Request for proposals: US Communications Campaign

About Global Witness

Global Witness is an international nonprofit established in 1993 that campaigns to hold companies and governments to account for their destruction of the environment, their disregard for the planet and their failure to protect human rights. With over 30 years of experience, we investigate and expose the drivers of climate change and campaign to shift the balance of power from those profiting most from climate breakdown (e.g., major polluters such as big oil and gas, and major enablers such as banks and other financial institutions) to those most adversely affected (e.g., communities whose life and livelihoods are impacted by changes in the environment and climate and the people on the frontlines of this crisis defending the planet, their land and communities). 

We are a London-based organization with smaller offices in DC, Brussels and Sao Paolo, as well as a presence in China. We have stronger name recognition and deeper media relationships in the UK and Europe than we currently do in the US. Changing that dynamic is critical to our strategy moving forward.

Background

In order to more effectively achieve our global strategic vision for change, we believe we need to more effectively leverage US political, media and philanthropic power. Increased media coverage in influential US outlets (most notably CNN, the New York Times, and Washington Post) will help us increase our name/brand recognition and offer greater legitimacy with both philanthropists and policymakers. 

The external agency would work under the guidance of the Head of Strategic Communications who holds responsibility for Global Witness media engagements/strategy. The agency would provide targeted support to bolster efforts to engage US media as well as to clarify our understanding of our target markets and inform our communications strategy moving forward. 

The learnings from this project will inform an organizational Strategic Comms strategy which will be developed in the coming months to lay out how we want to take key audiences on a journey over 18+ months in how they think and feel about GW and the issues we work on. 

Scope of Work

We are looking for an off-the-shelf comms campaign to maximize the media impact in the US of our planned activities for the rest of the year and into 2025, building on our strong presence at New York Climate Week. The agency will work to get the elements of Global Witness work that will resonate most with our target audience in the US in front of them at the right time. They will also advise on which (if any) associated comms products/event attendance/digital content would be necessary to support this. 

This would include securing direct media coverage of our work. Additional interventions might include placing op-eds to improve our thought leadership and executive visibility, identification of events/spaces that Global Witness should participate in, tailored briefings, proactive external meetings, as well as a comms script and narrative that unites our various planned activities during Q4 within the American zeitgeist. 

In the simplest terms, we want audiences to 1) know who Global Witness is and 2) to begin to trust – or be positively inclined towards – Global Witness as a climate nonprofit that meticulously uncovers the truth and speaks truth to power. While specific media interventions may have more specific things that we want American audiences to think, feel and know as a result, the overall intention of this project is more general – awareness and trust building. 

At the conclusion of this project, the agency will also outline a top-level plan of activities beyond simple media coverage that will help achieve our objectives, provide insights to refine our target markets/audiences in the US, reflect on the elements of our campaign objectives/work that would best resonate with an American audience, provide recommendations based on learning through the campaign, and share any other insights to inform the development of a future US strategy which will in turn inform our organization wide Strategic Communications strategy.  To ensure Global Witness can assess the effectiveness of a strategic communications approach to our work, we will also have a monitoring, evaluation and learning framework that we will apply to the campaign. 

The agency would provide regular updates and KPI tracking to inform the refine how Global Witness engages American media outlets moving forward while also allowing this period to provide Global Witness with an opportunity to test how we go about developing and devising our organization wide strategic comms plan. KPIs could include ensuring top-tier media coverage (ex. NYT, Washington Post, ABC/NBC/CBS TV broadcasts, and CNN, as well as Politico, Axios, PunchBowl) of Global Witness activities/products. Specific activities/products to be determined in conversation with agency based on agency’s strategic insights.  

Please note that Global Witness will be launching a new brand in February 2025 (timings to be finalized). This will include new logo, visual branding, redesigned website and much more. Global Witness will work with agency to synch up these projects. 

Global Witness will provide a strategic overview and campaign summaries, as well as a calendar of planned activities during this period and background details on said activities upon request. Where there are restrictions on engagement (such as planned exclusivity with international media outlets or particular political considerations with a particular activity), we will share that with the agency directly. 

Audience 

Recognizing that the US is a large and diverse, we are in the process of refining our target audience/market within the US. This project will help us understand more about potential audiences in the US and how to access them.

For the purpose of this project, we will consider our audience in two parts: 1) potential high level individual donors and 2) policymakers. By potential high level individual donors, we anticipate our audience is principally middle/upper class (household income of $200k+), liberal leaning, working age adults who are interested in climate change. We anticipate that our audience is more likely to live on the East/West Coasts and are therefore focused on leading national news outlets rather than regional outlets (the New York Times and Washington Post being considered national outlets). We will share more detailed audience research on potential donors with the agency at start. 

Our policymaking audience is more specifically Democratic policymakers at the national level on the Hill and in the Administration, as well as bureaucrats in targeted agencies including State, USAID, SEC, and Treasury. We do not anticipate reaching conservative/Republican leaning audiences and instead are focused on engaging audiences already interested in climate issues, specifically Democrats. 

We would expect consultants to outline specific audience segments we would reasonably be able to access in the time allotted for the campaign. Time permitting, we would welcome any insights on specific influential audiences such as C suite ESG executives.

Reporting 

The agency will work directly with the Co-Director of Campaigns, Head of Strategic Communications and Head of US Relations, as well as other staff as needed. The agency will provide brief updates to Global Witness staff weekly and coordinate priorities with more thorough reporting on KPIs at the end of each month. 

Budget

Budget of approximately $60,000 for 3-4 months of work to be started in Q4 2024. Scope of this brief and budget subject to market requirements and any modifications to the scope of work. Similarly, specific timeline to be finalized with input from the agency selected.