Making
Better Lives For All.
Not Just the Privileged Few.
This was the branding campaign, expressed as this theme,
developed for the Harris County Democratic Party in early 2011, following the
2010 mid-term blowout we experienced in Houston and the state of Texas.
It was created as an outgrowth of planning and idea
exchange that took place with Democracy For Houston, a very active progressive
group closely tied to the County Party.
From there, with the approval of Gerry Birnberg, a County Party
messaging committee was created involving about 25 party activists to undertake
the first known market research project ever undertaken by the Party. Messaging Chair Stan Merriman collaborated
with a former marketing colleague, Bill Penscak, himself a dedicated Democrat.
Stan initially led about 45 Democrats active with the
party through a process of prioritizing issues this group felt best reflected
the values and beliefs of local Democrats, expressed during a post mortem
meeting following the blowout Republican sweep of 2010. He then turned over the messaging committee’s
report on values and belief to Penscak, a professional marketer and focus group
expert.
With the help of local
Harris County Democratic clubs, Penscak conducted a series of very
intense, in depth focus groups with club members, reflecting the demographic
diversity of Harris County. His work was
very time intensive and pro-bono.
The overall conclusion of the focus groups was that
economic populist issues best expressed the value system and beliefs of local
Democrats and a number of branding/positioning statements expressing these were
recommended.
Merriman followed up with interviews, on line and in
person with approximately 100 additional local Democrats to refine the results,
using branding/theme statements developed by colleague Steve Barnhill and his
advertising agency. In all about 300
local Democrats participated in these various interviews and focus groups.
Merriman took these findings and developed this branding
statement which he asked Chair Birnberg to critique. He not only critiqued, he word crafted
further with Merriman to result in:
Making Better Lives For All.
Not Just the
Privileged Few.
A comprehensive communications and messaging plan was presented to the
elected precinct chairs of the party and the campaigns first phase, internal
party introduction was launched via club presentations, web site, presentations
to candidates and Dem office holders, introductory web videos and Facebook
postings in 2011. The campaign was
presented and transitioned to the new, incoming County Party Chair and Merriman
retired from his post with the Messaging Committee.
Since our move to Delaware I’d lost track of messaging and the like at
the Harris County Democratic Party, but a couple of days ago I was struck by an
article in my most recent issue of In These Times.
Lo and Behold, the senior editor reported on research and a study done
of the respected Hart Research Associates. They describe this research as having been done in 2014.
They are major advisors to the DNC and Democratic candidates, conducting
both polling and focus groups. The In
These Times editorial in November cited this research pointed out that “Democrats were
beaten because their leaders failed to speak to the economic concerns of
economically traumatized Americans”.
This editorial further cited Hart’s finding that Democrats who supported
creating an economy “ that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few” by 22
points.
Wow. Sound familiar doesn’t
it? I did further looking into the Hart
research and found this on the web.
Here are some excerpts I found.
Hart Research Associates
“Voters respond most favorably when Democrats deliver a populist
economic message centered on the idea of building an economy that works for all
of us, not just the wealthy and big corporations.
Today, Americans believe that the single most important goal for the
nation’s economic future is to create an economy that works for everyone, not
just the wealthy few.”
Here is more:
“While voters also rate many other economic goals as priorities no other
formulation resonates
nearly as strongly. And no other critique better captures Americans’
economic anxiety than the idea that our economic system now benefits only the
wealthy and corporations, while the deck is stacked against
everyone else. Fully 59% of voters say making the economy work for
everyone, not just the wealthy few, is an extremely important goal.”
And their findings revealed:
“The following candidate message proved very appealing to 63% of swing
voters,
and is a strong formulation of a populist Democratic economic message:”
The promise of America should be
for everyone, not just the wealthy few.
Hart further postulated:
“Most compelling goal:
An economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few”
The leading comparative statement of a series presented with 47% of
respondents preferring:
“Which one of these phrases describe the most important goal for
America.”
An economy that works for
everyone, not just the wealthy few
Hart probed further exploring deleting the very aggressive reference to
the wealthy. This reminded me of a very
tense exchange I had with Hon. Vince Ryan in a presentation to candidates,
where I was defending our choice of words.
“Could Democrats enjoy even more success by employing a message that
promised “an economy that works for
all,” but omitting the sharper-edged
populism of talking about the wealthy? The data shows that this would actually
weaken Democrats’ appeal. In a choice between a Republican who will “grow the
economy” and a Democrat who will “make the economy work for all of us, not just
the wealthy,”
swing voters prefer the Democrat by a 22 point margin (61% to 39%). The
other half of our respondents heard the same partisan choice except that the
words “not just the wealthy” were deleted.
This Democrat actually lost to the Republican by 10 points, a net loss
of 32 points
In a contest for voter allegiance, four little words—“not just the
wealthy”—made all the difference. Instead of broadening the Democrat’s appeal,
filing off the populist edge turned out to undermine support for this
candidate. Significantly, it is with more conservative voters that a populist
message provides the greatest advantage. By adding “not just the wealthy,”
Democrats improve by 42 points with men (just 18 points with women), by 44
points among voters over 50 (just 19 points underage 50) by 39 points with
swing voters planning to vote Republican.
A
populist framework also proves to be the most advantageous way to
contrast the difference between the two parties.”
Our work, again, was done in 2011 in Harris County. Hart's with polls and focus groups done in 2014, three years later. Were we ahead of our time in Houston? We'll never know, but to firmly establish this branding positioning, I told the party it would take about 3 years of intensive campaigning and communications. We designed it so the campaign could be used by officeholders/candidates who might not directly impact economic issues...ie: judges, etc., as well as the Party.
Remuneration? I'm reasonably sure the DNC paid Hart tons of $ and the work was well worth it.
The HCDP Messaging Committee, Merriman, Penscak? All pro-bono.
On previous blogs I have been critical of the DNC for their lame or
nearly non-existent messaging. Not
following Harris County from Delaware, I don’t have a clue but……I do wonder.
Most importantly, congratulations to all the members of the messaging
committee who worked their tails off hoping their labors would be adopted and
exploited to the maximum and the 300 loyalists of the Harris County Democratic
Party who gave their time and ideas so generously. I hope for the best for all of you.
