Event 3. The marathon: comms strategy

Criteria: Strategic coherence (objectives, audiences, messages and channels genuinely connect), Practicality (deliverable by the stated team and budget, honestly measurable), Insight (choices are argued, not listed; recognises the hostility problem).

Prompt, pasted verbatim into a fresh chat in every app:

You are a communications consultant. Westbrae Buses, a fictional regional bus operator serving a mix of small towns and rural communities, has hired you. The brief from the managing director:

"Next spring we are making the biggest changes to our network in twenty years: twelve routes revised, four low-usage routes withdrawn, two new express routes added, and a full move to capped contactless fares. Independent analysis says 70 per cent of current passengers will be better off, but the four withdrawn routes serve some of our most vocal communities and two local councillors have already started petitions based on leaked partial information. Our own drivers heard about the leak before we briefed them, and morale is poor. We have a comms team of two, a modest budget, eight months until the changes take effect, and a local press that enjoys a 'war on rural passengers' headline. We need a communications strategy."

Your task: produce a communications strategy for the eight months to launch, covering objectives, audiences, key messages, channel choices, phasing, risk handling and how success will be measured. It should be a working document the comms team of two can actually run, not a textbook exercise.
