Messagesmith is a strategic communications consultancy owned and operated by Rick Laubscher. Messagesmith provides high-level counsel, messaging platforms, and special projects to select corporations and organizations.

Today's Chief Communications Officers are increasingly overwhelmed with demands on their time. Crisis situations, C-suite demands, senior staff vacancies and more can all compromise a CCO's performance.

Messagesmith can help in three ways:

• Serving as a trusted, deeply experienced senior counselor to CCOs, providing advice backed up by detailed plans and supporting actions to respond immediately to challenges and capitalize quickly on opportunities.
• Filling immediate needs with responsive, expert communications services for both planning and projects that have to be done right, and now.
• Building a communications organization's longer-term strength by helping leaders develop their talent through hands-on mentoring and side-by-side project work. 

Even when a CCO is blessed with a strong senior staff, there are always moments when another seasoned, sharp strategist or high performing message creation expert would make a big difference. Rick Laubscher combines the skill and experience of an award-winning broadcast journalist, savvy political operative, and corporate communications executive (in both the traditional and tech worlds) to deliver exceptional results to clients.

Messagesmith is a forward-facing consultancy, focused on today's realities and tomorrow's opportunities. Rick is currently counseling clients in such areas as environmental sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and development of social media platforms and initiatives. He is experienced in helping departments upgrade their skill sets to meet the very different communications environment they now face. 

As a proven team player, Rick works especially effectively with a client's agency team as well as in-house staff and other consultants. Messagesmith delivers its services with modesty and discretion. (That's why this site is simple. Everything is about the client, not the consultancy.) New clients are almost always referrals from existing clients. Client references are, of course, available on request.

A few client comments:

“I believe Rick is one of the smartest and most capable PR people in the country, and I don't use these terms loosely, by any stretch of the imagination.” (Fortune 75 CCO)

"Rick is a very rare combination: a strategic thinker and planner who also has strong execution skills and a 'get it done' attitude, too." (Tech company CEO)

“Rick is my trusted advisor, helping me determine the biggest marketing challenges.  He is a gifted communicator and a joy to collaborate with.  And he is fast.” (Tech company CMO)

Rick Laubscher holds an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he finished first in his class and won the Pulitzer Fellowship. He currently serves on the board of directors of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and as volunteer board chair and president of a historic preservation non-profit in San Francisco, Market Street Railway.

Rick can be reached at rick@messagesmith.com or at 415.305.5242.