Built For a Different War

As the word ‘advocacy’ is banned from academic papers in the US, Banks reflects on how “the old pathways to influence are broken” with an instructive critique of progressives’ failure in “the battle for the nation’s conscience and culture”, as it continues to play by “the old rules.” “The progressive movement continues to pour resources into outdated influence tactics – broadcast advertising, performance marketing, media relations teams, policy shops, and think tanks – while the right has spent decades methodically building a sprawling ecosystem of decentralised (but powerfully coordinated) narrative infrastructure… Many progressives still think their problem is messaging: crafting the perfect slogan, landing the right talking point, tweaking the framing to be more ‘persuasive.’ But the real challenge is distribution.” Banks offers three steps for developing the essential “strategies that move the majority of people, on the platforms where they actually spend their time”.