Having decided on your way into the process and identified your target audience(s), the planning now turns to who should take on the role of the “face” of the advocacy campaign. In advocacy, the messenger is often as important as the message and the choice of the right face or messenger can seriously impact your chances of achieving influence. This circle of the APF denotes a clear departure from a one-way perspective of the messenger simply “delivering” the message. Here, the messenger has to commit to an often lengthy and complex process of engaging, persuading, and negotiating with target audiences through many waves of communication towards the ultimate goal of having them adopt your proposals and act upon them. Hence, the decision about who will take on the different challenges and roles of messenger should not be taken lightly.
In advocacy, the messenger is often as important as the message.
Although “messenger” or “face” may imply an individual, given the responsibility involved in the messenger role, it is not necessarily one person who will be the spokesperson for all waves of the advocacy campaign. In fact, a more common scenario is that a team from the lead organization or coalition is involved, with different people playing different messenger roles based on the best match of needs with capacity, skills, and resources.
Hence, the core question is whether it should be your organization or another that leads in the spokesperson role. Do you have the resources, credibility, reputation, visibility, and support to be taken seriously by the key players? Do the target audiences know and trust you? Are they willing to listen to you? You should also ask whether you have what it takes in terms of the range of communication and interpersonal skills required to successfully take on the role of messenger. If not, you will need to find a messenger from outside, either to lead the entire advocacy process or play a specific role. Beyond the considerations of messenger, building a base of support is absolutely necessary: as one commentator put it, “You must find friends somewhere in the process.”1 The legitimacy that comes with the support from others and a lead advocate or organization with a solid reputation are key factors in getting doors to open throughout the advocacy process.2
The messenger can be an individual, an organization, or a coalition.
Taking on this perspective and building on the insights developed in planning the “way into the process” circle, you need to consider the following issues in making plans for this element of your advocacy planning:
- Who should be the face of the campaign? Do you have what it takes to be the messenger or should you chose someone else?
- What other support do you need for your campaign to be taken seriously?
Figure 9.
The messenger (APF)
