Government agencies are often stereotyped as organizations with a ton of red tape and impersonal bureaucrats, impacting both the public’s opinion as well as employee morale within these agencies.

Join public agency communication experts Sonja Dosti, APR, from Fresno County and Ally Soper, from Kern County, as they share the journey of transforming, humanizing, and streamlining their agencies’ brands to better raise awareness about services available to residents.

Key Takeaways:

• Identifying key audiences
• The importance of research to help with strategic planning
• Using multiple media and platforms to share creative messaging
• Developing and implementing a cohesive brand countywide - logo creation, brand story, and brand implementation guide across departments
• Evaluating the effectiveness of your campaign

SPEAKERS

Recorded: Wednesday, November 15, 2023

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BIOS

Sonja Dosti, APR

Sonja Dosti, APR, is the Public Information Officer for the County of Fresno – County Administrative Office, which serves over 1 million residents.  She has eight years of experience in public sector communications and PR, having served as the head of communications at Central Unified School District before moving to the County of Fresno. Before working in communications and PR, she worked in the film and TV industry in Los Angeles as a production, studio, and network executive.

She’s passionate about sharing positive, informative, and compelling stories. Her years of working with Academy and Emmy Award-winning directors and writers have contributed to her communications and public relations practitioner work.  While at Central Unified, her communications team won the National School Public Relations Association’s (NSPRA) 2020 Award of Excellence for a video PSA titled, The Dangers of Sexting, and the 2020 Award of Merit for the video PSA, Hoax Threats. Her communications team at Fresno County recently won two awards at the 2023 California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO) Annual Conference. The Fentanyl Awareness Campaign specifically won the Epic Award from CAPIO and an Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties (NACo). She also serves CAPIO as the Central California Regional and Membership Chair.

Ally Soper

Ally Soper is Kern County’s Chief Communications Officer, leading both internal and external communications for the third-largest county by size in California. With nearly 40 departments, Soper brings residents closer to government by elevating her agency’s messaging through thoughtful and heartfelt storytelling. She is a former award-winning broadcast news anchor who understands the media industry from the inside out, and she has utilized her journalism skills to reimagine how Kern County is marketed to not only her region’s residents but also to the rest of the world. Soper is a recipient of the 2023 Telly Award for Social Video and General Branding and the 2023 LIT Commercial Awards for Branded Content – Tourism and Government in honor of her county’s promotional video, “This Is Kern County.” She also received the Kern Cog Regional Award of Merit for her weekly government newscast, “Around Kern County.”  Soper’s organization provides resources to nearly one million residents and strives to exceed the expectations of the communities they serve, changing the way they feel about government, those who manage it, and the services it provides.