Playbook
remains on message.
• Setting specific message objectives. These often come from polling. For example, a clear strategy of how to move ‘undecideds’ into the ‘probably’ category. There is a simple way, and good research will find it. • Creating a message, program and segment plans. What speaks to the African-American Protestant ministers might not sway, say, working soccer moms. • Developing integrated media plans.
Leverage Campaign Equity in Communication with Voters on Issues
A textbook definition of brand is “the sum total of all that is known, thought, felt and perceived about your company, service or product.” In a po- litical sense, a candidate’s brand equity is the sum total of reasons a voter has to pull the lever for a candidate.
In polling for a campaign, we at Multivariate Solutions often use a technique called “Driving the Vote Analysis,” which is essentially a regression analysis. This analysis shows, statistically, which is- sues significantly contribute to the sum total of reasons and are highly related to voting patterns for a candidate—in essence, the candidate’s brand equity.
Once conducted, “Driving the Vote Analysis”
will give the tools for the following steps:
• Promote your guy • Defend your turf • Attack your opponent
The chart on this page assists in analyzing issue association in our hypothetical congressional dis- trict in New York where Ken Williamson is run- ning. He has won the primary and now facing
Sandra Holland in the general election. Examining the candidate drivers, there are no
surprises. Ken Williamson’s key attributes are in line with his base. Sandra Holland, his challenger, is running on her party’s standards. The most intriguing analysis is those of unde-
cided voters, who plainly show that their interests are decidedly local. Our advice to our client Ken Williamson in summary is to leverage his brand and campaign equity and to:
•Defend: Keep the base happy • Guaranteeing a woman’s right to choose on the abortion issue • Ensuring women get equal pay when performing the same job as men • Ensuring everyone has access to affordable health care
• Promote: Sway the undecideds •Improving the transportation system • Ensuring everyone has access to affordable health care
• Increasing funding for local schools • Creating more electricity to meet increasing demand • Attack: Undermine the opponent • Keeping taxes and government spending down • Improving accountability in the way education dol- lars are spent
Each of these messages are important elements for inclusion in the Williamson stump speech and all other communications vehicles so that the base, the undecideds—and even those inclined to vote for the opponent—might be won over. For example, a prime avenue of attack for Wil- liamson on the his opponent may be to repeat early and often, “My opponent says that she in- tends to keep taxes and the size of government down and improve accountability in the way education dollars are spent, but she has no re- cord of that. And how does she explain how she will improve the transportation system,
provide affordable
health care and electricity and improve local schools when her biggest concern is cutting taxes?”
48 Politics | Canadian Edition
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