Many people in unions and progressive politics talk about “framing” — made famous by George Lakoff’s Don’t Think of an Elephant — but it’s difficult to see what that means in practice. Effective communication is made even more challenging by the broad...

Marketing is still widely disparaged as a term in the union movement, and progressive organisations generally. Partly this is a skepticism born from shows like Mad Men and The Pitch, and partly it is a misunderstanding drawn from the popular perception that marketing is just opinion polling, focus...

I’ve often highlighted useful articles about cognitive and behavioural insights that I believe are useful for unions and progressive campaigners. This time, I’ve decided to republish an entire article by Ben Newell from The Conversation, because I want to draw it to the attention of my...

All unions want to grow and increase their membership. Significant efforts and resources are devoted by unions to recruitment and the effort of signing up new workers to be members. The cost of signing up new members however can be substantial. These can include hiring and training new staff,...

If the conversations that I’m having at the moment are any judge, many unions and progressive organisations are looking closely at their communications and narrative. In countries or states with hostile conservative governments, like Australia or Canada, this is especially pressing. The key...

One of the regular questions I receive from unions is “how can I get members (or activists) to share our message on Facebook?” or “what will get members talking about the union on Facebook?” Sound familiar? Union organisers instinctively know that a positive “union...

Prankvertisements were the viral trend of 2013, and for a while, it seemed like every week a new company was pranking their customers in order to sell stuff. These were effective videos as entertainment (whether they helped sell anything is debatable) because people love the dramatic irony and...

Later this year, I will be releasing a new guide to social and digital campaigning for unions, titled Unionify: Social Campaigning for Unions. I’m releasing a few chapters as previews, and today I’m happy to announce that two chapters, “Mastering the Basics” and...

More and more unions are using Facebook to advertise, but chances are if you’re boosting your posts or advertising on newsfeeds, you’re using the standard “Self Serve” Facebook ad manager. This is potentially a big mistake, and you could be wasting time and money. I’ve...

An increasing number of unions are advertising on Facebook, either through the “traditional” sidebar ads or through promoted posts. Thanks to changes to Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm, more and more unions and progressive campaigning organisations are being forced to advertise to...