Rick Scott Case Study

8/8/2019 Rick Scott Case Study

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contents

introduction...........................................................................................................................2

noteworthystatistics..............................................................................................................2

theprimary.............................................................................................................................3

truthaboutRickScott.............................................................................................................4

howwewonfacebook............................................................................................................6

YouTube.................................................................................................................................9

emaillistgrowth...................................................................................................................10

emailsends...........................................................................................................................11

act.ivi.ist...............................................................................................................................13

debaterapidresponse..........................................................................................................15

ontheground.......................................................................................................................16

articles..................................................................................................................................17

testimonials..........................................................................................................................17


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introduction

How it all started

In April 2010, the Rick Scott for Governor Campaign brought on Harris Media toestablish the complete online branding and to execute all online communications andmarketing.

At that time the campaign had no official Facebook account, no Twitter account, noblog, no bulk email provider and no email lists.

Over the next 7 months, Harris Media turned Ricks campaign into a truly tech-savvyGOP campaign.

- Ten-fold growth of Activist Email List

- 2nd largest Facebook presence in the history of FL politics

- Innovative online advertising campaign and a hub for online activism

Our work has been featured in the CNN, Facebook, AdAge, Clickz and more.

noteworthystatistics

Republican Rick Scott leads Democrat Alex Sink on Facebook by more than 20,000pages likes

BusinessWire.com, November 2, 2010

This is a full-fledged, professionally run campaign.

Naples News June 16, 2010

Twitter

Rick Scott 3,614 Followers

Carl Paladino 2,611 Followers

Robert Bentley 2,569 Followers

Jan Brewer 1,797 Followers

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TwierFollowers


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Facebook

Rick Scott 57,311 SupportersRick Perry 50,117 SupportersAlex Sink 30,079 SupportersCarl Paladino 28,801 Supporters

YouTube

Rick Scott 209,031 Views

Alex Sink 204,348 Views

Online act.ivi.sts

Rick Scott 600 activists

Bill McCollum 0 activists

Alex Sink 0 activists

theprimary

How the web contributed to one of the biggest upsets inpolitical history

How Rick Scott Shocked Florida Last Night - St. Petersburg Times,August 25

Rick Scott entered the primary with virtually no name recognition.Meanwhile, his opponent was a very well known Republican publicofficial that had run statewide in two prior elections and was leadingthe legal challenge to repeal Obamacare.

The 2010 election cycle was ripe with an intense anti-incumbencysentiment. Our strategy was to capitalize on the national mood bylabeling Bill McCollum a career politician. We focused everythingaround the following themes: special interests, lying, raising taxes,pay for play, and using the state plane for personal use.

We encouraged people to donate their Facebook profile picture to catchy images suchas the example on the right. We sent action emails to our email lists asking them to

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GubernatorialCandidates

FacebookFan


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watch contrast advertisements. Finally, we ran many online advertisements that helpedbrand our opponent as an ultimate career politician.

At our disposal were many campaign TV spots that painted strong contrasts betweenRick and his opponent. To take full advantage, we ran many online ad campaigns onconservative websites such as Drudge Report that linked to the contrast ads on our

website with email capture forms beneath them.

Also on FoxNews.com and Youtube we would play the actual spots as pre-roll orInstream ads with companion display ads. The success of these campaigns isdiscussed in detail in the section titled YouTube.

All of these online initiatives reinforced the same message as the campaign mail pieces,radio spots, and TV commercials. When voters went to cast their ballots, they knew thechoice at hand: an outsider and successful businessman or a career politician. In theclose election, every effort contributed to our victory.

truthaboutRickScottCritical to the success of Rick Scott was the use of microsites to defend his record,contrast himself with his opponents, and have a platform to control message as hefaced a hostile press corp.

The most useful tool throughout the entire campaign was TruthAboutRickScott.com tohelp defend Ricks leadership at HCA/Columbia.


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facebook

How We Won on Facebook

Through our outreach efforts, we built Rick a fan base of over 57,000 supporters, thesecond largest Facebook fan page in Floridas political history.

Throughout the campaign, we purposed to keep an active, dynamic and engagingFacebook fan page. Visitors were given breaking news, videos, photos, poll questions,podcasts and chances to win various prizes.

Facebook, for instance, recommends that Profile Pictures be changed every 2-3 weeks.

Through Facebook advertisements and fan pushes, we were able to systematicallygrow Ricks supporter numbers and track the activity level of our supporters. One month


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before Election Day, and continuing through Election Day, we had a larger Facebookaudience of supporters than Activist Email list.

The goal was not to simply have a big Facebook page. No, we wanted to create a baseof online activists that would help promote our message by taking specific actions. Wedeveloped many innovative tools to empower supporters to spread our message.

One such tool is the Spread Our Campaign Application:

Inspired by the success of Farmville, Facebooks number one application, we createdcutting-edge strategies such as custom Facebook games to increase interaction, spreadthe campaigns message, empower activists to spread that message by word of mouth

and help get out the vote, all the while we were collecting important data points.

Here is a screenshot of our 7-7-7 card game application, which spread Rick Scotts jobsplan and captured the feedback of Florida voters:


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Facebook wrote a comparison of Rick Scott & Alex Sinks Facebook page. Here is whatthe company wrote about our use of the social network:

Scott has been extremely innovative and has utilized several applications toallow his fans to become active members of his promotional campaign. Scottoffers his fans the opportunity to share the reasons why they support him withanyone who visits Scott's Facebook page. Via the Mosaic tab on Scott's page,visitors can see a montage of profile photos of Scott's supporters. As you scrollover each photograph, you can see the personal reason why each supporter

plans to vote for Scott.Scott also created the 777 card game to highlight his seven-pronged approachfor job creation. Scott empowers his supporters to rank each of his seven jobcreating solutions in order, based on what they think will be most impactful. Morethan 5,500 supporters have participated in the game and provided the campaignwith direct feedback on its policy positions.


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Why Facebook

We invested 33% of Rick Scotts online ad budget on Facebook. Why? Three veryimportant reasons:

1. Its where voters are. U.S. traffic to Facebook has risen by a whopping 55% inthe last year, according to Mashable.com. In total web traffic, it only trails Google,which at one point in the 2010 Election cycle, it surpassed Google for mostvisited website a short period of time.

2. Micro-targeting. Facebook gives advertisers the ability to micro-target betterthan anyone else. This allowed us to target niche groups with very specificmessages.

3. Reach. The reach of the campaigns message on Facebook is consistently 5-10times greater than on the website. In the month of September, the website wouldreceive ~7,000 visits a day. Meanwhile, a post on Facebook would receive

anywhere between 30,000 60,000 impressions per post.

YouTube

This may come as a surprise to most, but YouTube is the number two search engine inthe world. Therefore, it is critically important for political campaigns to have relevant,positive content.

Rick Scott was the only politician to utilize web videos to interact with Facebook users,thank people who just donated to the campaign, and turn out the vote utilizing webvideos.

In the month of October Rick Scott dominated Alex Sink in YouTube traffic: 104,265views to 22,598 views respectively. By the end of the campaign, the ScottforFloridaYouTube channel had a total of 209,477 views of all 115+ videos and commercials.

Advertising on YouTube Promoted Videos

It was widely known how hard fought the primary and general elections were in theFlorida Governors Race. In order to combat the negative ads, we ran defensiveYouTube promoted ads to ensure that Ricks positive message appeared above anynegative videos.

Conversely, we promoted the contrast advertisements against our opponents. Whensomeone would search Alex Sink our contrast video appeared first.

These ads contributed to the outstanding traffic to our web videos, and are just one ofthe many ways we were able to capitalize on the campaigns television spots online.


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Advertising on YouTube Instream Ads

Instream ads offered through Google Adwords on YouTube are the most cost effective

way for a campaign to spread their television commercials.

In an age where people are finding more ways to skip commercials, an Instream adimpression is a guaranteed view for a fraction of the cost. Also, Instream ads can targetspecific demographics and specific geographics.

Another benefit is that Instream ads also include a companion display ad that asks theviewer to take action, unlike television.

Here is an example from one Instream campaign:

Rick Scott Forward TV Commercial

Impressions: 172,288

Click Through Rate: 0.57%

emaillistgrowth

Organic Email Growth

We began the campaign with a base of a few hundred-email addresses from Rickspersonal contacts and several lists of Republican leadership. We implemented a two-fold strategy.

1) Gain new email addresses through specific online ads, strategies and initiatives.

2) Segment email addresses to maximize list effectiveness.

Gaining New Email Addresses

Rick being a complete politicalnewcomer, we began building hislists with Meet Rick Iniatives, and


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we also utilized his conservative credentials specifically in the areas of health carereform and immigration reform to capture 9,443 names and build an initial foundation forour newly created Activist Email List, which comprised of active supporters andcontributors.

Through issues landing pages, such as the one to the right, we were able to harvest

new email addresses, but also track the issues important to each email address.

Another way we grew our email list, and raised back our online ad funds, was fromdisplay ads.

One example to share from the campaign the first ad on the left we ran during the 3days prior to the announcement of the pick for Lt. Governor.

Rumors are flying in Florida political circles regarding whom Scott - a self-proclaimed"conservative outsider" who's self-funded his big-spending campaign - will choose as his

running mate. People searching for information about the lieutenant governor pick are

met with ads promoting the sign-ups. The campaign is also running display and text adsaround the effort in Google's content network. The ads started Tuesday.

In addition, the campaign is targeting ads on Facebook to Scott likers, along with thosewho like other Florida Republicans like Marco Rubio, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate,

and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, whom Scott defeated in an upset.

- Clickz, Marketing News & Expert Advice, September 2, 2010

Also, due to our many years in running online campaigns, we have relationships withthe various search platforms and display networks, which means we are constantlyoptimizing and up to date with the latest cutting-edge advertising options.

emailsends

Working alongside campaign staff we coordinated language, schedule, html coding andgraphics.


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Two Important Observations from the Scott for Florida Campaign

E-mail is king for online fundraising. Using Piryx fundraising platform, we were able totrack the source of online donations. Second to the main contribution page was thedonate button in campaign emails.

Images are powerful tools and they help e-mails not only stand out from the typicalcampaign email but they also increaseinteraction.

Some of our most successful emails of the2010 cycle were image-based emails, likethe example to on the right.

All emails are personalized, segmented, andsent at proper times with proper subjectlines.

Did you know that changing a subject linecan increase or decrease your open rates by10%?

Nearly all of our subject lines were fourwords or less, and our emails includedattention-grabbing graphics. However, wewere also careful not to take away fromcontribution asks with graphics or links thattook a recipient somewhere else before theysaw a contribution link.

Some our email graphics:


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act.ivi.ist

As previously mentioned, the goal for the Rick Scott campaign was not to simply havethe most Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers. The goal was to give our supporters who

want to help a platform to do so.Therefore, we selected the platform the David All Group called act.ivi.st because it is thebest tool that encourages sharing throughout the communities in which people arealready active, such as Facebook and Twitter.

It is best described as a dashboard that allows people to your message spread quicklythrough the world's largest social networks by giving impact points.

Throughout the campaign, there were 600 online act.ivi.sts, the largest group of onlineactivists in the country, that accumulated over 290,000 impact points by takingmeaningful online and offline action to support Rick Scott for Governor.


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It goes one step further in promoting competition bycreating a leader board and indicating how manypoints separate you and the next person on theleaderboard to encourage more action. Here is ascreenshot of one of the ways act.ivi.st promotescompetition:

Tools like act.ivi.st that are built upon Facebook are definitely the future ofonline grassroots mobilization, Vincent Harris, a social-media consultant withScotts campaign told Battle 10. I think youll see every presidential candidateuse something similar. National Review Online, September 20, 2010

Whileitisdifficulttomeasurethereachofactionscompletedthroughact.ivi.st,thefollowingisan

exmapleofactionstakenasaresultofanonlineact.ivi.st:


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Two Keys to Success

There were two things we learned that were key tothe success of act.ivi.st. First, we integrated act.ivi.st

into every part of our online strategy by linking it onmicrosites, the website, social network and evenrunning Facebook advertisements to Rick Scott fans.

Thesecond is incentivizing onlinesupporters. We filmed a web videoof Rick Scott offering to take the top

points scorer to have a meal withhim. The winner was LakelandsAdam Judd with 100,000 Impactpoitns.In addition, we were able to garnerearned media as Rick dielivered onhis promise to take the act.ivi.stwinner out to breakfast. Click hereto read the National Review Onlinearticle.


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debaterapidresponse

Together with the Communications Department, we created a very sophisticated debateresponse strategy. The centerpiece of the strategy was the microsite we created calledFactsforFlorida.com.

During the debate, we would post fact checking or contrasting facts to the blog and thentweet out the post under a rebranding twitter account. We used this during the primaryand the general election with much success, and Rick Scott told the viewers at home inevery debate to visit FactsforFlorida.com to get the facts.

We also used Google Adwords as a strategic, purposeful tool to control our messageand extend our online reach. One of our most successful search campaigns occurredthe days following a debate. We would run ads declaring that Rick Won the Debate,Click to see Why Rick Scott is the Clear Choice for Florida. The display URL was to

FactsforFlorida.com our debate rapid response website where we responded toopponents negative attacks and provided backup for Rick Scotts contrasting points.


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ontheground

In the beginning Rick was accused of buying the race and failing to get in the publicand meet Florida voters. These accusations were false and social media became the

tool to refute the medias claims.By being on the ground with the Rick Scott campaign for the duration of the election, wewere able to excel at rapid response, quickly posting photos, video and messages whileon the campaign trail. It served as a huge advantage and an ideal model for running atop tier campaign.

articles

Scott has been extremely innovative and has utilized several applications to allowhis fans to become active member of his promotional campaign. Scott offers his fansthe opportunity to share the reasons why they support him with anyone who visitsScotts Facebook page.

Facebook, October 21, 2010

Collecting data on likely voters is not all fun and games, but candidates are creatinggames on Facebook to collect constituent's e-mails and critical informationAnotherFacebook game was created by Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate RickScott's campaign called "Rick Scott Card Game." In this game the user has the

ability to pick and order their preferred job-creating solutions from Rick Scott's "7-7-7jobs plan." Users can drag and drop cards, which display the seven points of hisplan, and rank which points they like better. A simple game that allows users toknow what Scott's job creating policies are, while the campaign simultaneouslyreceives feedback about what parts of the plan are most popular.

CNN Political Ticker, October 18, 2010

Barack Obama famously used his vice presidential running mate announcement asa means of collecting e-mail addresses and mobile numbers in August, 2008. Today,Florida GOP candidate for governor Rick Scott is expected to announce his

lieutenant governor pick via e-mail, choosing specifically to avoid text messaging.His campaign, which is spending a notable amount on online ads, is using searchand display ads, along with Twitter and Facebook to push the effort.

Clickz.com: Marketing News & Expert Advice, September 2, 2010


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testimonials

Governor Rick Scott, Florida

Their creative use of new online technologies helped us stay one step ahead of ouropponents throughout the campaign.

Senator John Cornyn, Texas

Harris Media understands the importance new media technologies have on theoutcome of elections. During my recent campaign he effectively communicated withsupporters across the state of Texas by building a large, active coalition ofsupportive blogs and websites.

An excerpt from Do the Right Thing (2008) by Gov. Mike Huckabee

Incredibly talented in understanding the power of the Internet and the potential ofusing a blog to create a daily log of activities and information and to build an onlinecommunity.

Periklis Karoutas Campaign Manager, Congressman Jeb Bradley

Vincent transformed the way we campaigned on the web and helped us integrateour website into every aspect of our grassroots campaign. We were able to grow our

email list 6 fold from its start and Vincent wrote and sent regular email appeals to ourgrowing list that raised us tens of thousands of dollars. We expanded our campaignefforts to include podcasting, web videos, an aggressive youth outreach viaFacebook and MySpace, and Vince was able to get blog posts on policy written byJeb posted on large National Republican blog sites which scored us a lot of earnedmedia here in our state as well as encouraged more traffic to our website.

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell

Vincent Harris and his team were key to carrying my message of new jobs, andmore opportunities to tens of thousands of Virginia via social media, e-mail, andmobile technology. I was very pleased with their work, and would recommend themto any campaign wanting to expand their virtual footprint.

Rick Scott Case Study

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