Messaging Mentors

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We stand on the shoulders of giants.

 

To meet this moment successfully,
we must break through the noise and get heard.

Fortunately, talented people have devoted their professional careers to researching what works and why. They know how to rise above the din of dog whistles and disinformation, offering insights that counter traditional messaging efforts. They have freely shared their wisdom for years now, and our Grassroots Messaging Works team members have gratefully listened and learned, applying their techniques to our model messaging campaign.

Let’s dive in.

 

 Fuse Race and Class to defang dog whistles

Law professor Ian Haney López, communications maven Anat Shenker-Osorio, and political commentator and strategist Heather McGhee co-authored the groundbreaking Race Class Narrative (RCN). RCN charts a field-tested framework for successfully messaging progressive policies while simultaneously addressing and defanging right wing dog whistles and other race baiting tactics.

Get grounded with Heather McGhee and The Sum of Us

Combining socioeconomic research with the stories of real people, including her own, Heather McGhee’s best-selling book The Sum of Us reveals the heavy price racism inflicts on all Americans. When the politics of racial division drive public policy, McGhee explains that earnings, education, and healthcare stagnate and decline for all but the very few. Living up to its name, the book reveals the enormous good we can accomplish when we join together to move beyond externally stoked divisions and focus on the common good. 

Discussion Guide

Learn from Ian Haney López and his Race-Class Academy

The Race-Class Academy is a curriculum of twelve short videos that provide a clear introduction to RCN principles. 

  • Video Curriculum: 12 videos in 4 levels. The videos are only 2 ½ minutes each. The associated readings take more time.

Playlist (all in one place, but without the readings)

 Dig in Deep with We Make the Future

This website, the current intellectual home of the Race-Class Narrative, offers a treasure trove of toolkits, messaging guides, slide decks, and videos that apply the RCN to our everyday, real-world concerns. The team uploads new materials as they create and field-test narratives. 

Want to know how to respond to Republican talking points on critical race theory? How best to talk about healthcare or climate change? We Make the Future should be your first stop.

 

The Nuts and Bolts of Using Words that Work

Persuasive messaging isn’t just about good ideas or good policy. The language we use to convey our ideas really matters. The resources in this section show how to craft messages that advance progressive values, using RCN principles and other field-tested practices.

ALWAYS Use the 3 V’s: Value, Villain, Vision

Successful campaigns rely on this crucial messaging technique. First, invoke a shared value. Next, identify the current challenge to acting on that value. Finally, close with your vision of how the community can work together to successfully address the challenge.

STEP ONE: Name the value that your message promotes. By affirming the values we share--despite our differences—we help audiences invest in the message and its success.

STEP TWO: Name the specific villain opposing the realization of our values. It is crucial to ascribe motive and not portray the villains as misunderstood or well-meaning. They actively and deliberately oppose Team YOU’s people-focused policies. We also must call out their tactics for dividing and distracting us, that often take the form of race-baiting. We cannot ignore these tactics, even if subtle or disguised, because our audience hears those dog whistles whether we acknowledge them or not.

STEP THREE: Conclude with a shared vision of all we can achieve when we come together to defeat the opposition and achieve our goals. Don’t focus on policies or price tags, but rather on what will change in our lives.

Get Going with the 3 V’s 

Interviews that discuss the role of the 3 V’s as part of better messaging. Each is only 5–10 minutes to read/listen, but will get your mental gears churning.

Learn from the Messaging Master: Anat Shenker-Osorio

Anat Shenker-Osorio is arguably our country’s preeminent political communicator.  Although steeped in the cognitive science and linguistics theory of messaging techniques, she continues to test and iterate before shaping the results into effective messaging. The insights we’ve gained from her essential work continue to influence us every day.

Make it Work with Words That W!N

This powerhouse three-person organization functions as a bridge between the messaging experts and regular activists. They comb through materials to create user-friendly, open-source, data-driven, sharable content. They also offer regular free online messaging trainings. You can attend with no prior background or experience needed.

Keep Current with Freedom Rising: Movement Briefings

These presentations powerfully connect the language, strategies, history, and data that underlie GMW’s efforts. Freedom Rising briefings use the latest field tested, focus group research to provide straightforward advice for countering Team Coup’s destructive messaging and give us the strongest language for promoting Team YOU’s values. Selected presentations from recent movement briefings.

Don't Forget the Basics 

Years before our current existential battle erupted, George Lakoff's groundbreaking book, Don't Think of an Elephant, identified the importance of effectively framing issues, policies, and messages. Democracy can’t function without public understanding. Thus, governments cannot just make decisions; they must ensure that the polity accepts those decisions. Lakoff explains why framing and messaging must share a clear moral vision to achieve desired goals. 

We’ve learned a lot from these messaging experts. We’re still learning from these commentators and activists.