Dominating an Election in the time of COVID-19:
How to Reverse Public Opinion from 70% YES to 76% NO in a New Era of Campaigning
Before
In March 2019, a municipal survey stated that 70% of voters favored municipalizing the electric utility. Much of this was due to negative sentiment regarding Pueblo's current electric utility provider. We needed to frame the debate using poll-tested messaging that would show voters the negative impacts of voting YES, including its risks and cost.
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After
When all of the votes were tallied, NO on 2A had won 76% of the vote. More than 21,000 Puebloans voted NO on the initiative, opting to retain the city's current electric provider rather than municipalize.
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Mountain Town News, noted, "the reversal of public attitudes was stunning."
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This victory was a total team effort, from outstanding campaign management by the Welchert Company to compelling paid media from Strother-Nuckels Strategies, mail from JPM+M, Frederick Polls, and phones from The Tyson Organization.
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Working on the NO on 2A campaign was like playing for an All-Star team. Each facet of the campaign was staffed with outstanding consultants and firms. We were thrilled to play a role on the social media, email, website and Google AdWords side. We used innovative practices to create an effective digital organizing campaign in the age of coronavirus.
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Coronavirus presents to our country its most challenging time since WWII. This presents a great opportunity for all of our organizations to lead.
In the News
"Muncipalization sharply rejected by Pueblo voters"
- The Pueblo Chieftain
“The reversal of public attitudes was stunning”
- Mountain Town News
“The Effct team was quick, responsive and smart. When Covid-19 stopped our canvas effort they switched gears and developed a “virtual door-knock” that was unique and successful for the NO 2A campaign.”
Steve Welchert, Campaign Manager, NO on 2A
Digital Organizing Deployed
State-of-the-art
Virtual Door Knock
We created an innovative way to talk with voters through people in the community they care about. We believe this technique will become a staple in winning campaigns moving forward.
Rapid Website Creation
Built a sticky website from scratch in 3 days. Registered more than 7,000 visitors in one month. Average time on page: a whopping 2 minutes, 51 seconds.
Google Ads
Generated more than 300,000 impressions with Pueblo voters, capitalizing on searches for information related to voting and government info in the time of COVID-19.
Social Listening
By paying careful attention to what voters were saying on Facebook, we were able to control the narrative of the campaign. Careful social listening allowed us to stay away from pain points, and define our messaging's line of attack.
State-of-the-art "Virtual Door Knock"
Campaigning in the time of coronavirus requires innovation. We launched a state-of-the art "Virtual Door Knock." We purchased a list of 14,000 Puebloans, and segemented it by gender, age and political party. Then we used well-known stakeholders in the community and sent casual yet on-message emails to highly segmented lists that matched the stakeholders demographics. The result? We got warm list results from a cold list, helping us win 76% of the vote.