With Daniel Lippman FIRST IN PI: With Donald Trump cruising to a second term in the White House in part by eschewing traditional media outlets in favor of the podcast circuit, a progressive public affairs firm is warning that corporations need to reconfigure their influence playbooks as well. — In a memo to clients out today, FIO360 co-founder Adam Weiss makes the case that by forging connections with influential figures and groups at the community level, companies will be better insulated against changing political winds and polarization. Fostering “genuine relationships” with community leaders won’t just bolster a company’s reputation among consumers and potential employees, Weiss argues. — Those connections can offer insight “into the social forces driving market dynamics and grassroots policy influence,” the memo notes. “Companies that navigate this evolving landscape by combining essential policy work with local credibility will have the upper hand.” — Weiss told PI he sees some parallels with the presidential campaign. Just as Trump and Kamala Harris focused their paid media strategies on “reaching people where they are,” he wrote in an email, success in advocacy “often hinges on engaging the leaders who shape political, cultural, and social climates — individuals whose influence can determine whether a company’s priorities gain traction or stall,” and who are increasingly found in civil society. — Placing a greater emphasis on shaping public opinion outside the Beltway and marshaling grassroots energy to advance policy goals isn’t a novel concept in the advocacy world. And scores of companies learned the hard way in recent years that wading into social and political issues isn’t a decision to make lightly. — But the right kind of community engagement has become even more critical as the public’s trust in government, the media and business continues to erode, meaning companies can’t rely solely on traditional lobbying to deliver results, according to Weiss. “In a time of political and social volatility, businesses that invest in deep, meaningful community ties are better positioned to weather uncertainty,” his memo notes. Happy Tuesday and welcome to PI . What are you hearing from clients about the new administration, the lame duck or the next Congress? My inbox is open: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko. MANUFACTURERS LAUNCH 7-FIGURE PBM BLITZ: The National Association of Manufacturers today unveiled its own million-dollar-plus ad buy pressing Congress to do something about pharmacy benefit managers during the lame duck, building on a seven-figure campaign launched yesterday by top drug industry group PhRMA. — In a new 30-second digital spot , NAM says that “America's manufacturing workers and retirees are struggling with skyrocketing health care costs,” accusing PBMs of “driv[ing] up the cost of medicines by pocketing massive prescription drug discounts meant for manufacturing workers, families and retirees who rely on Medicare.” The ad pleads with Congress to “finish the job” by passing PBM reforms. — “Congress has an extraordinary opportunity in the lame duck to pass transformative legislation that increases transparency into PBMs’ business practices, delinks PBM compensation from drug prices and puts patients first,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a statement. TAKING ON THE BUREAUCRACY: The Bank Policy Institute has hired Michael Coyne to serve as a senior fellow and strategic litigation adviser, our friends at Morning Money report, a new role aimed at positioning the industry as “an effective force in efforts to constrain the reach of the administrative state.” Coyne was previously general counsel and senior legal officer for the Americas at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and is a JPMorgan Chase alum. — Coyne “will be invaluable at a moment when the fundamentals of the bank administrative state are in flux,” BPI President and CEO Greg Baer said in a statement. Baer pointed to a series of recent industry friendly Supreme Court decisions including on the major questions doctrine, Chevron deference, statutes of limitation for challenging regulations and the use of in-house administrative adjudicators, which he said provide “crucial opportunities to re-shape the bank administrative legal framework, potentially in profound ways.” FIRST IN PI: Nicole Juba is joining the Biotechnology Innovation Organization as senior director of regulatory policy for agriculture and the environment, where she’ll advocate for policies to accelerate the development of biotech related to food security, animal and public health and climate. She was most recently senior director of regulatory matters at Alpine Bio (formerly known as Nobell Foods). MAR-A-LAGO MATCHMAKERS: “During Trump’s first transition, the press got a live look at VIPs being paraded through the Trump Tower lobby for meetings upstairs,” our Meridith McGraw and Natalie Allison write. “This time is less public, as the comings and goings are recorded on social media and in conversations with reporters.” — Instead, “the work of the transition is taking place out of view of the photos of meals enjoyed underneath the yellow-striped umbrellas at the Mar-a-Lago patio, as Trump and his team huddle with a coterie of power players.” — Trump is also eschewing the advice of more establishment political types he leaned on in 2016 in favor of “people more known for their influence in the worlds of business and political commentary, or for their massive social media followings.” — In recent days, among those meeting with Trump or offering input have included transition co-chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, honorary co-chairs Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Vice President-elect JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr. “There’s also a rotating cast of conservative influencers like Charlie Kirk and Vivek Ramaswamy , according to four people with knowledge of the meetings,” per Meridith and Natalie. START YOUR ENGINES: “Anti-abortion groups on Tuesday unveiled their ‘Make America Pro-Life Again Roadmap,’ an effort to chip away at federal and state access, including in nearly a dozen states that enshrined protections through ballot measures over the last two years,” our Alice Miranda Ollstein writes. — “Drawing on the playbook they successfully used under Roe v. Wade to regulate clinics out of existence and outlaw particular methods of abortion, conservative groups plan next year to file lawsuits targeting federal regulation of abortion pills and push legislation in Congress and in at least 15 states they believe can circumvent constitutional amendments and court rulings protecting the procedure.” — “Anti-abortion groups planned to pounce regardless of Tuesday’s outcome, but the scope of Republican victories in both state legislatures and Congress allows them to pursue an even more ambitious agenda.” Meanwhile, “abortion-rights activists insist they’re prepared for this onslaught.” TRUMP JR.’S NEXT MOVE: Donald Trump Jr. is joining a conservative venture capital firm instead of joining his father’s administration, per The New York Times’ Teddy Schleifer. The president-elect’s oldest son “told a crowd of a few hundred donors on Sunday that he was joining 1789 Capital, a firm whose investments include Tucker Carlson’s media company.” THE CHAMBER’S CHARM OFFENSIVE: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce had a rocky relationship with Trump during his first administration, and while both sides still do not see eye-to-eye on key issues like immigration and trade, new(ish) Chamber leader Suzanne Clark is laying on the praise for the deregulatory agenda of the man who holds the keys to the business community’s top policy priorities. — “[W]e now have the biggest opportunity to cut regulatory red tape in more than 40 years,” Clark wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Monday. Clark declared that Trump’s deputies will “have a target-rich environment” of rules to choose from, thanks to the Biden administration and despite the Chamber’s aggressive litigation and lobbying campaigns to rein in “the worst excesses of the Biden regulatory state.” — Clark, who praised Trump’s frequent use of the Congressional Review Act to overturn Obama-era regulations in 2017, said the Chamber will be in touch soon with the list of regulatory rollbacks it wants Trump to prioritize first. — She also squeezed in an appeal to Trump’s love of playing the underdog. “The new approach will boost businesses, workers and consumers alike, though the administration won’t get credit from everyone," she wrote, preemptively dismissing criticism of the regulatory rollback as an "illegitimate power grab."
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