Class Warfare

Leaders in education are bracing for another year of fraught politics and heated debates as students return to classrooms across the country.

Particularly as the presidential election campaign season unfolds, hopeful candidates, surrogates and supporters are likely to continue whipping up strong views among voters on divisive issues, including:

• Admissions policies in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action and a possible future case related to high school admissions practices. Schools and universities risk being caught in a squeeze between their own values and community demands as well as threats from conservative activists.

• The teaching of American history, social-emotional learning and other topics are under fire as groups like Moms for Liberty advocate for significant changes to what’s being taught in the classroom and how public education funding can be utilized.

• The impact of organized labor in the education sector, particularly given increased unionization efforts in higher education and students’ willingness to strike.

• The boundaries of the separation of church and state in the wake of conservative wins in the court system.

• Safety considerations in an age of both mass shootings and a terrifying rise in gun deaths among children.

FGS Global's education sector group works with institutions ranging from early childhood education centers to nonprofit organizations to large universities to navigate these increasingly choppy waters.

If you are interested in connecting with FGS Global's education team, feel free to reach out anytime at education@fgsglobal.com.

Two major global conferences take place in quick succession each year: the COP climate conference held in November/December and the Davos World Economic Forum in January.  These conferences can offer an unparalleled opportunity for brands to reach key stakeholders as they gather in a single location over a few days.

For any brand looking to establish a presence at these conferences, sponsorship opportunities are plentiful with leading media brands, with options varying from editorial-aligned sponsorships to on-the-ground events and activations.  Potential benefits for these sponsorships include:

• Reaching key stakeholders: These conferences drive strong attention among business and government leaders and having a presence can elevate a brand with these key audiences.

• Elevating executives: On-the-ground events – interviews, thought leader breakfasts/dinners, etc. – can give brands an opportunity for their leadership to network and act as leaders among their peers.

• Establishing thought leadership: The problem-solving focus of these conferences means having a presence can position a brand as part of the solution to global problems and invested in building a resilient future.

There is a lot of customization available with these sponsorship packages, and the FGS Global media planning team can help identify and evaluate opportunities to align any potential sponsorship with your goals and budget. 

Please reach out if you’d like to know more about what’s available and how we can help.

​In highly regulated industries, policymakers will often scrutinize issues relevant to your organization’s operations. When this happens, it can be difficult to know how to engage with media.

Our colleagues at the Health Media Insights newsletter recommend keeping three questions in mind to help you think through this challenge:

• Would proactive communications meaningfully guide the conversation or only increase scrutiny? When considering whether to communicate about policy issues, it’s important to weigh the benefits and risks. Communicating can potentially impact policy debates for the better, but speaking out can increase policymakers’ attention and scrutiny on your organization, especially if you’re the only one in your industry doing so.

• Are there alternative messengers? Leveraging third parties, such as academic experts, trade groups, coalitions and impacted consumers can be an effective way to deploy your policy messages without risking additional scrutiny on your organization.

• Do reporters understand the relevant issues? If reporters covering policy debates appear to have gaps in their understanding about the issues at hand, it’s worth considering outreach to brief them to ensure their coverage is contextualized and accurate.

Bonus Tip: Waiting to reach out to reporters until there's a relevant policy debate may be the best way to get their attention, but it also means you're playing catchup and that they might already have published coverage that needs more context. Finding opportunities to engage policy reporters that cover your space in advance of a key policy debate can help ensure they understand the issues impacting your industry before there's a critical communications moment.

To sign up for Health Media Insights, email health@fgsglobal.com.