Thursday, September 22, 2005
E-Voter Institute
I spoke on Wednesday at the E-Voter Institute's conference on New Technologies in the Age of the Empowered Voter. Karen Jagoda put together another good lineup of speakers and I was invited to join
Chuck Defeo (Bush-Cheney eCampaign Manager), Bill Greene (president, RightMarch), and Ravi Singh (CEO, ElectionMall) on a panel moderated by Robert Cox of the Media Bloggers Association. On an earlier panel, Hal Malchow of MSHC Partners was joined by Michael Turk (RNC), Becki Donatelli (Campaign Solutions), and Rob Stuart (Advocacy, Inc).
Some of the more interesting tidbits came from the Republicans talking about ads placed during Bush-Cheney 2004. I didn't know it was possible, but apparently they placed ads in gyms on the treadmill machines and in planes on the in-flight entertainment.
Representatives of both presidential campaigns provided estimates of the percentage of total ad spending on online. Kerry-Edwards and the DNC estimated that 1% of total Democratic ad spending was spent online while the Republicans spent 1 1/2 to 2%.
Turk described the high priority placed on accountability by the Bush-Cheney program, with extensive metrics sought by campaign leaders. B-C matched their national Republican voter registration list to AOL's membership lists and used commercial data to match a grassroots organizing message to their target audience. They rated success based on organizing measurements.
The danger of these post-election analyses is to look at one side and conclude that their online strategy must have been right since they won and that their opponents must have been wrong. Kerry-Edwards pursued a broader communications program emphasizing fundraising and outraised the Republicans online by a 7 to 1 advantage.
Our panel covered blogs and grassroots activism. Bill Greene described RightMarch's program which numbers one million "red meat" social conservatives, built through an email matching program, who receive 2 or 3 emails a week. There was some discussion about how to build a membership list.
As internet communications director for John Conyers for Congress, I manage a program that emphasizes citizen activism and whose membership exceeds 250,000. We didn't buy any names, they all were registered on our site, and I would maintain that any Member of Congress could build a national audience with a full commitment to an internet communications program that builds relationships with blog communities, invests in minimal internet advertising, and communicates regularly on compelling issues. I didn't get a lot people who would agree with me on the panel, but I think the potential exists.
I will continue to use this site to outline our program and highlight successes that could be a helpful guide to others.
Chuck Defeo (Bush-Cheney eCampaign Manager), Bill Greene (president, RightMarch), and Ravi Singh (CEO, ElectionMall) on a panel moderated by Robert Cox of the Media Bloggers Association. On an earlier panel, Hal Malchow of MSHC Partners was joined by Michael Turk (RNC), Becki Donatelli (Campaign Solutions), and Rob Stuart (Advocacy, Inc).Some of the more interesting tidbits came from the Republicans talking about ads placed during Bush-Cheney 2004. I didn't know it was possible, but apparently they placed ads in gyms on the treadmill machines and in planes on the in-flight entertainment.
Representatives of both presidential campaigns provided estimates of the percentage of total ad spending on online. Kerry-Edwards and the DNC estimated that 1% of total Democratic ad spending was spent online while the Republicans spent 1 1/2 to 2%.
Turk described the high priority placed on accountability by the Bush-Cheney program, with extensive metrics sought by campaign leaders. B-C matched their national Republican voter registration list to AOL's membership lists and used commercial data to match a grassroots organizing message to their target audience. They rated success based on organizing measurements.
The danger of these post-election analyses is to look at one side and conclude that their online strategy must have been right since they won and that their opponents must have been wrong. Kerry-Edwards pursued a broader communications program emphasizing fundraising and outraised the Republicans online by a 7 to 1 advantage.
Our panel covered blogs and grassroots activism. Bill Greene described RightMarch's program which numbers one million "red meat" social conservatives, built through an email matching program, who receive 2 or 3 emails a week. There was some discussion about how to build a membership list.
As internet communications director for John Conyers for Congress, I manage a program that emphasizes citizen activism and whose membership exceeds 250,000. We didn't buy any names, they all were registered on our site, and I would maintain that any Member of Congress could build a national audience with a full commitment to an internet communications program that builds relationships with blog communities, invests in minimal internet advertising, and communicates regularly on compelling issues. I didn't get a lot people who would agree with me on the panel, but I think the potential exists.
I will continue to use this site to outline our program and highlight successes that could be a helpful guide to others.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
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