The challenge
California has no shortage of organizations advocating for change. What it lacks is a unified voice capable of bringing business, civic and community leaders together around a shared agenda for the state's future. In 2021, the founders of the New California Coalition set out to build one. It was a tall order. The organization, its identity and its public voice had yet to be created.
The approach
As part of NCC's founding leadership team, ORSO helped turn that vision into a recognizable public identity. We developed the Coalition's brand, established its editorial voice and built a communications approach designed to make complicated policy questions accessible, engaging and occasionally provocative. The objective wasn't simply to make NCC look and sound different. It was to give a new organization the credibility, personality and persuasive power to become a serious player in California's public debate.
The impact
From a standing start, NCC has grown into a statewide network of more than 1,000 partner organizations spanning California's 13 economic regions, with a combined social audience of 320,000. Its unmistakable identity and increasingly recognizable voice have helped establish the Coalition as an active participant in the state's policy debates — and given a diverse network of leaders a common platform for advocating change.
