In 1999, the largest agency in Idaho state government saw the need to take stock of its many and varied communications programs and begin to project a more-unified image to the public. WF&Co. (in partnership with advertising firm Vanguard Media) was retained to research and prepare a strategic communications plan. The project involved an internal and external information-gathering phase including a statewide public opinion survey, more than 80 one-on-one interviews and an e-mail survey of 25 percent of the Department’s 3,000-member staff.

This wealth of data was combined with WF&Co.’s analysis of the Department’s various communications efforts to create a strategic communications plan outlining how the Department could communicate better and more consistently with its staff and external constituents. A key outcome of this effort was the creation of a messaging strategy that helped the Department communicate its rather esoteric mission and values statements to customers, the media and the public at large. In short, the plan was designed to help the agency consistently communicate its role as Idaho’s leader in health and human services through clear and simple messaging.

Under the umbrella of a strategic communications plan, WF&Co. and Vanguard Media developed a variety of award-winning public service campaigns for the Department. These included efforts to increase awareness of the need for childhood immunizations (media relations, advertising, collateral materials, communications consulting); increase awareness of mental illnesses (advertising, communications consulting) The development of all of these campaigns required varying degrees of research and public involvement with audiences throughout Idaho - from Native Americans on the Fort Hall Reservation to immunization providers in Kootenai County to First Lady Patricia Kempthorne, an advocate for the mentally ill.