Political Strategy, Communications, Public Affairs, Advocacy & Media.

Publitics is an integrated public affairs, political consulting, strategy and creative firm built for the digital age. We help clients navigate the complex nature of today's political communications environment, move opinion and win the conversation.

The Challenge

Publitics Partner, Henry de Koninck, was faced with an uphill climb as general consultant to the “Montclair 2012″ slate in Montclair, NJ’s municipal race. The New York Times’ analysis of the race predicted that Montclair 2012 and Robert Jackson were likely to lose:

“Ms. Turner’s two opponents — Robert Jackson, a developer, and Harvey Susswein, a retired management consultant — are identified as more liberal and are expected to split that vote, giving Ms. Turner a good chance to win.” - New York Times

Public polling in the last two weeks before Election Day confirmed that Montclair 2012 was down by roughly 8 points.

The Approach - de Koninck orchestrated an aggressive communications and messaging program that effectively drew contrasts between Montclair 2012 and the other candidates, while establishing a compelling vision for Montclair.

The Results - Jackson took over 50% of the vote, swinging the race by over 30 points in his favor in the final two weeks of the campaign. The campaign captured the attention of national media (NY Times). De Koninck also won a Stanley F. Reed Award for his performance on the campaign.

Digital, Strategy & Communications: Taking a Non-Contender to Major Factor

The Challenge:

Upendra Chivukula is a New Jersey Assemblyman representing the 17th Legislative District. When Congressman Rush Holt announced his retirement, Assemblyman Chivukula, along with three other candidates, threw their hats in the ring. The candidates were State Senator Linda Greenstein, Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman and Princeton Physicist Andrew Zwicker. From the beginning, we faced numerous challenges.

Rep. Holt announced his retirement in late February, leaving just over three months to raise money and organize a campaign for the June 3rd Democratic Primary.

From the beginning, Assemblyman Chivukula was characterized as an underdog, which was further exacerbated by early polling which had him capturing just 7% of the vote.

We had to help show that Assemblyman Chivukula was not only a viable candidate, but also a real contender in the Democratic primary race.

What we did:

We helped build a communications program that was tailored to the short campaign timeline and relied heavily upon digital tools. By marrying traditional PR and messaging with cutting edge digital tools and top-notch video work from renowned political ad firm Putnam Partners , we were able to help turn the race around.

State of the Art Website and Tools

We needed to tell visitors a story in just a few short seconds of them landing on the page. We chose to design the site with paralax sections that would help the visitor flow through the storyline and messaging.

List Building and Digital Fundraising

Given the short election timeline and our deficit in the polls due to low name identification, we had to raise money quickly. We began building an email list of targeted supporters through social media channels, display and search advertising. We also gave our supporters tools, through Nationbuilder, to recruit their friends.

As our list grew we began our email fundraising campaign. Several variations of each email blast were tested and the best ones would go out. The PubliticsPR+Digital team closely monitored variations in frequency and timing of the emails to achieve optimal fundraising. From a list of 14,000 good emails, we generated over $55,000 in just three short months.

Digital Advertising

The media landscape is extraordinarily segmented. Different voters consume different media at different times. While television is still very important, it is essential to reach out to audiences on other platforms. During the campaign we used a mix of social, display and pre-roll video advertising to reach voters.

The Results

As a result of integrating digital into every aspect of the campaign, we were able to get more bang for our buck on the communications and outreach side of the campaign. Everything we did offline had a digital component that helped make critical extra touches with voters, supporters and donors, which allowed us to move numbers and ultimately capture 300% of the vote share relative to public polling two weeks out from the election.