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TRANSCRIPT:
DOUG: Bradley, can we start by having you share with your audience briefly the type of work you do and the types of clients that you’re working for?
BRADLEY: Yeah, absolutely. So, Bully Pulpit International was actually founded by leaders of the Obama campaigns and the White House, and began as an organization that focused on digital strategy and marketing. The first client was Goldman Sachs. That remains a client to this day, but throughout we’ve really thought about how do you create engagement with brands and the audiences that they most need to reach. Today, I lead corporate communications practice for Bully Pulpit. That includes clients like the NFL, Levi Strauss, Hyatt hotels. And as I mentioned, still Goldman Sachs. And for me, I really lean into the corporate reputation, high visibility, crisis management, media relations, those types of efforts to make it tangible. I typically meet companies in moments of transformation, Doug, whether that’s M&A, new leadership, reputation, etc.
DOUG: What are some of the trends and predictions that you see, especially in the corporate reputation space, that will become even bigger issues?
BRADLEY: You know, I write a magazine and think a little bit about some of this as I think through it. And, um, and some of the classes I teach at Northwestern as well. And one of the big things that we spend a lot of time on, uh, is this question of mis and disinformation. It’s not new, but at the same time, I think the introduction of even faster and more credible, more accessible means of using generative AI to create content that is one not accurate content, but to more believable than it’s ever been, is going to pose a lot of risks for organizations. You know, I think a lot of companies in particular think that the answer, when hit with a piece of disinformation is to disavow it, right? How do we set the record straight? But the challenge with that is the people who see the disinformation to begin with are typically going to be a much broader pool of people who see your correction of the record. and a lot of times the most important thing to do, um, rather than try to go and play whack a mole with all the places these things may come up, is to really think through how do we address the fundamental challenges in our brand that will cause somebody to believe a piece of mistruths over you in the first place? You know, it’s not really about truth. It’s about trust. And people have to understand that fundamental fact.
DOUG: I like what you’re saying about the distinction between trust and truth. Because if you’re untrusted, it doesn’t matter, But it’s hard to build up that trust, and it can be broken down very quickly through a bad move. We’ve seen brands that were trusted have a strong I mean, you look at Boeing as an example of that. They were tremendously trusted brand and now it’s almost a punchline to a joke. So how do you establish that trust and maintain it?
BRADLEY: It’s the fundamental connection. I say this, Doug, as Boeing’s former chief spokesperson. So, that example resonates deeply. You know, it really is about connecting what you say with what you do, right? I say this all the time, and this is just as true when it comes to, you know, an airplane accident as it is about what people say about their values, right? It’s about figuring out where you stand and actually standing there. If you say you’re going to do something, you must actually do it in order for people to trust anything that you say next. And I think one of the biggest challenges people have is understanding the expectations of the people who matter most to them, right? Whether that be their stakeholders internally, you know, their employees who have the ability to be their biggest ambassadors or their biggest detractors or their customers. You can’t care about the totality of people when you only serve a subset of those people. You need to be aware of what the broader conversation is, but you need to be acutely focused on those who you actually need to have an affinity for your brand to continue to engage with you and to trust the things you put out. And if you’re focused almost maniacally on that group of people, you are going to be able to maintain trust in the corridors where it matters.
DOUG: aYeah, and also focusing maniacally on all the different groups you’ve got to reach out to and make sure that those messages are in conflict with one another. That’s one of the PR mistakes that we see thinking stuff can be kept in separate silos. That hasn’t worked anymore for years, and it’s one of the reasons I’m a fan and our business is a fan of like earned media, especially for internal communications, because I think employees will trust more what they hear you say on the outside than they will through the company memos and different communication methods. What are some other mistakes PR people should avoid in this environment that you’re talking about? And then we’ll let you get a chance to talk about what are some stuff, what are some things people should do more of?
BRADLEY: Yeah, this is a fun one, Doug. I think one of the things that PR people should absolutely do less of is putting plans in front of leaders that do not center business outcomes, right? There are a ton of options, lots of ways that you can do it. You can’t you cannot avoid the business outcomes or the thing that we need to be driving towards. So, you know, we can be talking about plans that help increase revenue or decrease costs, improve productivity, which is a really behavior change oriented element which is a good one for us to talk about also. It can be about attracting talent, you know, decreasing risk or liability. Whether that’s legal, regulatory, financial, or otherwise, there are so many things that can be viewed as objectives for our work that it’s almost crazy for us to still come to the table in this day and age and have plans that are about good storytelling without an end. It’s all about what is the end we’re trying to achieve. And even if we can’t get a direct ROI, we have to know what those objectives are that we’re working towards and put it in that context.
DOUG: And that create conflict with marketing and the PR communications function because, you know, when PR is used to sort of increase sales, hey, we want you to help increase the bottom line. But is that a marketing job? How do you work together and how does PR become dominant in that?
BRADLEY: My philosophy is that we are going to see over the next coming years, smaller and more nimble, probably more strategic communications teams, right? But I think over time they’re going to become more integrated, reputation functions broadly, which include in some organizations corporate marketing in particular. And there are going to be a number of different elements that go into it. And I actually think this is a positive thing. None of these operate in silos. It goes back to what you were saying earlier about stakeholders in the various stakeholders. How are we actually thinking about, you know, the leaders of stakeholder strategy, right? This is, you know, how do we reach the government, the government officials, the investors, the, you know, community stakeholders, the talent we’re trying to reach in our customers? And how do we make it all more non transactional? How do we think about these groups in terms of long- term reputation building. And if we can do that well, and you asked how, you know, people become dominant in this, it’s by thinking through how we can actually engage those folks in more effective ways that move the needle on the objectives we were talking about, and that we are coordinating the different groups that touch all of these folks in a way that leads towards a certain outcome.
DOUG: Great, and one of the groups in big picture that might be seen as facing an uphill battle is those that are interested in progressive causes and making them more of a reality. So, what should communicators who support progressive causes do? What should they be thinking as they go into this administration, which, you know, clearly has a different perspective than they would have in terms of policy outcomes?
BRADLEY: I think about this question in terms of three categories, right? There are one, If you work for a progressive organization to if you work for, say, a Democratic Party organization, or three if you work at a corporation focused on causes like ESG, DEI, other things that kind of fit into this category, where you also have questions about what the future looks like for you, right? If you were working for a progressive organization, I think you now have to take stock of what resonates with your platform and what doesn’t. I think there is actually a moment now of reflection, and I won’t stop short of calling it an inflection point, because I think that’s exactly what it is. I think there is an opportunity for you to figure out the things that are core to who you are and to what you’re trying to achieve in society are now entirely incumbent on your ability to communicate them in a way that resonates not only with the audiences that you’re used to speaking to who agree with you, but those who don’t necessarily. And so this is a big bridge opportunity, and it’s one that I think these organizations, and all of us who work with them have to think very seriously about. Two, I think if you’re working with a Democratic Party organization, you now have to think of yourself in the role of the opposition party, right? In the U.S., we often call it the minority. You’re part of the minority, uh, which emphasizes a lack of power, but if you think about it in the context of the UK and other places, the opposition party has an actual clear role to play. That’s really all about holding the majority party accountable and to force compromise. And I think people have to really think about this as an opportunity and not just a rebuke. And then third, the last part is if you work in a corporation, I think you need to think a little bit about the commitments that you’ve made as an organization, right? It’s easy to just say, let’s pull back. This is not the focus right now. Let’s only focus on business strategy. And I think thinking about your commitments and in terms of the business strategy is going to help you be a much clearer communicator in this moment, but I think you actually really have to figure out what you say and the power of your words, right? What you say indicates what you value, and what you value goes straight back to who are the stakeholders that you care about and what do they expect from you, right? This all becomes very cyclical because if you are letting those folks down, what are you doing? You’re eroding trust, which is at the center of everything we’ve been talking about here. So, understand which commitments you need to keep in order to keep the trust with those groups and communicate in a way that helps people understand it. Maybe in an audience that you weren’t always speaking to, but don’t erode. Trust that the things that you’ve said that you care about and the people you said you are going to protect are still top of mind and deeply embedded in how your strategy is moving forward.
DOUG: Broadly, I think for the people who watch, there’s some incredible insights and lessons for them that they should be putting into practice from day one. Thanks so much for participating.
BRADLEY: Thanks for the opportunity.
