Beyond F.A.T.E.: Modernizing Public Relations for an Era of Distrust

Focus, Authority, Tribe, Emotion—and the one ingredient the 20th century forgot.

Edward Bernays is widely considered the father of public relations. The nephew of Sigmund Freud, Bernays was the first to realize that you could use psychology to manipulate the masses, not just to sell products, but to shift culture.

In the 1920s, he didn’t just sell cigarettes; he branded them "Torches of Freedom" and organized debutantes to smoke them in the Easter Parade, breaking a social taboo and doubling the market overnight.

His methodology was codified into a formula that agencies have used for a century: F.A.T.E.

• Focus: Relentless repetition of a single message.

• Authority: The use of "experts" and third-party validators to endorse the message.

• Tribe: Appealing to the group identity (social proof).

• Emotion: Bypassing logic to trigger fear, desire, or pride.

For 100 years, this worked. But if you try to run a pure F.A.T.E. play in 2025, you will likely fail.

The Death of the "Expert"

We are living in an era of institutional collapse. The Edelman Trust Barometer and nearly every major data model show the same trend: trust in government, media, and CEOs is at an all-time low.

The public has developed antibodies to spin.

• When they see Authority (a paid expert), they assume corruption.

• When they see Focus (talking points), they assume a cover-up.

• When they see Emotion, they call it "clickbait."

  
  

The decentralized internet has stripped the gatekeepers of their power. You cannot manipulate a population that has access to more information than you do. In this environment, Bernays’ toolkit isn't just insufficient; it’s dangerous. It builds a house of cards that collapses under the slightest scrutiny.

The Missing Ingredient: Truth as a Weapon

At Searle Strategies, we respect the history of our craft, but we do not rely on a century-old playbook. We have updated the formula.

To the psychological levers of Focus, Authority, Tribe, and Emotion, we add the only structural element that can withstand the pressure of the modern internet: Integrity and Truth.

This is not a moral argument. It is a tactical one.

In a conflict—whether legislative, corporate, or political—the most vulnerable participant is the one hiding something. The "spin" approach requires you to defend a false perimeter. It requires energy, resources, and constant maintenance to keep the façade from cracking.

Truth is efficient. When your strategy is aligned with the reality of the data and the facts on the ground, your narrative becomes unassailable.

The Iron Triangle of Modern Strategy

We counsel our clients to stop trying to "manage" the truth and start weaponizing it.

1. Don't Spin, Frame: We don't change the facts; we change the context in which the facts are viewed. This is where Bernays’ Focus is still relevant, but only when anchored in reality.

2. Earn Authority, Don't Buy It: Instead of paid spokespeople, we build alliances with genuine stakeholders. Real authority today comes from shared sacrifice, not credentials.

3. Respect the Tribe: You cannot trick a community into supporting you. You must align your objectives with their survival or success.

   
   

The Fortress vs. The Stage Set

Traditional PR builds stage sets—beautiful facades that look great in a press release but blow over in a windstorm.

We build fortresses. We use Truth as the foundation, Integrity as the mortar, and Sequencing as the blueprint.

When we engage in a campaign, we aren't hoping you don't find out what's going on behind the curtain. We are tearing the curtain down, because we know that the raw reality of our position is stronger than the opposition's fiction.