Align for success. Win today's most important victories.
one step beyond is an agency for strategic communications, campaigning and hope-based narratives.
We partner with progressive organisations and companies from across all sectors and help them find new ways to increase their reach and impact. Our strategic work follows an integrated approach, placing the relationships with audiences at the heart of organisations and campaigns.
Services
We support you in moments of change and opportunity. Our work is rooted in our extensive experience in successfully working together with changemakers from civil-society, businesses and institutions. Our approach builds on our expertise in managing social change for global human rights organisations and our pioneering work in hope-based communications. We enjoy working with people all over the world and offer our services in both English and German.
Strategies for Communication and Social Change
Every successful communication strategy is aligned with the impact you seek to have and the change you want to bring about. We support leadership and communication teams to develop a strategic and integrated approach for your communication. We work together with you to define impact goals, select target audiences, position the brand, craft compelling narratives and messages, and prioritise channels. It is often difficult to navigate your communications in a complex environment. Strategising your communication also means finding the right internal setup that fits your purpose. We support you in setting the foundation for success.
Hope-based Narratives and Storytelling
Hope-based communications is a smart strategy and powerful tool for change. It offers a simple 5-shift approach for changing the conversation - and the overall narrative - based on insights from neuroscience and psychology. By creating solution-focused narratives, you demonstrate the positive impact your work could have on benefitting the people and the planet. This inspires your audiences to support your agenda. As specialists in hope-based communications, we partner with you to develop your own hope-based narratives and strategies and train your team and movement.
Campaign Development, Management & Evaluation
Successful campaigns combine a strategic mindset and responsive attitude. Together, we design and steer winning campaign strategies, compelling narratives and a roadmap for change that capitalises on your strengths and opportunities. Campaigning can be quite challenging, bringing together a blend of diverse skills. We support you with your commitment to ongoing learning and in conducting evaluations ensuring continued alignment with your impact goals.
Research, Analysis and Evaluation
Communicating with impact relies on your commitment to ongoing listening, learning and adapting. We help you to build your new strategies, narratives and campaigns based on insights gathered from your team, networks and external audiences. Our personalised approach to research and evaluation means the design of these elements is customised to fit the specific challenges you face and resources you have available.
Coaching and Sounding Board
Lead with Purpose. We serve experts and leadership teams as a sounding board, bringing an outside perspective to your ideas, concepts and vision. Through personalized coaching sessions, we empower leaders and changemakers to overcome challenges, seize opportunities and achieve their goals.
Trainings, Workshops and Capacity building
Enhance your communication and campaigning skills with our comprehensive training programs. Our workshops and programs cover a variety of topics, including strategic communication, campaigning basics and strategies, and media training. We offer both introductory and advanced level workshops. Experience a hands-on, interactive learning environment designed to leave you feeling empowered and confident to immediately put your new found knowledge into practice. We also develop and implement curriculums for training academies and programs of progressive organisations and institutions. Our focus is on the area of narrative change and hope-based communications.
Speakers, Panel Moderation
The open exchange of ideas, concepts and experiences is essential and enjoyable. Finding the right setting is key. We support you by delivering keynote speeches, moderating panel discussions and facilitating workshops at your conferences, events and summits.
hope-based comms
One Step Beyond developed and delivered a high-quality communications session for the ODIHR's 2022 Advocacy School on Gender and Politics training which targeted civil society representatives from the OSCE region. It was a great pleasure to work with Philip on this session!
Sara Haapalainen
Gender Adviser, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
What others say about us
I know Gesine and Philip from my time at Amnesty International, when they were responsible for some of the most innovative communications campaigns in the whole Amnesty movement. I consider them key allies to my own hopes of building a strong cohort of narrative leaders in Europe, and can see them becoming really important and influential figures in the European progressive scene.
Thomas Coombes
Founder Hope-Based Communications
Gesine and Philip from one step beyond have taken us a big step forward on our journey towards Doctors Without Borders' integrated communications across departments.
Jannik Rust
Head of Communications and Engagement, Doctors Without Borders Germany
Our clients and partners
About us
Gesine Schmidt-Schmiedbauer and Philip Doyle are friends who share a common purpose rooted in human rights. This shared passion drives their efforts to support leaders and changemakers in effectively communicating what they stand for, with the aim of making a positive impact on people and the planet.
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Whilst working together at Amnesty International Austria, their strategic approach to communication and campaigning was instrumental in transforming the organisation into a more inclusive and rapidly growing movement.
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They founded one step beyond in 2022 to help organisations elevate their communication and campaigning efforts to a more impactful and strategic level. At the same time, they support purpose-led businesses that benefit from engaging narratives, movement thinking and a campaigning mindset.
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As part of a global network of certified hope-based communication specialists, they are dedicated to advancing the field of narrative practice across Europe and globally.
They are forward-looking people with a hopeful mindset. Get in touch!