Box of Hours: A new way to work with Thinkshift

If you have a grab bag of short-term PR needs, you can't yet commit to a retainer, or you have a single project that doesn’t fit into one of our fixed-fee options, we now have a solution for you: Gift yourself a Box of Hours.

With this option, you prepay for 50 hours ($9,000), 75 hours ($13,500) or 100 hours ($18,000) to be used over three months. That gives you access to any of our services in a combination or volume that’s feasible within the time block: strategy consulting, media relations, speaking proposals, bylined articles, impact stories, press releases and more. It’s a simple setup and a quick start.

Also new: See all our pricing—including retainer fees, project fees and our?Impact PR Platform rate—in the Services section of our website. While published pricing isn’t typical in the PR industry, we like to get a sense of costs when we’re shopping for services, so we’re following the Golden Rule. Shout out to fellow B Corps HigherRing (ethical outsourcing) and iilo Creative Alliance, a certified B Corp (communications design) for clueing us in to the value of pricing transparency.

CASE STUDY: PR campaign accelerates growth in hard-to-crack market

As a strategic partner to CNote, a women-led fintech that deploys corporate cash into community banks serving under-resourced populations, Thinkshift helped grow investments on CNote’s platform over?several years. From early 2023 to early 2024, we doubled down on accelerating the company’s Impact Cash solution, planning and executing a yearlong PR campaign focused primarily on building credibility with corporate treasury teams—the startup’s major cash investors—and secondarily on expanding the network of community banks and credit unions that accept deposits from CNote’s platform.

We devised a three-pronged strategy for the campaign:?

1. Build the brand. We raised CNote’s brand profile in media outlets reaching C-suite deciders and influencers by partnering with big brands using CNote’s platform, collaborating with CNote’s team to develop data-driven media stories, tying CNote to current news, and securing speaking opportunities at high-profile events.
2. Flood the trade zone. Thinkshift relentlessly pursued placements in treasury trade outlets and speaking opportunities at corporate finance events to persuade this skeptical, conservative audience that CNote’s platform is secure, easy to use, and the best way to generate measurable social impact with competitive returns.
3. Educate the community banking sector. To ensure that CNote could place the corporate cash it was reeling in, we aimed to show community banks and credit unions how partnering with the startup could tap into a new stream of capital to support entrepreneurs of color, women-owned businesses, affordable housing, local climate projects and other mission-related loans and services.

Throughout the PR campaign, says Catherine Berman, CEO and co-founder of CNote, “I found Thinkshift’s strategic consulting invaluable. Their sharp analysis of our strongest PR opportunities and potential risks was above and beyond what I’ve experienced with other PR agencies. They also always came to the table with fresh ideas and succeeded with novel approaches that surprised my team.”

Read about what we did and how it worked.

IMPACT LEADER NEWS

Hacking the finance system for regenerative returns

You can wait for change, or you can figure out a way to make it happen. In this conversation in ImpactAlpha, RSF CEO Jasper van Brakel talks with Betty Francisco , CEO of Boston Impact Initiative, and Mark Lewis , managing partner at Trailhead Capital, about using conventional finance tools to drive social and environmental impact.

PR TIP

Dealing with DEI pushback

With many corporate responses to anti-DEI agitation ranging from contradictory to cringy (think “masculine energy”), PRNews shared this sound advice: “Retreating due to external pressure from activists or to curry political favor is likely to be seen as a weak move,” recasting your original position as performative. Instead, “maintain your existing position and policies, connect it to the overall business strategy and detail how it is helping performance (as Costco did).” Read more here.