Smoke & Felt’s 2023-2025 Vision Plan

Background: While I spent much of the 2010s holding typical day jobs in various marketing departments, it was at night and on weekends that I would really begin to experiment. I would partner with the sort of passionate, principled organizations that gave me a taste for working on things bigger than the next quarterly results. This ultimately lead to the launch of Smoke & Felt.

The initial pitch for S&F on launch day was straightforward: use our skills in media and technology to assist progressive institutions in growing their audiences and expanding their reach. Or, more succinctly: creative communications for progressive politics. To deliver on that promise, S&F worked to build out a wide set of offerings that would appeal to a diverse set of groups within the organization’s mandate. At its highest level, the plan at launch looked something like this:

1. Create a compelling service offering hyperfocused on delivering a great experience for a core group of clients

2. Use that experience to develop a diverse set of product offerings, broadening the value of the organization to others

3. Leverage that experience forward, driving S&F into new projects and campaigns in our key areas of focus

4. Offer audiences new insights to deepen our current relationships and lay the foundation for new ones

Over the last few years, this approach has served S&F well. We have broadened our footprint across Canada, worked on campaigns across all three levels of government, and even expanded our reach onto the international stage. This growth has also lead us to offer new products and services, including Atlas, The Whip, and S&F Academy. All the while, we have maintained our focus on being a conduit, a way for our clients to build their movements and bring significant progressive change wherever they operate.

Lessons Learned

The reason I wrote down that initial plan in 2020 was two-fold. First, naturally, was to map out S&F’s journey to a solid and sustainable position as the organization was getting underway. The other reason, and where we find ourselves now, was to provide an opportunity to look back at how far we’ve come, the things we got right and wrong, and sketch out where we should focus our efforts now that we have arrived at what was once a far-flung destination.

The Things We Got Right

At the outset, S&F was predicated on two ideas:

• The institutions we seek to partner with, including labour unions, workers’ groups, community organizations, and non-profits, would need a degree of support in developing cutting edge campaigns, and;

• The Canadian landscape was about to undergo a dramatic shift that would effect these groups and the way they engage with people at a fundamental level

It was at this intersection that we could provide support.

Over the last few years, both assumptions have proven largely correct. Since we began, the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered day-to-day life for Canadians, there have been major elections at all levels of government across the country, and broader socio-economic trends continue to make an impact across a number of sectors. As this environment has taken shape, S&F has been able to play a role in guiding organizations and campaigns to success.

The Things We Got Wrong

Despite some foresight, there are a variety of plans, proposals, and projects that flamed out or just plain failed over the last few years. This is, of course, to be expected in the course of getting started. But if S&F is to continue providing a standout experience for its clients in pursuit of our broader mission, it would be wise to learn from where we went wrong and what we can do it make sure we don’t repeat the same mistakes.

Broadly speaking, the challenges we faced fall into three categories: Scope, Scale, and Structure.

1. Scope
   A mandate like the one S&F embodies necessarily requires having a set of offerings available for clients that span a spectrum. Doing so not only allows us to offer more value to more people, but also advances the abilities of others to accomplish their goals without necessarily working directly with us to do so. This was the driving forward behind the creation of The Whip, the BEAM Certification program, and S&F Academy. While each of these offerings have enjoyed success, diversifying them to achieve their true goals has not yet been realized.
   

2. Scale
   Likewise, S&F has faced challenges when scaling these offerings to bigger audiences separate from our direct client work. The twin constraints of time and attention resulted in simply not scaling our offerings as quickly as we would prefer. This leads directly to the third concern.
   

3. Structure
   S&F has operated as a nimble organization that is able to step up and assist wherever it is needed. By design, that means we’ve kept our focus on a few things, and aimed to do them really well while still experimenting where we can. That focussed structure has served us well, but has constrained us in other areas. If S&F is to realize its vision and deliver on its mandate, this structure will have to evolve to accommodate greater demands and opportunities.

The 2023-2025 Vision Plan

With all this in mind, the time has come to reveal S&F’s vision for the next three years. Here’s what we’ll aim to do:

• Continue to provide the best possible service for all our clients
  Seems obvious, but it still must be said. This is the foundation upon which everything else is built.

• Become the go-to resource destination for progressive campaigning
  We will get better at growing our list of available tools and resources by expanding S&F’s content capabilities to provide more to organizations on a self-serve basis. This may also include multimedia and events as we grow.

• Deepen our relationships with communities across Canada
  Much of the most consequential work is done at the grassroots level. The next three years will see S&F concentrate on supporting organizations in this area and the people they help.

• Drive progressive ideals ahead of the 2025 federal election
  The end of this plan puts us right in line with the 45th Canadian federal election. S&F will make it a priority to play an active role in working with those who look to drive real progressive change in communities across the country.

Accomplishing any of these goals, let alone all of them, will be no easy task, and I fully expect there to be stumbles along the way. But if we are going to build the progressive future, one in which people are heard and their voices make a difference, S&F must push itself to ensure we can advocate for our clients and elevate their voices to the top of the conversation. If you or your organization want to be a part of this vision, please contact us.

We now have the next three years mapped out. Let’s get moving.

– Matt Dusenbury
Founder