Celebrating 38 Years of Communicating for Good

This month we celebrate 38 years since I started what has become Hershey Cause Communications (HCC) with the mission to communicate for good and elevate the nonprofit sector through best practices, tools and training. Nearly four decades later, strategic thinking is still mandatory. For important ideas to cut through the clutter, it is more important than ever to make certain the right message reaches the right audience.

HCC Founder Chris Hershey with a life-size cut out of herself in 1977.

At HCC one of the ways we ensure this is through our commitment to strong design work. Having started out as a creative director, I’m witnessing a full circle return to design thinking as a way to solve problems. For example, infographics and interactive displays are now popular ways to share information. In 1977 the creative industry was tactile and based in a physical studio where texture, material and color made all the difference. Today it’s a business of technology – which has opened doors for art and design – but I also think an overemphasis on digital screens has endangered the elegance of a beautifully crafted product. From my viewpoint, the industry is beginning to swing back to a hybrid of material and digital, and it’s exciting to see where this will lead.

As we look to the next 38 years, HCC continues to embrace our role as an advocate for the importance of “communications for good.” When I first started the agency, I worked for a wide variety of clients big and small, corporate, public and nonprofit. I immediately realized that the work I cared about most was that which made a difference. Since there were no best practices for cause-centered communications at the time, I became known as an “evangelist for communications,” carrying forward ideas that worked from the corporate to the nonprofit sector. There is still a long way to go. Communications aimed at changing behaviors require up to a 10-year arc for results, but communications projects in the social impact sector are only funded for one to two years. That disconnect reinforces how critical it is to demonstrate the value of communications.

To celebrate our anniversary this month, the HCC team threw me a surprise party themed “1977,” complete with disco lights, fondue and Stevie Wonder. Everyone dressed up in their 70s best. We were hippies, disco divas and Deadheads, and it couldn’t have been a better gift. The pictures tell all!

Partying like it’s 1977!

It’s amazing to think how far we’ve come, and I’m grateful to the many individuals and organizations that have helped and supported me along the journey. As time has revealed, good communication never goes out of style!