At Cerrell Associates, we don’t shy away from controversial or complex issues.  In fact, we welcome clients who face tough public policy or campaign challenges.

What We Do:

Cerrell’s team of professionals draws upon our firm’s four-plus decades of experience to create and implement effective strategies and innovative tactics for our clients.  We design and execute comprehensive public affairs campaigns for businesses, trade associations, non-profits and others throughout California.  We’re experts at traditional issues management techniques and, with greater frequency, are leveraging the power of 21^st Century technology – most particularly through the use of various social media platforms – to target, educate, and activate diverse constituencies and interact with the news media and decision makers at all levels of government.  Our team works closely with individuals and groups throughout our nation’s largest and most diverse state.  We have successfully shaped public discourse, influenced decision makers, and ultimately, helped our clients achieve success.

Core Competencies:

Strategic Communications – we collaborate with our clients to develop strategic plans that establish clear objectives and well-defined measurement criteria to track progress and measure success.

Campaign Management – from judicial campaigns to statewide ballot measures and independent expenditures, we develop campaign strategies, effective messaging and award-winning collateral materials that deliver victory on Election Day.  We’re strong proponents of research-driven campaigns; however, when that’s not possible – for budget reasons or time constraints – our knowledge of California’s political and public policy climate helps us reach and influence voters across the political spectrum.

Alliance Development and Lobbying Support – whether engaging decision makers and opinion leaders, or community and business organizations, our team works with thousands of diverse organizations throughout California.  We’ve provided effective lobbying support to our clients by creating and mobilizing a well-established network of community and business advocates to surround decision-makers with consistent, compelling messages from real constituents – work that compliments a lobbyist’s activities.

Earned Media Relations – we’ve navigated the rapidly changing media world to help our clients get their messages out and influence their target audiences.  Our experience with traditional media outlets allow us to conduct successful editorial board tours, write and place op-eds in multiple languages, coordinate television and talk radio interviews, act as campaign spokespeople and run high-intensity news conferences and media events.  We’ve integrated social media techniques into our media strategies to effectively communicate across multiple message platforms.  We know what the media wants and how to get a story covered...which also helps us excel in crisis management, litigation support, brand and reputation management, and public education campaigns.

Paid Media – our team has won awards for newspaper advertisements, advertorials and direct mail for candidate and issue-focused campaigns.  We write compelling content and select effective images that ensure our materials get read, educate voters and encourage them to take action.

The Results Speak for Themselves:

We’ve assisted hundreds of clients in making their mark on some of California’s and the nation’s hottest public policy issues.  Examples include:

• Playing a leading role on three winning statewide initiative campaigns in 2010 that will benefit California’s community

• Creating broad-based coalitions to influence national and statewide healthcare reform

• Protecting property owners’ rights by building a broad-based coalition, educating them about costly changes to a local ordinance and demonstrating strong opposition to key decision makers

• Stopping harmful budget cuts to a city’s police force by reframing the debate on more favorable terms to our client and helping a police officers association defeat a local ballot measure with a targeted independent expenditure campaign

• Defeating a six-lane toll road through one of California’s most popular state parks

• Pioneering judicial campaigns since 1978 with more than 375 successful efforts and a 90-plus percent win rate

Find out how Cerrell Associates can help you achieve your goals.

For Campaigns, contact Crystal M. Litz, Vice President - (323) 466-3445 or crystal@cerrell.com

For Issues Management, contact Steve Levin, Vice President - (323) 466-3445 or levin@cerrell.com

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