election is not available on November 3.
Whether your team needs help managing through last-minute digital communications updates, revising their channel and messaging strategy or preparing for the unexpected, ROKK’s digital team can help you prepare for and navigate through this sure-to-be exciting election cycle.
For more information, please contact Rachel Winer at [email protected].
The field of communications comes with a lot of disciplines. For newcomers, they may be somewhat surprised at the depth of knowledge professionals need to leverage. VP Kaylin Trychon shares her take on the importance of analytics for new communicators in this Forbes article.
Should communicators focus more on storytelling, and less on messaging? Michael Galfetti makes the case, in this article on LinkedIn.