The Work That Connects

For the approximately 2,000 people residing in Hoopa Valley, the largest Indian reservation in California, getting fiber internet installed was monumental. Thanks to the SB156 Middle Mile Broadband Project*, the project would be the first-of-its-kind joint build between a sovereign nation and the State of California.

Illuminated Marketing recognized that it wasn’t enough to just announce the project on social media. We needed to build trust and sustained support for what would be a multi-year effort that promised to bridge the digital divide in an underserved community.

This is where strategy-first came in.

Fiber is very technical. Middle mile, last mile, backbone, towers, conduit runs. The terminology can make people’s eyes glaze over.

Our first question wasn’t “How do we explain fiber?” It was “What does fiber do for this community?” We recognized that the fiber installation would provide the community with:

• connection to opportunity for students finishing homework in homes where service is spotty at best, and off network at worst.

• connection to emergency services announcements in a valley that faces wildfire threats every summer.

• connection to healthcare, especially telehealth appointments.

• connection to culture and sovereignty with a local data center enabling Hoopa to protect and manage its own information.

In partnership with the community's timeline, we built a communication plan that accounted for construction starts and delays, consumer expectations, and how to sign up for services.

From radio messaging to doorhangers to website updates, every piece of communication was executed to fit into a strategy-first plan and accounted for the various ways in which customers might get their information about the project. We created content for social media, local media, roadside signage, in-person events and marketing collateral pieces like flyers tucked under windshield wipers. 

This project is still in progress, but what we’ve seen is that the strategy-first marketing helped the community stay informed, feel included, and trust the process of a complex, multi-year fiber build. Illuminated Marketing is proud to have helped build a foundation to guide the community, clients, and stakeholders through meaningful change.

*California's statewide Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative, a project funded by Senate Bill 156 to build a network of high-capacity fiber optic cables to connect unserved and underserved communities.