April 2, 2025
“They never knocked on my door,” my father said. This was his answer when I asked him why he did not feel connected to a candidate running for local office in the Bronx. My father is a retired construction worker, whose work ethic is only outdone by his commitment to faith and family.
The untouched doorstep at my parents’ home is emblematic of how everyday working people feel about politicians and businesses alike – both of which often fail to show up, listen, and engage them on the issues that keep them up at night. Whether it is a public servant elected to office, or a corporation marketing a new product to consumers, it can feel like working people and communities are invisible, reduced to mere statistics on a balance sheet or a voting block to be courted only when it is convenient. The truth is, my father, like many others, believes that true leadership is about more than just words. It is about action, presence, and building real relationships with the communities that sustain them.
When companies and politicians bypass the people they are meant to serve, they miss the opportunity to understand their needs, frustrations, and aspirations—fueling mistrust and creating reputational risk.
Missed Voices Means Missed Opportunities
Working communities are vital drivers of the U.S. economy, comprising 62 percent of the national workforce and earning salaries up to $90,000 depending on the region. But, beyond polling data, their voices are missing from the media’s discussions about the priorities, values, and their expectations of business, government, and society. Only eight percent of creatives in film and TV identify as coming from working communities, while 60 percent come from middle or upper-class origins. This disparity contributes to flat, stereotypical portrayals that do not reflect the diverse realities of working Americans, and lead government, business, and the media entities to misrepresent—or altogether miss—the voices of working people.
Over several decades, LSG has built a proven model for how to elevate the real voices of real people to drive impact. We recently held a focus group representing the full spectrum of working communities across different industries, experiences, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and geographies. In our conversation, participants emphasized that a feeling of invisibility permeates almost every corner of their lives. “Doctors don’t want to hear how much pain you’re in from day to day. They don’t care…. The government does the exact same thing. And so do all these multi-billion-dollar businesses,” said Elizabeth, a warehouse worker from Texas. When discussing businesses in his community, Darius, a retail associate from Wisconsin, said he feels like working people are just a photo-op. “…they just want it for publicity. It’s like, let me take a picture and go get back in my car to go to my mansion,” he said. “We really need the actual support in our communities. They really come into our communities just to bleed it dry. And when they’re done with getting what they want out of us, they leave us.”
LSG’s Frontline Forum Drives Authentic Connection with Working People and Communities
The 2024 elections showed us the power of engaging with working communities. In an environment fraught with divisiveness, accelerating institutional distrust, and noisy digital echo chambers, brands and corporations must cut through by communicating how they are champions of working communities across America.
Along with our insights-based strategic counsel, LSG has developed a suite of tools to help companies and organizations build trust and increase support for their brands by credibly and authentically engaging working people and communities:
- Frontline Voices: LSG’s Working Communities focus groups and online communities provide in-depth, first-person insights on critical issues directly from voices across diverse communities.
- Frontline Live: Our proprietary platform allows confidential rapid, interactive real-world environment testing of ads, content, campaign collateral, products, and communication strategies.
- Frontline IQ: Access LSG’s strategic intelligence dashboard that tracks, monitors, measures and deploys the latest data and insights on what people in working communities are talking about, what they’re reading and watching, and who is influencing their decisions.
- Frontline Engage: Tap into LSG’s deep local networks in communities across all 50 states to create authentic engagement strategies and produce thought leadership that inspires trust and loyalty in your leadership and organization.
Knock on the Door
If businesses and elected officials want to foster loyalty, trust, and long-term success, they must engage meaningfully with working people and their communities. LSG is here to help leaders to show up – not just with surface assumptions, but with consistent outreach based on real insights from real people.
Contact jackeline@teamlsg.com to learn more.