053: Public Outreach Lessons from the Campaign Trail with Kenny Thompson Jr. of PepsiCo

Kenny Thompson Jr. is the Senior Director of Government and External Affairs at PepsiCo, the largest food and beverage company in the United States. He leads PepsiCo’s business-wide strategy for targeting, investing, cultivating and maintaining signature partnerships with external stakeholders to drive positive business and community impact.
Before joining PepsiCo, Kenny held several positions in the Obama White House, including Special Assistant to Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Senior Advisor to United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Special Assistant and Advance Lead for President Barack Obama.
Kenny spent two years on the Obama for America Campaign in 2007 and 2008 as a member of the National Advance Staff, during which time he traveled to 38 states and over 100 cities.
A native Texan, Thompson has a Master’s of Business Administration from Georgetown University. He received his undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University, where he played baseball for the Horned Frogs.
Currently, Kenny serves on the board of directors of the Women’s Congressional Policy Institute, the AddRan College of Liberal Arts at TCU, and is a member of the Chancellor’s Advisory Council at TCU.
Kenny and his wife Jessica live in Washington, DC.
Top Takeaways:

It all comes down to knowing your audience and building relationships
Learn best practices on approaching elected officials
Local matters now more than ever–driving policy change at both the local level and on capital hill

Show notes:
[7:34] Local matters now more than ever. Building relationships with the mayor, city council, school boards are crucial to making an impact locally.  
[11:29] What can we learn from political campaigns that we can apply to our outreach efforts?
[12:34] What motivates people locally and showing them how it impacts them on a daily basis. Once you get people motivated it’s much easier to get people organized.
[15:37] Come with solutions, they get noticed. Anyone can come with a problem, come with a solution. If you can identify a problem, identify a solution.
[16:46] Don’t let the great be the enemy of the good.
[19:12] Use your subject matter expertise to promote your cause. Don’t assume because the person across the desk has more power that they know more than you.
[19:55] Tips when speaking on Capitol Hill:   Member of Congress care about what’s going on in their districts. Make sure you tie all things back to their district, don’t forget to give credit where credit is due. Connect to local mayors and local decision makers “I’ve been working with the mayor in our city about this and they support this.”
[22:27] Use events to build your lists but stay engaged with your audience. Don’t let the connection end at the event.
[23:55] There always needs to be a call to action. Be specific. Don’t ask them to do three...