Making one day at the Capitol last all year

The need

Every year during Virginia’s General Assembly session, just about every special interest group you can think of comes to Richmond to meet with lawmakers. Industries, medical specialties and citizen groups all line up for face time with the people who write the state’s laws.

For the Virginia Beer Wholesalers Association, that chance comes once a year, at its Day on the Hill. The association wanted more from the day than the meetings themselves. It wanted a record of the day it could put to work afterward, and it wanted every member walking into a legislator’s office to deliver the same message.

Our approach

We cover the day the way a reporter would. We tag along with members, take pictures and follow the day as it unfolds. At the 2024 Day on the Hill on Feb. 8, that included the members’ meeting with House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth).

Then we write it up as a story. It runs on the VBWA website and goes out through the association’s email and social media, so members and others who weren’t in the room can see what happened.

We also made the leave-behinds: printed materials members could hand to legislators and aides. They explain the three-tier system, which is, put simply, how you get many varieties of beer, safely. Because every member carried the same materials, every office heard the same message.

The outcome

One day at the Capitol became a story the association could publish and its members could share. And the leave-behinds meant the message on the three-tier system was consistent from one office to the next.