There is often a significant divide between the story of the day and what voters really expect from elected leaders. This can be confusing to the officeholder who gets dozens […]
2014 Reed Award Winners
Campaigns & Elections magazine is honored to present the 2014 Reed Award winners! Award categories Direct Mail Automated Phone Calls Live Phone Calls Field Political Technology Online Advertising Radio Advertisements […]
How do you up fundraising click throughs?
Self-referencing posts or email subject lines that are posed as a question have a higher click-through rate, new research shows. An example of a self-referencing question headline: “Is your dog […]
โOld Schoolโ Mail Has Some New Tricks
Amidst all the evolutions and revolutions in political campaign tactics, mail is often at the strategic center of efforts to introduce candidates, and persuade and motivate voters. Mail can be […]
6 Post-Election Questions for the Campaign Industry
Through a pandemic and an economic downturn, civil unrest, and threats of election-related violence, Americans turned out to vote in 2020 in record numbers. And, as expected, the high proportion […]
No Winner In Debate Over Data Analytics And Traditional Polling
We have entered the era of the individualized campaign. Data analytics allows large reams of data to influence how we reach the individual voter. This development doesn’t make polling obsolete, […]
The Credibility Factor: What Campaigns Can Learn from Virginia Voters
Imagine if you could get a glimpse inside the minds of voters to find out how to win their trust, and their vote. What questions would you ask? Would you […]
Media’s New Kids on the Block
As technology democratizes production, some media firms are pitching leaner and meaner services to campaigns. Four nextgeneration media consultants tell us how they navigate the new media landscape. Justin Germany […]
Microtargeting – Online Advertising with Feedback Allows for High Impact Messaging
Michael Beach, with Targeted Victory, and Eric Porres and Andy Monfried of Lotame: Targeted Marketing discuss microtargeting strategies online. C&E: Was there a revelation or a technological advance that lead […]
Facebook kills a grassroots tool
Facebook recently announced a grassroots murder. The culprit? A change in the way Facebook apps interact with the company’s vast amount of data on individual users. The victim? For the […]
It’s Time to End the Digital-Versus-TV Debate
The simmering tension between traditional media consultants and their new media counterparts is a popular panel topic these days. Given a chance, most consultants will yap for hours about the […]
Campaigns Still Matter and the Political Industry Is Betting Trump Proves It
It’s a question haunting Republican consultants this cycle: Can other candidates replicate Donald Trump’s so-called campaign? At first it was academic, just happy hour fodder. But as the presidential primaries […]
Getting campaigns to pay up before it’s too late
Whether your campaign wins or loses, the game is far from over after election night. Campaign consultants and vendors have plenty of loose strings to tie up before calling it […]
Securing a newspaper endorsement
Whether you’re running a race for city council, state legislature, or a contested congressional seat, your campaign plan needs to include a detailed strategy for securing endorsements from newspaper editorial […]
After the Floods
Louisiana’s new electoral landscape is still in fluxNearly three years to the day since Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and a large swath of the Gulf coast, the region waited […]
Shop Talk: The Mailbox Is Still Where It’s At
As campaign communications evolve in the new media age, these consultants say direct mail is-and will continue to be-an essential tool for reaching voters.Anil Mammen is the president of the […]
Where Self-Funders Go Wrongย
Self-funded candidates almost always lose. Here’s why (and some lessons future self-funders should take on board).
Digital Firm Gets Carrier Buy-In For Text Donations
Campaign donations are the new phone bill line item. After roughly eight months of negotiations, Revolution Messaging reached an agreement with the top cellphone carriers and their industry trade group, […]
Mover & Shakers: Andrew Bleeker
Andrew Bleeker is the founder and president of Bully Pulpit Interactive, one of the top Democratic digital media firms. Before launching BPI, Bleeker worked on John Kerry’s 2004 campaign and […]
THE LIST: Our Annual Consultant Scorecard (St – Wh)
THE LIST: Our Annual Consultant Scorecard (St – Wh) Abbreviations: W = Won general election (with no competitive primary, or vendor wasn’t involved in primary) L = Lost general […]
Avoiding A Bad Firm Breakup
Breaking up a consulting firm is hard to do. For starters, there’s often no formal agreement governing the divvying of everything from client lists to capital accounts. That’s because the […]
When the Headline Is You: An Insider’s Guide to Handling the Media
“In my nearly forty years of experience, I have yet to meet anyone for whom media skills come naturally,” writes award-winning journalist and media and crisis communications expert Jeff Ansell […]
4 fundraising questions to ask before you run
Margaret Thatcher, shortly after becoming Britain’s first female prime minister in 1979, was asked whether her policies risked increasing the gap between the rich and poor in the United Kingdom. […]
Questions from Abroad
In the last week, I’ve spent as much time answering questions from outside the U.S. as I have from in. The questions from foreign press and foreign political junkies are […]