Recap: Behind the Campaign - Hawaii Elections
By Priscilla Zheng
“In a political campaign, the end result is win or lose. It’s not about gaining market share. It’s not about raising your brand awareness. You win or you lose.”
That was perhaps one of the more striking tidbits Alan Tang of Olomana Loomis ISC shared with us during our Behind the Campaign: Hawaii Elections webinar on December 8th. Alan and his team worked on the campaigns for Mayor-Elect Rick Blangiardi and Congressman-Elect Kai Kahele, as well as on the re-election campaign for Congressman Ed Case. All three candidates were successful in winning their seats.
Throughout the conversation, we discovered that there are a lot more similarities than differences between political campaigns and our usual marketing campaigns. Instead of marketing a product or a service, you are “marketing” a person and their platform.
The Three Campaigns
Alan shared one pivotal element from each campaign.
Congressman Ed Case
Of the three, Congressman Case had the most political experience which meant he had name recognition. Thus, the main focus of the campaign shifted to how much did people actually know about him and what he has done for the state. The best channel to convey Congressman Case’s accomplishments was through email marketing.
Congressman-Elect Kai Kahele
Congressman-Elect Kai Kahele previously served as a Hawaii State Senator following in the footsteps of his late father State Senator Gil Kahele. After Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard decided not to run for reelection, Kahele threw his bid in for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district seat. Since this seat covers large areas of Oahu and the rest of the state, state-wide name recognition was important for Kahele. This became challenging due to the pandemic for two major reasons: 1. The inability to meet constituents face-to-face, and 2. Kahele had to step off the campaign trail momentarily to serve in the Hawaii Air National Guard.
Fortunately, social media helped address these challenges. The Kahele campaign launched a series of “Talk Story” town hall videos that allowed constituents to get to know Kahele and his platform in a casual setting. These videos garnered upwards of 11,000 views on Facebook and numerous questions regarding his plans in the comments.
Mayor-Elect Rick Blangiardi
Rick Blangiardi faced 14 other candidates in the primary Honolulu Mayoral race. As a former executive for many broadcasting stations, Blangiardi held some name recognition but was new to politics. He hosted a Zoom conversation with Ann Botticelli to share his upbringing and motivation to run for mayor. This became one of the most watched videos in the campaign as many voters were looking for ways to get to know the candidates in such a crowded field.
After sharing about these campaigns, Alan then shared seven elements that both political marketing and product and service marketing have in common.
The Seven Elements
Market Research
Similar to marketing campaigns, political campaigns need to conduct market research. They mainly do this through polling, which is an important indicator of how well candidates are doing in their “market” or race. In addition to polling, Olomana Loomis ISC also created a new market research service called “Virtual Insights” which involves virtual focus groups of six to seven people. The big questions to ask during market research are “how do you measure?” and “how do you analyze?”.
Branding
“What does this brand represent? What is the brand’s strength? What is the brand’s promise?” Replace the word “brand” with “candidate” and you will realize how a candidate’s image matters, too. This is usually the first consideration when a campaign is launched as it may influence how constituents perceive the candidate. In politics, there are the extremes — the “true believers” and the “nay-sayers”. They are often deadset on their views and will not budge much. Instead, you want to focus on the middle group of people who are unsure yet of who they want to support. However, when it comes to sharing the candidate’s brand to these people, it should be a genuine representation of their values and beliefs.
Discipline
With a strong understanding of the brand and marketplace, the other key is discipline. You cannot be easily distracted by ”shiny objects”. In politics, a candidate’s weaknesses and flaws may be called out and the human instinct is to dispute and correct these accusations. Although it is important to understand your weaknesses, it is your strengths that get you to where you are. Focusing and playing to your strengths will help carry you through.
Fundraising
“You can almost tell how well you are campaigning by how much money you raise.” Alan explains this is not always true as some campaigns with smaller budgets have won, but resources do help you get your story out. As marketers in a political campaign, you become the “salesperson” of the candidate’s platform.
Advertising
Although it may seem that many advertisers are increasingly straying away from television, all three of the campaigns found value in using that medium. It’s a platform that allows candidates to share their stories with massive reach. These videos of course can be translated over to digital platforms.
Grassroots
Roots are the foundation of plants, and similarly in a campaign, the interactions with constituents become the base of the movement. Grassroot efforts vary from signwaving to “chili and rice” fundraisers. With the pandemic limiting physical interaction, the campaigns adjusted by turning to virtual interactions such as the “Talk Story” series with Congressman-Elect Kahele. These events were broadcast live online which allowed for instant interaction, but the advantage of social media was that many who could not watch live had the opportunity to watch it on their own time. Grassroots efforts are somewhat second-nature in Hawaii; we thrive on community.
The Votes
Everything in a campaign leads up to the ultimate metric: votes. In business, votes can be viewed as the equivalent of sales. Similar to business, you want to make as many conversions as you can during your candidate’s campaign. It is important to forecast the candidate’s votes and “market potential” through polling. The ultimate poll is the election itself.
Alan adds that each campaign was not the result of Olomana Loomis ISC’s work itself, but is part of a large “tent” of individuals and organizations involved. He strongly encourages everyone to participate in a campaign in whatever capacity they can — this could be through phone-banking, sign waving, attending fundraisers and town halls, and more. For marketers and advertisers, he shares: “If you can master [a political campaign] in a tumultuous storm, you can easily navigate this when the seas are calm.”