The challenge: The BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL) is a multilateral fund, supported by donor governments and managed by the World Bank. They approached Marchmont for support with organising meetings for relevant stakeholders from around the world to take stock, share feedback and discuss ideas for improving on the delivery of ISFL programmes and REDD+ strategies in the future.
Our approach: To advance this work, Marchmont:
Crafted and executed a comprehensive communications action plan for REDD+ Knowledge Day.
Led efforts to plan and develop a three day ISFL and REDD+ meeting agenda, pre-event briefing materials for participants and a PowerPoint agenda.
Produced interviewee scripts, directed filming and edited videos for interviews with diverse stakeholders from around the world, documenting the progress with ISFL and REDD+ in their countries.
Outcomes:
Marchmont facilitated three days of on-site facilitation of ISFL and REDD+ meetings.
In addition to this, Marchmont delivered videos with stakeholder reflections on ISFL and REDD+ implementation progress in their countries.
The challenge: FoodSystems 2030 is an Umbrella Multi-Donor Trust Fund working to help countries build better food systems by 2030, progressing towards development and climate goals. They have approached Marchmont for support with a range of services which included branding and collateral design.
Our approach: Marchmont developed a suite of branding assets for FoodSystems 2030 and some of their programmes. This included:
Spearheading stakeholder outreach and interview work to inform brand development efforts.
Leading brand positioning and development, creating brand themes and logo for FoodSystems 2030 and a new dialogue.
Designing a print-ready two-page brochure introducing the Umbrella Multi-Donor Trust Fund.
Outcomes:
Marchmont delivered new brand identities, logos and related design collateral.
The challenge: FoodSystems 2030, an Umbrella Multi-Donor Trust Fund at the World Bank approached Marchmont for support with the launch of the Recipe for a Livable Planet report. The report is the first comprehensive global roadmap for mitigating the agrifood system’s contributions to climate change.
Our approach: Marchmont developed a tailored media and event launch plan and activation campaign to disseminate the report. This included:
Curating engaging media-focused story angles, producing a comprehensive outreach list of relevant journalists, producing written materials such as a press release and coordinating interviews and media requests.
Producing a social media toolkit accompanied by original multimedia assets like graphic cards, explainer videos and GIFs highlighting key aspects of the report such as how countries in different income levels can utilise the report to inform policy decisions for sustainable agriculture. This also included developing a target set of external stakeholder organisations to disseminate the toolkit to.
Crafting an overview slide deck which included key messages and evidence from the report for spokespeople to effectively communicate about the report. Alongside this, Marchmont also produced a digital “highlights” version of the report using Shorthand.
Conceptualising a hybrid launch event for the report, conducting outreach and also providing expert advice on high-level speakers to engage and the relevant marketing materials to deploy.
The hybrid launch event featured notable voices such as Cynthia Rosenzweig, Juergen Voegele, Ousmane Badiane, Ashesh Prasann, Gunhild Stordalen and Elizabeth Nsimadala. The virtual event received over 35,000 streams.
The social media assets were shared by organisations such as the World Bank, UN Biodiversity, World Farmer’s Organisation and African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD).
The challenge: The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) is a financing platform dedicated to improving food and nutrition security worldwide. They approached Marchmont for support with launching their $75 million funding window called the Business Investment Financing Track (BIFT), targeting potential recipients of the funding and donors for the programme.
Our approach: To achieve these objectives, Marchmont led a media and social media campaign to raise awareness on the launch of GAFSP funding window. This included:
Developing a media factsheet to explain the programme’s functions, goals and challenges to journalists.
Planning and implemented a media campaign with tailored approaches for different specialist audiences including agriculture-, development- and business-focused media.
Producing an engaging social media toolkit accompanied by original multimedia assets such as a photofilm, GIFs and graphic cards to boost awareness and engagement with the launch of BIFT across digital channels.
Outcomes:
The BIFT launch received more than 300 pieces of news coverage and was featured in top tier, regional and specialist outlets such as Agtech Navigator, DevDiscourse, Amwal Al Ghad, Forbes and more.
In addition, the digital assets produced were shared across social media channels by organisations such as World Bank AgriFood, further boosting visibility for the new financing window.
The challenge: The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) wanted to publicly launch its new Future Seeds genebank in Colombia in March 2022 to raise awareness of the facility and celebrate the contribution of genebanks to broader crop research and conservation.
Our approach: To support the opening of the genebank, which was officially launched by Colombia’s President Duque, Marchmont developed a phased media outreach campaign, including:
Facilitating a site visit for a small group of international journalists to see the facility and prepare coverage ahead of the official opening.
Leading a wider embargoed outreach campaign to alert journalists to the facility and coordinate coverage to coincide with the opening.
Developing a series of three op-eds to articulate different aspects of the genebank’s work and value.
The Challenge: The Blue Food Assessment (BFA), a joint initiative of Stanford University, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and EAT, was seeking to launch a landmark series of scientific papers focusing on different aspects of “blue foods” and their role in sustainable food systems transformation. The BFA wanted to communicate the value and specific findings of each research paper, whilst also highlighting the sum of the whole as the most extensive research into blue foods to date.
Our Approach: To achieve these aims, Marchmont developed a phased media engagement plan that included:
Coordinating the media launch plan alongside the academic publisher, BFA leads, paper authors and their university press teams.
Packaging up the individual research papers to tell a compelling overall story to media most interested in the global narrative.
Carrying out targeted outreach for each paper, engaging with journalists and specialist outlets according to each paper’s main themes.
Supplementing this outreach with a series of op-eds, building the visibility of the BFA and its key spokespeople as advocates for blue foods in future food systems transformation.
Outcomes:
Marchmont’s media outreach secured more than 500 pieces of coverage, ranging from global top tier media to specialist publications and non-English-language outlets.
The challenge: African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) works to advance inclusive solutions that bridge gaps between women and men smallholders in Africa. They approached Marchmont seeking to strengthen their external engagement efforts and demonstrate the impact of their Leadership Program on Emerging African Women in Science programme.
Our approach: To achieve these goals, Marchmont delivered spotlight profiles, conducted outreach and interviews and created impact stories. This included us:
Developing short and punchy profiles to spotlight 48 fellows that participated in the Leadership Program on Emerging African Women in Science.
Coordinating outreach to and interviews with 13 fellows to highlight in a longer, collective feature of the programme, titled ‘Stories of Hope’.
Creating 13 fellows’ impact stories, outlining their journeys and achievements and, most importantly, articulating how the Leadership Program on Emerging African Women in Science was transformative for them.
Outcomes: As a result of Marchmont’s support:
The 48 profiles are now featured on the AWARD website, spotlighting the women who took part in the program. These are readily available for both donors and other women considering applying for the program to engage with.
The 13 ‘Stories of Hope’ were published in an e-book, celebrating the achievements of the fellows and demonstrating the impact of the program in helping the women advance in the agricultural research and development field.
The challenge: AKADEMIYA2063, a pan-African agricultural research organisation, was seeking support in reaching critical audiences such as policymakers, entrepreneurs, and development partners with their in-depth research. This includes their convening of the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) and hosting of the Malabo-Montpellier Panel (MaMo Panel).
Our approach: To achieve these aims, Marchmont has led the strategy and media outreach around more than a dozen report launches and policy meetings since 2020. This includes:
Developing and executing a media launch plan with the AKADEMIYA2063 team.
Delving into the research, extracting the most compelling insights, statistics, and recommendations for media.
Undertaking targeted media outreach for each report, engaging with journalists from top tier, regional, and specialist outlets according to the focus of each report.
Coordinating support for in-person events such as the MaMo Panel, including media outreach and securing journalist attendance.
Supporting the media outreach with a variety of op-eds and blogs, helping to also increase visibility for AKADEMIYA2063 spokespeople such as Dr Ousmane Badiane as experts in African agricultural transformation.
Outcomes:
Marchmont’s outreach has secured more than 1,500 pieces of coverage over five years, ranging from global top tier to specialist and regional publications.
An array of opinion pieces authored by AKADEMIYA2063 experts were also produced and placed in a broad selection of international and specialist media. Highlights included placements in AgFunder News, FairPlanet, IPS News, Global Policy Journal and Farming First.
The Challenge: The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) launched the Global Livestock Advocacy for Development (GLAD) initiative in 2016 to convene a community of practice to advocate for sustainable livestock as a lever for sustainable development. ILRI, on behalf of GLAD, sought support to communicate the initiative and its key messages externally.
Our Approach: Marchmont has worked with ILRI and GLAD since 2016 to help communicate the nuances of why livestock matter to developing countries. This has taken a phased approach as the GLAD initiative has evolved, which has included:
Carrying out a media audit at the outset of GLAD’s first phase, which identified a key issue in media coverage to inform future media pitching – namely that Global North livestock narratives tended to dominate media coverage despite priorities for the Global South (e.g. undernutrition, higher animal mortality, extensive systems etc.) not being covered sufficiently.
Carrying out out a series of interviews with key stakeholders to gather insights about the current perceptions of livestock for global development, as well as testing the emerging key messages that formed the basis of advocacy and communications work.
Developing the concept and content for a microsite called “Why Livestock Matter” that is organised by theme and consolidates evidence to support further funding into the sector.
Engaging media on behalf of the entire GLAD network to leverage case studies and stories from the whole community in support of the initiative’s objectives.
Leading several dedicated media campaigns at strategic moments, including the coordination of an open letter ahead of the COP28 climate talks, signed by more than 130 supporters.
Drafting and placing opinion articles on key themes at strategic moments.
Providing both in-person and virtual press office support for key events such as UN climate, biodiversity and desertification talks.
Outcomes: To date, Marchmont’s outreach has helped secure ongoing media coverage of the potential for livestock to support sustainable development, driving spikes of coverage at key moments, including UN climate talks, such as COP27, as shown below, where spikes show peaks of coverage of livestock during the talks:
The Challenge: The International Seed Federation (ISF) was looking to develop and implement a communications strategy to support its new strategic objectives, which involved positioning seed innovation as a driver of climate-resilient food systems, and raising awareness of the private sector’s contribution to the global challenges of hunger and climate change.
Our Approach: Marchmont supported ISF with insights, strategy, training and implementation support, including:
Carrying out insights work to understand how the seed sector and ISF were currently appearing in media coverage.
Producing a five-year communications strategy that identified priority audiences, messaging, channels, assets and spokespeople.
Providing media training for key spokespeople in person at an ISF meeting to help prepare speakers for media interviews.
Since 2022, carrying out strategic media outreach and providing support at key moments, including preparing the press kit and overseeing media engagement around the annual World Seed Congress, including dedicated media campaigns as well as supporting with thought leadership.
