Action
When Meek Mill, Michael Rubin, JAY-Z, Robert Kraft, Clara Wu Tsai, Robert F. Smith, Michael Novogratz, Daniel S. Loeb, and Laura Arnold collectively launched the REFORM Alliance in January 2019, Berk was tasked with organizing the landmark event and spearheading publicity efforts for the criminal justice reform organization.
Nearly two years later, REFORM secured its first major legislative victory with the enactment of AB 1950 in California, which will significantly decrease California's probation population by 33 percent, 24,000+ life years back, prevent 48,000+ admissions due to technical probation violations and help put hundreds of thousands of Californians in positions to exit the criminal justice system for good.
To highlight the victory and ensure maximum visibility across different sectors, Berk identified and coordinated two embargoed stories – one with a national news organization and the other with a national entertainment outlet. Once the stories went live we expanded our wide outreach to music, entertainment, business, news, and sports publications. Through it all, we developed messaging around AB1950 that was easily-digestible for consumer audiences rather than policy-driven readers and viewers in the advocacy landscape. To maintain momentum, we also secured and facilitated exclusive interviews with Rubin, CEO Van Jones, and Chief Advocacy Officer Jessica Jackson with select outlets in the days after the initial announcement.
Impact
Coverage in top-tier media outlets across national news, entertainment, music, sports, and politics such as CBS News, FOX News, TMZ, Highsnobiety, Billboard, Sports Illustrated.
Generated over 150+ editorial & social placements and over 1.2 billion impressions.
Amplifying the Most Transformative Probation Bill in the Country
Challenge
When the REFORM Alliance passed AB 1950 in California through Governor Gavin Newsom in Sept. 2020, it served as the most transformative probation reform bill in the country.
With a policy-driven focus, Berk needed to disseminate the announcement and simplify the messaging in an easily-digestible manner for national music, entertainment, sports and news outlets.
