The Hidden Arena PR Strategy: Your Key to Mobilising Change Agents

I some­times use the hid­den arena PR strategy.

On rare occa­sions, I put the hid­den arena PR strategy to good use. It’s not always a good fit, but moun­tains will be moved when it is.

You see, some­times there are people just wait­ing to become act­iv­ists. When your interests are aligned with theirs, all you have to do is to activ­ate them. “Unleash” them upon the world, if you will.

The chal­lenge is identi­fy­ing such lat­ent pub­lics and, of course, find­ing a way to activ­ate them.

Here goes:

What Are Activists (and What Are Their Driving Forces)?

An act­iv­ist is an indi­vidu­al or a group mem­ber act­ively seek­ing to pro­mote, impede, or dir­ect social, polit­ic­al, eco­nom­ic, or envir­on­ment­al change. They are driv­en by a firm con­vic­tion and ded­ic­a­tion to a par­tic­u­lar cause or set of issues, often arising from per­son­al exper­i­ences or a desire to cre­ate a more just, equit­able, and sus­tain­able world. ¹Activism. (2023, April 3). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activism

Activists employ vari­ous meth­ods to raise aware­ness and advoc­ate for their cause, includ­ing but not lim­ited to protests, demon­stra­tions, online cam­paigns, lob­by­ing, and edu­ca­tion­al initiatives.

Activists aim to achieve diverse goals, depend­ing on the spe­cif­ic cause they are pas­sion­ate about. Typical object­ives include shap­ing pub­lic opin­ion, influ­en­cing policy and legis­la­tion, mobil­ising resources, and fos­ter­ing a sense of empower­ment and solid­ar­ity among like-minded individuals. 

They often strive to chal­lenge exist­ing social norms, struc­tures, and sys­tems that they per­ceive as unjust or harm­ful, aim­ing to bring about tan­gible change to improve the lives of those affected by the issues they champion.

Why Latent Activists Are Interesting for Public Relations

Typically, act­iv­ists organ­ise them­selves in vari­ous ways to max­im­ise their impact and reach. Some prefer to work inde­pend­ently, lever­aging social media and oth­er digit­al plat­forms to share their mes­sage. In con­trast, oth­ers join or estab­lish form­al organ­isa­tions, such as non-gov­ern­ment­al organ­isa­tions (NGOs), advocacy groups, or grass­roots movements. 

These groups may be struc­tured hier­arch­ic­ally or oper­ate on a more decent­ral­ised, con­sensus-based mod­el. Networking and col­lab­or­a­tion are vital com­pon­ents of act­iv­ist organ­ising. Individuals and groups often form alli­ances, coali­tions, or part­ner­ships to amp­li­fy their voices, pool resources, and coördin­ate actions to achieve shared objectives.

But these groups are all act­ive act­iv­ists. Not all people who feel strongly about a spe­cif­ic cause or issue have organ­ised themselves. 

These indi­vidu­als may not be aware of how they can con­trib­ute or may be hes­it­ant to take action due to per­son­al or pro­fes­sion­al con­straints. Identifying and mobil­ising lat­ent act­iv­ists can sig­ni­fic­antly bol­ster the strength and impact of a move­ment, as their untapped energy and pas­sion can be chan­nelled into pro­duct­ive efforts for change.

How To Identify (and Activate) Latent Activists

Creating oppor­tun­it­ies for dia­logue and edu­ca­tion around the issues at hand is cru­cial to identi­fy lat­ent activists. 

Public for­ums, work­shops, online dis­cus­sions, and com­munity events can serve as plat­forms for rais­ing aware­ness and gen­er­at­ing interest in the cause. Engaging with people through these chan­nels can help unearth poten­tial act­iv­ists who may have been unaware of the depth of their pas­sion or the aven­ues avail­able for action. 

Encouraging open dis­cus­sions, shar­ing per­son­al stor­ies, and emphas­ising the import­ance of indi­vidu­al con­tri­bu­tions can inspire these indi­vidu­als to leap from pass­ive sup­port­ers to act­ive participants.

Once poten­tial act­iv­ists have been iden­ti­fied, it is essen­tial to “activ­ate” them with the resources, guid­ance, and sup­port needed to trans­late their pas­sion into mean­ing­ful action. 

Offering train­ing on effect­ive com­mu­nic­a­tion, organ­ising, and advocacy tech­niques can equip lat­ent act­iv­ists with the skills neces­sary to make a difference. 

Establishing a Hidden Arena (i.e. “Activist Backend”) for Amplification

Connecting lat­ent act­iv­ists with estab­lished net­works, ment­or­ship pro­grams, and volun­teer oppor­tun­it­ies can facil­it­ate their growth and involve­ment in the move­ment. By nur­tur­ing lat­ent act­iv­ists and help­ing them find their foot­ing, organ­isa­tions and move­ments can har­ness the power of a lar­ger, more diverse, com­mit­ted group of advoc­ates work­ing togeth­er to achieve shared objectives.

One way to facil­it­ate this type of nur­tur­ing is to estab­lish an “invite-only” arena for lat­ent act­iv­ists to get togeth­er. No mat­ter if this arena is a private Facebook group or a privately hos­ted web for­um, it’s essen­tial that these lat­ent act­iv­ists feel safe to explore argu­ments, exchange inform­a­tion, and dis­cuss strategies and activities. 

The first step in cre­at­ing this “hid­den arena” is to care­fully select and vet its mem­bers, ensur­ing they share the same core val­ues and object­ives as the broad­er move­ment. This may involve a com­bin­a­tion of per­son­al invit­a­tions, refer­rals from trus­ted sources, and thor­ough screen­ing pro­cesses to main­tain a safe and sup­port­ive envir­on­ment for all participants. 

By fos­ter­ing a sense of exclus­iv­ity and trust, the group can become a haven for open, hon­est dia­logue and col­lab­or­at­ive problem-solving.

How To Boost the Hidden Arena by Pooling Resources

Recognising and cel­eb­rat­ing the suc­cesses and mile­stones achieved with­in the hid­den arena is import­ant. By high­light­ing the accom­plish­ments of its mem­bers and show­cas­ing the impact of their col­lect­ive efforts, the group can foster a sense of pride, motiv­a­tion, and pur­pose. This rein­forces the col­lab­or­at­ive space’s value and encour­ages its mem­bers’ ongo­ing engage­ment and commitment. 

In addi­tion to provid­ing a secure space for dis­cus­sions, it is cru­cial to offer resources and tools that enable effect­ive com­mu­nic­a­tion and col­lab­or­a­tion. This may include secure mes­saging plat­forms, file-shar­ing sys­tems, and pro­ject man­age­ment tools to pro­tect sens­it­ive inform­a­tion and facil­it­ate coördin­ated action. 

Regular online meet­ings, webinars, or work­shops can also be organ­ised to foster com­munity and camarader­ie among mem­bers and provide oppor­tun­it­ies for skill-build­ing and lead­er­ship development.

As the group evolves, it is essen­tial to con­tinu­ally assess its effect­ive­ness and adapt its strategies to ensure that it remains a valu­able resource for nur­tur­ing and empower­ing lat­ent act­iv­ists in their pur­suit of mean­ing­ful change.

Common Mistakes To Avoid When Establishing a Hidden Arena

Since I’ve used the hid­den arena PR strategy quite a few times, you can learn from some of my (many) mistakes:

Recommended Reading

della Porta, D., & Diani, M. (2006). Social Movements: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Earl, J., & Kimport, K. (2011). Digitally Enabled Social Change: Activism in the Internet Age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Tarrow, S. G. (2011). Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics (3rd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

PR Resource: Typical Social Group Sizes

Typical Social Group Sizes

Have you ever heard of the social brain hypo­thes­is? ²Zhou WX, Sornette D, Hill RA, Dunbar RI. Discrete hier­arch­ic­al organ­iz­a­tion of social group sizes. Proc Biol Sci. 2005 Feb 22;272(1561):439 – 44. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2970. PMID: 15734699; PMCID: … Continue read­ing

“The ‘social brain hypo­thes­is’ for the evol­u­tion of large brains in prim­ates has led to evid­ence for the coe­volu­tion of neo­cor­tic­al size and social group sizes, sug­gest­ing that there is a cog­nit­ive con­straint on group size that depends, in some way, on the volume of neur­al mater­i­al avail­able for pro­cessing and syn­thes­iz­ing inform­a­tion on social rela­tion­ships.“
Source: Discrete Hierarchical Organization of Social Group Sizes

Scientific evid­ence sug­gests that people tend to organ­ise them­selves not in an even dis­tri­bu­tion of group sizes but in dis­crete hier­arch­ic­al social groups of more par­tic­u­lar sizes:

Alas, there seems to be a dis­crete stat­ist­ic­al order in the com­plex chaos of human relationships:

• Support clique (3 – 5 people)
• Sympathy group (12 – 20 people)
• Band (30 – 50 people)
• Clan (150 people)
• Megaband (500 people)
• Tribe (1,000 – 2,000 people)

“Such dis­crete scale invari­ance could be related to that iden­ti­fied in sig­na­tures of herd­ing beha­viour in fin­an­cial mar­kets and might reflect a hier­arch­ic­al pro­cessing of social near­ness by human brains.“
Source: Discrete Hierarchical Organization of Social Group Sizes

Read also: Group Sizes (From Support Cliques to Tribes)

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PR Resource: How To Write a 1‑Page Strategy

How to Write a 1‑Page Strategy

My inspir­a­tion for writ­ing “no-bull­shit” strategies comes from the clas­sic Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. The 1‑page strategy focuses on how to win.

Here’s how you can write a 1‑page strategy that fits one page — using the myth­ic­al battle between David and Goliath as an analogy:

1. Analysis

• David can­’t beat Goliath using his size or raw strength, but he has an advant­age in speed and accur­acy from a distance.

2. Guiding Principle

• David should­n’t engage in close com­bat but rather use tools that will allow him to strike from a distance.

3. Coherent Actions

• David should­n’t use any heavy armour because that would slow him down.
• David should use a sling­shot, a weapon he is famil­i­ar with and can strike from a distance.
• David should lever­age the sur­prise ele­ment and not advert­ise his advant­age beforehand.

If you write 1 – 2 clear sen­tences per bul­let, your strategy should fit nicely on one page.

Read also: The Easy Street PR Strategy: Keep It Simple To Win

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PR Resource: More PR Strategies