Erin Schrode for Congress CA District 2
Objective: Raise mass awareness and funds for an unknown, 25-year-old Congressional candidate in CA District 2 in 60 days.
Erin Schrode recently turned 25. Feeling fed up by the lack of millennial and female representation in the USA's supposedly representative government, she decided two months before the primary election in California to run against the incumbent for Congress. If elected, Erin would become the youngest woman ever elected.
Audience
To win political campaigns it is as important for a candidate to raise money as it is to raise awareness and sometimes the latter is dependent on the former. Therefore, we have two main audiences:
- Primary: ABC1 socially active men and women ages 16-46 located all over the world.
- Secondary: ABC1 men and women ages 18 and older located in CA District 2 (Marin County, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, and Del Norte Counties).
Politically speaking, both of these audiences are extremely critical when it comes to anyone running for pubic office, immediately distrusting motives and expecting the worst. With a background in environmental activism, and of course being so young and inexperienced, Erin is anything but your average political candidate. She could be interesting to them.
Key Insight
The American people don't trust politicians, and they're tired of having to choose between the lesser of two evils every time there's an election. They're looking for fresh blood that hasn't been tainted by the stagnant political arena full of untrustworthy agendas. In other words, they're looking for someone like Erin.
Strategy
Because Erin isn't your average political candidate, her campaign is anything but average. And due to our extremely quick turnaround deadline, we needed to create something that would quickly educate voters, district members and donors alike about her candidacy, and inspire them to want to meet her. In this case, a video advertisement designed to be shared seemed like the best way to reach people on a mass level quickly, cheaply and effectively.
We used a creative advertising approach to achieve this. Working with a film director with a background in fashion and a consumer-based advertising director of photography, we came up with a concept that showed Erin as herself - a seemingly normal 25-year-old woman who is unapologetically running for Congress despite many naysayers who don't believe in her. The result is a stark, 90 second video showing Erin in her element and fighting the good fight. The aim of the video is to show Erin as intriguing. We want it to act as a conversation starter.