Case Study: Steve Stewart for Mayor
Situation
Tallahassee mayoral candidate Steve Stewart filed for the office in October 2009. At that time, he was an unknown small business owner fighting an uphill battle against a powerful and popular two-term incumbent. To add to the challenge, Steve was a registered Republican in a city where Democrats and NPA voters outnumbered conservatives three-to-one. The incumbent was a registered Democrat, giving him another obvious advantage.
After campaigning on his own for five months with little traction, Steve hired Taproot Creative to help hone his platform, raise his name recognition and promote his candidacy for the remaining five months of the campaign. Initial polling data confirmed that Steve significantly lacked name identification among likely voters. The numbers also revealed sky-high approval ratings of the incumbent and predicted a punishing loss for Steve on Election Day.
Solution
STRATEGIC PLANNING
We began by developing a strategic timeline to guide all campaign efforts. This timeline changed slightly as current events dictated, but continued to serve as the primary roadmap to Election Day.
BRANDING
Steve’s existing campaign materials and online presence desperately required a stronger and more consistent brand, as well as a more polished appeal to increase his perceived viability. We developed a logo, print collateral and signage, and redesigned Steve’s website to reflect his new image. We also established a firm platform that guided all campaign messages.
WEBSITE DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
We redeveloped VoteSteveStewart.com to serve as the backbone and hub of Steve’s campaign. The site became more than a mere placeholder for Steve’s bio and platform, but rather an interactive tool for both campaign staff and the electorate. In addition to the basics, the site featured a volunteer sign-up form, email subscription and materials request forms, continuously updated news and notes from the campaign trail, a running countdown to Election Day and links to voter resources.
We also integrated social components including a Facebook fan box, links to social networks, viral photo and video galleries, blog, tell-a-friend and sharing capabilities, and downloadable avatars branded for the campaign. To help facilitate fundraising efforts, we implemented an online donation processing system that fully integrated with social networks and encouraged users to tweet and post specific phrases to Twitter and Facebook after making an online contribution. The site’s overall design face-lift created renewed interest, legitimized the candidate, and offered a more engaging user experience.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
We immediately engaged in grasstops outreach by introducing Steve to local opinion leaders. Weekly sign-wavings, daily neighborhood walks, meet-and-greet events and community speaking engagements fueled the grassroots effort. We worked with the local news outlets to tell Steve’s story and convey his platform to the masses, and we offered Steve guidance in preparation for debates and media interviews. We used email marketing to communicate regularly with those interested in the race, and frequently updated Steve’s website to ensure visitors received the most current campaign-related news and information.
We focused heavily on social networking as a tool to energize supporters and mobilize volunteers, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogging. Steve’s message, communicated via these various tools, motivated countless volunteers to walk neighborhoods, wave signs, post signs in their yards and share Steve’s message through their online social networks. We made campaign wallpaper and avatars available on the website for supporters to display on their personal computers and use as their Facebook and Twitter profile photos. Facebook and Twitter also served as the primary vehicle for organizing a community rally at a major intersection featuring nearly 100 volunteers.
ADVERTISING
To compliment our major PR initiative, we launched an advertising campaign driven by a media plan that made the most of Steve’s limited budget. We implemented a strategic mix of direct mail, outdoor, online, television and radio advertising, and managed all aspects of the process, from concept and design to production and placement.
FUNDRAISING
Fundraising was a challenge for our candidate from the beginning. When Steve hired Taproot, the incumbent had already raised more than four times what Steve had acquired in campaign contributions. To address this issue, we planned and launched a “30 Days to $30K” money bomb, which included a microsite, social media promotion and print collateral. We also created and managed Steve’s donor prospect list, offered guidance in his approach to soliciting contributions, and organized campaign fundraisers.
Social media played a role in our fundraising efforts as well. We integrated Steve’s online contribution system with Facebook and Twitter, making it easy for donors to tell their friends about their support for Steve and encourage them to contribute to his campaign. This third-party support proved to be an invaluable asset to the overall fundraising effort.
Results
Steve’s campaign energized the city, sparking public debates and water cooler conversations across town. Campaign volunteers totaled in the hundreds. Publicity efforts over the course of five months resulted in more than three million media impressions valued at more than $100,000. Steve’s Facebook fan based increased from 300 to more than 1,100. Links and favorable mentions shared via Facebook and Twitter resulted in more than 25,000 impressions.
Steve’s new website generated an average of 150 unique visitors per day and attracted more than 18,000 residents in just four months. The bounce rate decreased from 70% to 30%, and the average visit time increased from less than one minute to more than four minutes. Nearly 100 website visitors signed up to volunteer, and more than 200 requested campaign materials through the online form. Nearly 100 people downloaded the campaign desktop and iPhone wallpaper, Facebook profile image and Twitter avatar for display on their personal computers, phones and and social networks. More than 100 people donated online, which comprised more than 20% of all campaign contributors.
We reached our “30 Days to $30K” money bomb goal, which represented more than double the amount Steve had raised in his entire first seven months of campaigning. The campaign went on to raise nearly $92,000, as compared to the incumbent’s total contributions of $152,000.
Steve won all straw polls conducted by an array of community organizations during the course of the campaign. He also received the coveted endorsements of the Tallahassee Board of Realtors, the Fraternal Order of Police and a number of current and former elected officials.
Just over 32,000 people voted in the election. Steve ultimately lost the race by a few hundred votes, but gained an impressive 31 points on his opponent in the final four weeks of the campaign — a direct result of the rapid-fire push that we orchestrated in the previous few months, and perhaps indicative of what may have occurred had we been engaged in the effort when Steve first announced his candidacy.
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