---
title: "pressure points: how to pick the right target for your campaign"
description: "How to pick a campaign target that can actually say yes: governments, companies, banks, media or the public. Pressure angles, channels and copy that work."
url: "https://creators.chilli.club/resources/pressure-points-pick-your-target"
category: "create actions"
updated: "2026-09-30"
reading_time: "3 min"
---

# pressure points: how to pick the right target for your campaign

> Every problem has people who can fix it and people who fund, insure or cover it. Name them, pick the pressure angle each one feels, and hit them where they already listen.

create actions · 3 min read · updated 2026-09-30

"Stop deforestation" isn't a target. It's a wish. Somewhere, a named person signs the permit, approves the loan, insures the project or writes the story. Those people are your pressure points, and they're far more reachable than you'd think.

Here's how to find them, and how to hit each one where it hurts (politely).

## the TL;DR

A target is **someone who can say yes**, or someone the decision-maker can't afford to lose. The best campaigns don't pick one. They map several and open a new front every time one goes quiet.

## the pressure points table

| target | what they feel | best way to help | copy that works |
|---|---|---|---|
| **government** (ministers, MPs, senators, councils) | constituent voice, votes, deadlines | email to a named official, phone call to their office | "Tell [Minister]: vote NO on [bill]. Your constituents are watching." |
| **corporation** (CEOs, brands) | reputation, customers, share price | email to the CEO or head of sustainability, plus a comment on their latest post | "Tell [CEO]: pull [brand] out of [project]. Public pressure is building." |
| **bank or investor** | financial risk, peers moving first | email to the head of ESG or sustainable finance | "Email [bank]: stop financing [project]. Your competitors already moved." |
| **insurer** | risk they can't price, headlines | email to the underwriting or sustainability lead | "Tell [insurer]: don't insure [project]. It's a liability, not a policy." |
| **media** | a story nobody else has | email to a named reporter or editor | "Tell [journalist]: investigate who's funding [project]. The paper trail is public." |
| **the public** | identity, community, fear of missing out | survey, social comment, external link | "Answer this: should [city] let [project] use our water?" |

> **key insight**
>
> Follow the money. A project that can't get financed, insured or approved doesn't get built. The loudest target (the CEO on TV) is often not the weakest one (the insurer nobody's heard of).

## how to map your targets in 20 minutes

1. **Write the decision in one sentence.** "Stratos gets its water rights approved." "Iceland renews the whaling licence."
2. **List who signs it off.** Agencies, councils, ministers, committees. Their websites list names and contact details.
3. **List who pays for it.** Banks, investors, funders. Check press releases, annual reports and investigative coverage.
4. **List who protects it.** Insurers, lawyers, lobbyists, PR agencies.
5. **List who profits from it.** Customers, suppliers, retail partners, tourism brands.
6. **List who covers it.** Journalists and outlets that have written about it, and those who haven't but should.
7. **Circle three.** Pick the ones with a real decision coming up and a contact you can actually reach. Those are your first ways to help.

## find a name, not a department

A named person beats an organisation every time. "Email the Head of Sustainability at [bank]" gets read. "Email info@" gets archived.

Where to look:

- official government and parliament directories (most list email and office phone numbers)
- the "leadership" or "board" page on a company's website
- LinkedIn, for titles like "head of ESG" or "head of sustainable finance"
- the byline on the last article about the issue
- your own community: someone always knows someone

> **avoid this**
>
> Emailing someone's personal address or phone. Stick to professional, public contact details. It keeps your campaign credible and your supporters safe.

## how the pros stack pressure

### Stratos: 8 pressure points in five weeks

Caroline Gleich didn't just email one official. With chilli, she ran 38 targeted actions across 8 pressure points, from legislators to investors, insurers and media. Supporters emailed county officials, Utah water authorities, the military development authority behind the project, state auditors, congressional offices, insurers, brokers and possible Big Tech customers. The result: a public backlash that helped push a 75% scale-down, from 40,000 acres to around 10,000.

> **real win · Caroline Gleich**: [How Caroline Gleich made Stratos a national fight](https://creators.chilli.club/stratos-data-centers-in-utah.md)

### krill: seven fronts, eight creators

The krill campaign pushed governments, retailers, certifiers, insurers, investors, embassies and public opinion at once. Holland & Barrett, dm-drogerie markt and Time Health all committed to drop krill products.

> **real win · Celina Chien**: [How creators made krill impossible to ignore](https://creators.chilli.club/antarctic-krills.md)

### Iceland: when one door closes, knock on the next

The Captain Paul Watson Foundation hit the whaler, then the banks, insurers, ports and fuel suppliers, then ministries and embassies, then hotels and travel platforms. When one tactic slowed down, the campaign pivoted to a new pressure point, and supporters followed.

## turn your map into actions

Once you have your targets:

- **one action per fight**, with a way to help for each target, or
- **one action per front** if the fight is big and long, like Stratos or Iceland.

Then write the titles with [the CTA formula: how to write an action title people can't ignore](https://creators.chilli.club/resources/cta-formula.md) and pick the right type for each target with [ways to help, explained: every type of action on chilli](https://creators.chilli.club/resources/ways-to-help-explained.md).

## your next move

You've built the action. Now get it in front of people: [share your action: captions, stories and reels that get people moving](https://creators.chilli.club/resources/share-your-action.md).

## see it in action

- [How chilli helped Caroline Gleich turn Stratos into a national fight in just five weeks!](https://creators.chilli.club/stratos-data-centers-in-utah.md): Turn your audience into a force decision-makers can’t ignore. See how Caroline Gleich used chilli to mobilize 12K+ actions against a massive Utah data center.
- [How chilli helped ocean creators unite to make Antarctic krill impossible to ignore](https://creators.chilli.club/antarctic-krills.md): Your audience doesn’t have to act alone. See how chilli helped eight creators unite their communities and take 3K actions against the krill industry.
- [How Captain Paul Watson used chilli to make Iceland's whale hunt harder to hide](https://creators.chilli.club/anti-whaling-campaign-iceland.md): Keep your community acting beyond a single post. See how Captain Paul Watson’s foundations used chilli to mobilize 47,674+ actions against Icelandic whaling.

## keep going

- [the CTA formula: how to write an action title people can't ignore](https://creators.chilli.club/resources/cta-formula.md): Action verb + named target + specific ask + urgency signal. If your title doesn't hit at least three of the four, rewrite it.
- [ways to help, explained: every type of action on chilli](https://creators.chilli.club/resources/ways-to-help-explained.md): Six types: email, social comment, Google Maps, phone call, survey and external link. Email is your workhorse, calls hit hardest, comments and reviews go public, surveys warm people up.
- [how to design an action people actually complete](https://creators.chilli.club/resources/design-actions-people-complete.md): Fast, specific, emotional, action-first and collective. One action per moment, three or more ways to help, and always at least one email to a named target.
- [share your action: captions, stories and reels that get people moving](https://creators.chilli.club/resources/share-your-action.md): You don't need a new audience. You need a shorter bridge between the post your followers already watch and the action they can take in 30 seconds.

## along the path

- previous guide: [action images: how to pick and frame a photo people stop for](https://creators.chilli.club/resources/action-images.md): Pick a landscape photo at least 1600 px wide (JPG or PNG, 5MB max), with one clear subject in the middle and no text on it. Then frame it in the app's 16:10 frame and keep faces inside the safe zone.
- next guide: [review what the chilli team prepared for you](https://creators.chilli.club/resources/review-what-chilli-prepared.md): Sometimes the chilli team writes ways to help, updates or a whole new action for you. You go through them one card at a time and approve (or publish), edit or decline each one. Nothing goes out without your ok.

## next step

Book a free call with the chilli team. We’ll shape your first action with you, from the story to the ways to help, and get it live: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/appointments/schedules/AcZssZ01g8S_PtdUlvXCTxD-pS1u4XmLdcBskzOKdjdrlPeX2aVrQ20e76YifYlNHXzow4KG4xIS0Vsl