Black Voters Matter
Building Black Voting Power in The South
In 2020, Fenton partnered with Black Voters Matter Fund (BVMF) to combat voter suppression and empower Black voters, especially in southern and midwestern states. Fenton helped design and execute a national outreach campaign, utilizing earned, digital, and creative media to highlight BVMF’s grassroots efforts. This included virtual events, a cross-country bus tour, and online press conferences. Fenton also provided rapid-response and thought leadership strategies to position BVMF as a leader in Black voter mobilization.
The impact was significant: Fenton secured wall-to-wall national media placements, including major outlets like The New York Times, CNN, ABC News, and MSNBC. BVMF also saw local media coverage in 12 target states, reaching communities directly. Digital efforts helped BVMF expand its reach, connecting with more than 1.4 million people online.
What We Did
- Campaign and Messaging Strategy Development
- Content Development and Distribution
- Earned Media Outreach and Placement
- Digital and Creative Media Campaigns
- Virtual and Socially Distanced Event Support
- Cross-Country Bus Tour Coordination
- Rapid-Response Media Strategy
- Thought Leadership and Op-Ed Placements
- Media Interviews Coordination (Radio, TV, Print)
- Digital Advertising Campaign Management
- Audience Engagement and Email List Growth
CHALLENGE
In 2020, Black voters remained one of the most disenfranchised populations in the country. Election officials and lawmakers have allowed voter suppression and intimidation to run rampant in Black communities, particularly in the southern and midwestern states where Black voters make up large shares of the electorate. These efforts to silence Black communities threatened to strip them of their voting power in a critical election year where issues like the pandemic, economic downturn, and deadly violence against Black people ran up and down the ballot.
APPROACH
Fenton worked closely with Black Voters Matter Fund (BVMF) to design, implement, and promote a national outreach campaign to build Black voting power. From campaign and messaging strategy to content development and distribution, we helped their team drive a comprehensive media strategy to empower Black voters. We utilized earned, digital and creative media channels to highlight the organization’s grassroots outreach and community-level campaigning, including virtual and socially distant in-person events, online press conferences, and a cross-country bus tour. In addition to driving the national campaign, we coordinated with BVMF on rapid-response and thought leadership strategies to position its principals as thought leaders on Black voter mobilization and engagement.
IMPACT
Fenton secured more than 70 national media placements for BVMF including multiple hits in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, CNN, ABC News, NBC News and CBS News, as well as radio interviews on NPR and Sirius XM Progress and multiple broadcast interviews on MSNBC. We placed op-eds in top-tier national outlets, including New York Times, the Guardian, ESSENCE, and POLITICO. We also secured local media coverage in nearly all 12 of BVMF’s target states, including at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Louisville Courier Journal, and other papers of record. The organization’s digital footprint grew considerably over the course of Fenton’s engagement: BVMF reached more than 1.4 million people online through a digital advertising campaign and added more than 2,000 e-mail subscribers for its weekly newsletter.
