Letter to the Director of the CDC
For a new strategy and inclusive communications, hire us first.
Emily O. Weltman, March 31, 2022
Dear Dr. Walensky, you need our help.
The public ran out of patience around by Spring 2021. You’re in a race against time and burnout in your job.
It’s a sticky position: caught between healthcare, the Feds, Big Pharma, capitalism, The President, and Americans wellbeing. It looks like you’ve been set up to fail since Day 1, pushed into a job you weren’t sure you even wanted.
No one above you seems to have your back. Biden and Fauci still expect you to act like a good “company man” and are nonplussed whenever you don’t toe the line. It’s a safe bet you’ve been bullied by more than one person, possibly to make statements you don’t agree with.
Even when you stand your ground — to work hybrid flying back from Atlanta to your family or hire your own advisors — and still somehow manage to protect their precious economy, they throw you under the bus.
The New York Times noted, “Biden has presided over a series of messaging failures that have followed a familiar pattern, with Dr. Walensky and her team making what experts say are largely sound decisions, but fumbling in communicating them to America.”
Repeated by every outlet this past January, they emphasize your lack of government experience, (as if that were bad — our government is nothing to celebrate at the moment.) CNN echoed you’re “a well-regarded infectious diseases expert with no prior government experience, [who is] now responsible for explaining that decision and other Covid-19 guidance both in public and in briefings with top White House officials.”
They went on to say “During Friday’s briefing, Walensky said that she is working to improve the quality of the agency’s communication with the public.”
How is that going so far? The virus doesn’t care; neither do most Americans.
“The Fall Guy”
I cannot stand the narrative the media spins about you, repeatedly centering “no prior government experience” when freaking Donald Trump sat in the oval office, winning on a message of “draining the swamp” and vowing to bring in outsiders. The sexism is blatant (and the antisemitism, more subtle, but ever-present.)
The CDC has become the butt of too many jokes. When Trump gutted it like he gutted all essential government agencies, he made that fairly easy. It’s not like Americans had oodles of confidence with the CDC before Coronavirus.
“What the CDC does isn’t trying to make a product more appealing to a theoretical consumer. It’s to help save lives, to keep people from unnecessarily dying from this awful virus. Walensky isn’t hocking the “ShamWow”; she is a medical doctor telling America how to stay safe.
The problem then isn’t “marketing.” It’s clear communication on, literally, a matter of life and death.”–Erie News, January 2022
With a pandemic that became partisan, being inclusive can be hard. But, if your Q1 2022 media blitz was supposed to be an opportunity to provide clarity to everyone in America… whoops.
Like all women in high positions, you cannot win. What now?
For the remainder of your tenure, however short lived that may be, let’s explore an alternative approach.
Consider your job is talking to people, not at them, and far more often. Put another way, “One problem is, the CDC usually functions more like an academic institution, excelling at producing detailed reports months after an outbreak or episode. It wasn’t built to provide real-time analyses or communicate complicated, fast-moving science to the public.” — Why Does the CDC Keep Screwing Up?
Just as it’s hard for you to watch people ignore science, or for men to push stupid healthcare policies to save The Market, I cringe watching repeated comms and PR debacles. When I see smart women in leadership “fumbling” I cannot sit on my hands.
Great minds think alike.
Why do I care where you spend your budget or who your advisors are? Like you I am smart and practical. Like you I don’t shy away from an impossible job.
Personally, I am invested in seeing you succeed, as a woman, a Jew, a mom, and as a neurodivergent, chronically ill American citizen with multiple invisible disabilities. I don’t want long covid (though I probably already have it) because I already have many of the symptoms and problems associated with autoimmune diseases.
I want to make an impact, too. We both know rebuilding an org that the last administration completely abandoned is tough. We know what it’s like to fight to be heard, even when we’ve been saying the right thing. And, you know as well as I do, without funding, mission-driven work doesn’t happen.
I too have a visceral need to shout, “Please listen to the experts; not political pundits or strategists.”
As a designer passionate about accessibility and the “Future of Work” I want all Americans to have safe, healthy, and inclusive workplaces.
The social and environmental impacts of using weak messaging, backed up by moderate policies, funded by wealthy (white) institutions passing money back and forth will not help you. It will not help Americans. It will not save our democracy. We the people and our planet deserve to survive, and thrive.
As Biden’s transition advisor for the Covid-19 response, Celine Gounder, said, “…one of the most important tools of public health is communication with the public and explaining the why…This isn’t just the CDC … our government is stuck in this very outmoded sort of antiquated approach, which is more about public relations than it is about real communication and education.” — Politico, January 2022
You want people to see you, hear you, and act accordingly. Don’t we all? You must build respect through education, not just PR. We excel at having the hard conversations. We center the most vulnerable and embed equity and inclusion into all content and every action.
The CDC needs a reset.
It’s not too late to leave a legacy and a story you are proud of, but it will take some investment and even more chutzpah.
Before a solid campaign, like Wellbee from the 1960s, the CDC needs a full brand refresh, starting with the basics: audit and review all content. Redo the core messaging: mission, vision, and values. Truthfully, it’s way past time for an overhaul of all of the CDC’s content, the full website, and social media, looking at everything from accessibility to visual language.
Don’t skip over the “Pledge to the American People.” To shift your communications (and beliefs) to meet this Pledge, you need to make some significant updates to graphic design, social media strategy, UX, and ensure conscious, inclusive language is used throughout. You’ll also probably have to change policies, but let’s focus on brand communications for today.
“We were there” (with its horrible graphic and military typeface) is one of many examples of outdated content. How can you usher in the “Future of Work” at the CDC with a series like this? It lacks any compassion or accountability for the CDCs many past mistakes. No shade, but it feels like an intern created it.
Image from “We Were There” video series on CDC.gov
The CDC needs a full and deep brand and business audit to review key documents still easily downloadable with outdated information. Most importantly, to remedy the confusion that continues to plague its credibility, the CDC needs an entirely new Communications Strategy.
Why listen to me?
I am an SME (subject matter expert) and know a lot about communications. My expertise lies in words — just ask my mom. Jokes aside, I can help you level up the messaging externally and provide clarity on messaging externally.
As your advisor I would ensure obnoxious men who think they know better were aligned on your message before you put yourself on the line. I can navigate the most patriarchal of agencies and the hardest of DEI conversations: I worked in Advertising for 🦊 sake.
To be clear, I am not a marketing person. People don’t hire me to sell their ideas. They hire me to tell their story so their ideas sell themselves. As a social entrepreneur and brand strategy consultant, I help authentically build justice into every organization.
After conducting a light Discovery phase, reading through a great deal of CDC content and listening to you speak, I have gathered a ton of valuable observations and created a quick list of suggested areas to revisit and revamp.
First and foremost, you must start by acknowledging that everyone’s life is equally valuable; then shift the CDC’s content to support that.
Of course, I prefer you hire me for my valuable perspective and experience before I do what women always do: give any more ideas away and labor for free trying to prove we’re qualified.
Second, stop hiring the well-connected in Washington D.C.
To communicate with Americans you don’t need a DC political strategist with a pedigree similar to yours, any more than Biden did for his State of the Union. A moderate approach to this will not work.
Sure the CDC has money to keep McKinsey consultants gainfully employed, leading its pandemic communications. The same management consultancies and establishment guided every decision for our government based on The Market. Every aspect of our future was not decided from a wellness lens, but a Wall Street one.
You need someone to help you bridge the academic world and the real world; move from PhD language to IRL language.
If you are serious about building trust between Americans and America’s public health industrial complex, hire new consultants. Period.
Third, align the CDC’s mission and brand communications, moving from purpose and PR to policy and practice.
You have a unique opportunity to not only fix a broken institution and improve healthcare, but improve the mental and physical health of the 99% of Americans who work for small businesses (many with no healthcare).
Fourth, decide what the CDC as an org really does; decide who it serves. You cannot have a successful company or civic entity when it’s unclear who your primary customer is: Big Pharma or all Americans.
Fifth, use your budget to help those left behind by bad economic practices of the previous administration. The CDC is a very well funded part of the federal government. As the Director, you can use procurement to shift dollars and help the SBA fund diverse small businesses as promised.
We are an SBA Certified Woman-owned business and registered on SAM.gov. Had it not been for a Global Pandemic setting us back a year, we would be B Corp certified. We are experts in designing for inclusion and accessibility. Many of our partners have DMBE certifications and have passed all Federal A11y training.
Are you ready to define your Value Proposition, revise your Mission Statement, and audit all of the CDCs digital communications? Do you want a fresh visual language that disrupts the monotony of the CDCs sad Twitter feed?
Want a new brand guide with all your comms policies and documents in one place? Need all of your websites pages around communications, policies, and mission updated where needed by 2024?
Want to reimagine healthcare communications and design at the CDC?
Hire us first.
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