Public Private Ventures
Public/Private Ventures was tired of being behind the scenes.
Positioning Public/Private Ventures as a Leader in Social Innovation
Challenge: For 30 years Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) has been a leader in designing and funding innovative social programs that help disenfranchised people, from former prisoners to at-risk youth, get back on their feet. But their behind-the-scenes role meant it was hard to get the type of public recognition critical for influencing policy and fundraising.
Our Approach: Fenton launched an aggressive media relations strategy to put P/PV on the map. We leveraged our relationships with New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, the US Conference of Mayors and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg to co-sponsor a national summit with P/PV on the issue of prisoner re-entry and employment to help urban policymakers tackle recidivism in their cities. The event attracted mayors, city commissioners and other government staff from 20 cities nationwide, foundation leaders, and more than 20 reporters. We arranged one-on-one interviews for P/PV’s new president, Fred Davie, with top national media outlets including the New York Times, TIME magazine, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and regularly identified opportunities to cycle Davie and P/PV in the news. We also developed a new tagline for the organization, “Innovation. Research. Action.,” and trained the staff to deliver messages that helped streamline how they talked about their mission and work.
Progress, Accelerated: The drum beat of media exposure we secured for P/PV eventually turned Davie into a go-to source for national reporters, who began contacting him routinely for analysis and quotes. P/PV’s strong positioning eventually contributed to Davie being tapped to be a member of the Obama Administration’s Council of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
