Fifth Estate has extensive experience serving federal and local government agencies. We look at our work as more than a client relationship, but a true partnership. Whether protecting the sustainability of our nation's oceans resources, or ensuring job and education opportunities for at-risk youth, Fifth Estate builds enduring relationships that yeild award-winning products and drive mission success.
Read our full capabilities statement here.
Virtually all young men living in the U.S. risk losing out on important benefits like college loans, job training and myriad job opportunities if they fail to register with Selective Service. This can lead to a cascade of negative effects that can follow them their entire lives. Significantly, the vast majority of those who fail to register are from low-income families and communities of color, meaning that reaching them is a more a matter of equity than one of compliance.
Informed by over 50 focus groups and nearly 1,000 meetings with national and local organizations serving at-risk youth across the country, our research and experience helped guide the development of an ever-growing toolbox of resources that could be easily tailored, replicated and distributed, including posters and brochures, broadcast public service announcements, fact sheets, and online materials. We found that the best way to circulate our information and our resources was by talking directly to the people who work with young men on a daily basis. Each year, we traveled to cities around the nation and met with staff at rec centers and rehab facilities; youth sports leagues and community organizations; national youth service powerhouses and volunteer-run grassroots networks.
Before Selective Service System revitalized its outreach efforts, registration rates had been falling for years to a low of 83 percent. Today, rates average in the mid-90 percent range for those who are turning 20, and even more register before they reach the cutoff date at 26 years old. Most important, what that translates into is more young men than ever being able to take full advantage of the many opportunities they are due.
Read the full case study here.
A perplexing challenge has perennially vexed the urban forestry community: With all the benefits we know urban forests provide, what is the most important issue to talk about when we’re trying to draw broad audiences under the urban forest canopy? Four years of work by a national task force convened by the U.S. Forest Service and the Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition (SUFC) points to a surprising answer: All of them.
Fifth Estate Communications worked alongside SUFC from the release of Vibrant Cities & Urban Forests: A National Call to Action to the creation of the Trees Are the Key online toolkit. “Trees are the key,” was developed not as a catchy campaign slogan, but rather as a conversation-starter to discuss mutual interests among diverse stakeholders. The toolkit provides common language for discussing urban forestry issues. Based on our research and interviews with urban forest advocates and others, we found that there is no “single message” that resonates across the board. Trees and urban forests are highly localized issues. Therefore, our communications tools center around a “platform” of the 12 Vibrant Cities recommendations—which encompass the work stakeholder organizations are already doing—and strategies for using those recommendations to build on that work.
Thanks to the toolkit and other outreach, thought-provoking and action-inspiring articles and blog posts appeared in such outlets as the Baltimore Sun, the American Planning Association Sustaining Places blog, the American Public Works Association’s APWA Reporter and the National Recreation and Park Association’s Parks and Recreation magazine. In addition, several organizations adopted the toolkit content for their own websites, and hundreds of social media posts were generated by an expansive group of Twitter and Facebook users.
The District of Columbia faces several challenges when it comes to stormwater management. Runoff pollutes local waterways, erodes streambanks, causes flooding, and can even overwhelm the sewer system, with these negative impacts all eventually flowing into the sensitive Chesapeake Bay.
In response, the District created two innovative programs that work in tandem to promote the development of green solutions to stormwater management – a first-in-the-nation market-based stormwater credit and trading program, and a related initiative that allows property owners greater flexibility for ongoing inspection and maintenance of their stormwater retention facilities. To increase uptake of the programs across the city, the District awarded a grant to the Urban Land Institute, which turned to Fifth Estate to design and activate a communications plan to move audiences to action.
Decisions about stormwater management come at numerous points in the development process, and are made by many and varied professionals along the way – from civil engineers to architects to facilities managers to developers to the private landowners who generate credits. These many audiences each require wholly distinct messaging, and traditional stakeholder outreach attempts had not proven fully effective.
To meet these challenges, Fifth Estate developed a series of micro-targeted communications packages that told the story of the programs from each audience’s unique perspective. Based on that approach, we developed complementary case studies, blog posts, content for professional organization websites, targeted emails, social media posts, and earned media pitches. In addition to promotion through ULI and District of Columbia channels, this array of materials enabled champions from each industry to use the right tool, at the right time, to directly target the right audience.
NOAA Fisheries is tasked with monitoring our nation’s fisheries and keeping them sustainable. For more than a decade, Fifth Estate has bolstered efforts to engage with fishermen, partner organizations, and other stakeholders through a range of initiatives and channels for three different NOAA Fishieries programs: the Marine Recreational Information Program, an initiative to improve the way saltwater recreational fishing data are collected and reported; the Fisheries Information System program, a state-regional-federal partnership to improve access to comprehensive, high-quality, timely fisheries information; and the National Observer Program, which coordinates the work of observers gathering first-hand data on what’s caught and discarded by U.S. commercial fishing vessels.
Among Fifth-Estate’s initial projects with NOAA Fisheries was the launch of the National Saltwater Angler Registry, a database of recreational anglers developed to make gathering recreational fishing data more effective and efficient. The goal was to develop a campaign that moved anglers to register either with the federal program or, where available, their states. One of our greatest challenges was the fact that, in many states, anglers had never been required to get a license to fish in salt water, and considered the tradition a birthright. Utilizing print and online collateral, PSAs, focus groups, and other tactis in patnerships with states, among the positive outcomes of our campaign was something that did not happen. When the Registry went live, there were no widespread protests or calls for a boycott. Equally important, of course, is what did happen. In its first year, nearly three quarters of a million anglers had voluntarily submitted their names to their state or the National Saltwater Angler Registry.
Founded in 1987, Double R Productions is full-service, woman-owned communications firm, specializing in television and video production. For nearly 35 years, Double R has provided film, video and television services, original broadcast programming, state-of-the-art post-production and graphics services, as well as presentation training and coaching.
Modern Media is a partnership of problem-solving graphic designers. Full service creative or design/production support – we make it easy to work with us. Communication teams of all kinds count on us – coalitions, foundations, PR firms and corporations. We know it’s hard work to get your message out there. We’re here to make it easier. Let’s get your story told.
