Government and Social Research

Issues Facing Governments Today

There are many issues facing governments today…

• declining budgets increasing service demands
• taxpayers who want to see more value
• an increasingly multicultural clientele
• an ageing population
• the challenges of integrating the Internet and other new technologies into service delivery
• competition from the private sector for the next generation of employees

Sound familiar? These are just some of the issues we deal with every day on behalf of city, municipal, state, provincial, and federal government clients across North America. Ipsos Public Affairs has been in the business of helping governments for over 25 years.

What we do

We specialize in:

• Government Communications
• Social Marketing
• Policy and Program Development
• Program and Service Evaluations
• Employee Recruitment, Retention and Communications
• Citizen Satisfaction
• Public Health Issues

Whether you are a national government focusing on an international trade issue or a local government trying to assess the necessary improvements to a line of service; Ipsos Public Affairs has the experience, the knowledge, and a proven track record. At the core of what we do is find the information and the evidence that decision makers need to develop and evaluate their policies, programs and communications.

We aren’t political pollsters, (although we have experts who do this for the media). We are seasoned researchers. Some of us have a strong public service background, while others bring a private sector perspective to public policy. We are dedicated to helping our government clients navigate their issues through the ever changing waters we call public opinion.

If your ultimate goal is to better understand the public’s views of complicated policy proposals, evaluate your program’s effectiveness, improve communications with a niche audience, or position the public service as a preferred place of employment, we have experienced staff across North America who can help.

Our experience:

• We know that as the private sector has upped the ante, making high quality (and ever faster) service a priority, citizens have put pressure on governments to do the same.
• We know what impact the emergence of the internet has had on the kinds of questions people ask of front line staff and the relationship people have with their governments.
• We have looked at the impact that changing demographics are having on public expectations of governments.
• We have worked on dozens of social marketing campaigns. Whether the issue is donating blood, smoking cessation, reducing our impact on the environment, or workplace safety, we know how to go about understanding the public’s key motivations and barriers and how to help our clients develop effective and efficient communications and policy solutions.
• We have been called in by clients numerous times to help them understand and better communicate with the public in times of crisis.