OUR ROLE
Our firm is proud to have a long track record of success in independent expenditure advocacy. In the Ersnt race, we served clients Plains PAC and Senate Leadership Fund. We helped these organizations craft media and deliver messages that landed with Iowans and secured re-election for Senator Joni Ernst.
BACKGROUND
Iowa's race for the US Senate was set to be one of the most competitive in the nation - and it met every expectation. Senator Joni Ernst was dramatically outspent by her opponent, Theresa Greenfield. Theresa was running on an effective background as a business outsider and job creator. It was clear that Sen. Ernst's campaign was driving her numbers in the right direction, so our mission was to counter the image Greenfield was manufacturing.
SELECT SPOTS
Here are a few of the most impactful spots we produced for the race.
BAD BET
We needed to show how her opponent's policy positions on health care, one of the most important issues in the race, would hurt Iowa workers. With the airwaves inundated with political ads, we also needed a creative and interesting visual to get voters attention. This spot captured voters' attention and clearly made the point that on crucial aspects of the health care issue, Therese Greenfield's plan would hurt voters.
We saw clear movement in the polls following this spot which helped turn the tide in the race. Verbatims showed the message got through to voters as they repeated the points from the spot. This spot and its subsequent success became the start for a ‘gambling’ series where recognizable games were animated to illustrate the risky-bet that was Theresa Greenfield.
Ultimately ’Bad Bet’ and its inspired series helped us deliver a clear and convincing contrast message in a very crowded television environment.
PATH
We needed to increase Greenfield's negatives and show that she was not just out of touch with Iowa voters, but also had hurt Iowa workers, particularly when it came to jobs.
We found a strong metaphor for this message in Greenfield actually signing the notices to kick small mom and pop Iowa companies to the curb. With the airwaves inundated with political ads, we also needed a creative and interesting visual to get voters attention. By putting her signature on everything that moved in the spot, we burned in the metaphor.
Anecdotal evidence and verbatims from the polling showed this message broke through. Poll data confirmed that the ad helped increase Greenfield's negatives and push votes to Ernst.