Brand Reputation and Thought Leadership

Building, strengthening, or transforming your public image

A brand’s value and strength are built on perception. How you maintain your reputation in the market and public square is vital to achieving your organization’s larger and long-term goals.

Peitho Communications can guide you to develop or enhance your authority and influence with your target audiences in a competitive landscape, with customized strategies that optimize your assets and integrated implementation plans designed to increase your organization’s value and expand its impact.


·   Executive Communications
·   Public Affairs
·   Stakeholder Engagement
·   Crisis Communications

Girls, Inc. Case Study

CHALLENGE:

Girls Inc. wanted to generate attention to new research validating its positive impact. But news isn't a narrative, and the national nonprofit with dozens of affiliates needed a persuasive communications strategy compelling a variety of important audiences to take notice.

SOLUTION:

Peitho went to work to identify and articulate a thematic framework to authentically showcase Girls Inc.’s expertise and clarify its competitive value to current and potential donors, advocates, and the media. Our counsel: focus communications on Girls Inc.’s success and understanding of nurturing the next generation of women leaders. We then developed messages, training, and materials to enable effective and consistent messaging throughout the organization’s network.

RESULTS:

Girls Inc.’s new CEO leaned in, integrating a focus on leadership into programming, events, promotion, and storytelling. Over the next two years, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Girls Inc. attracted A-listers Hillary Clinton, Tina Fey, Gayle King, Meghan Markle, and Marsai Martin for leadership-focused partnerships and fundraisers; and won a $10M grant to launch a comprehensive continuum of leadership programs, expanding its research-proven approach to positively affect more girls.

NWEA Case Study

CHALLENGE:

K-12 education assessment leader NWEA was experiencing an unpleasant market shift: growing sentiment questioning the benefits of tests, including its MAP assessment, used by 9M students. The organization’s value was being misunderstood. For the first time in its 40 years, it sought an in-house external communications expert to burnish its public image and influence perceptions.

SOLUTION:

Joining NWEA, Peitho founder Jessica Schwartz Hahn identified the nonprofit’s best assets demonstrating its value and distinguishing it in the marketplace, and created a strategic action plan to focus on three objectives:  increase NWEA’s voice, exposure, and relationships with industry leaders and policy influencers;  generate media coverage and marketable content amplifying benefits and success stories;  and expand the brand’s identity by positioning the largely unknown research division as a key pillar of the nonprofit’s mission.

RESULTS:

In just three years, Hahn transformed NWEA’s reputation from a “test company” to trusted teaching and learning nonprofit, assessment innovator, and education research powerhouse. Her initiative and success at attracting attention and respect to NWEA’s research spurred leadership to elevate its focus on the division. One year later when the pandemic hit, NWEA Research had established a credible reputation and was prepared organizationally to gain ubiquitous exposure of their learning slide research. Today NWEA, which was purchased by HMH, positions itself as a research-first organization.

NBC News Case Study

CHALLENGE:

NBC News was developing a new division of K-12 teaching and learning resources. But brand authority in one industry doesn’t always transfer to another. NBC News needed to build trust and credibility with practitioners in a different discipline.

SOLUTION:

Trust and credibility are grounded in authenticity. While Peitho and our partner Sequoia PR could successfully engage established and emerging education influencers, we advised NBC News to bolster its bona fides by filling a big hole in the landscape: with just 2% of national news dedicated to education reporting, NBC News should use its platform, reach, and expertise to become viewers’ leading source for education news.

RESULTS:

We ensured an enthusiastic response to NBC News Learn in the education community, initiating relationships with national association leaders and generating favorable resource reviews and viral buzz in 100+ teacher and education forums, channels, and news sources. Then NBC News launched Education Nation, a major programming/in-person/digital initiative to drive conversations and engage the public, and then a series of high-profile national and local market programming and events, ultimately building stronger relationships with its news consumers and establishing its reputation as a thoughtful, vested partner in teaching and learning.