Recent Work

When the SPM team joined the effort to help Ret. Lt. Col. Charlie Brown run for Congress in March of 2006, the Brown campaign had no staff, less than $30,000 in the bank, a three-way primary, and a daunting Congressional district with a 20-point GOP registration advantage — one of the least competitive in the country. Brown faced an incumbent Member of the GOP leadership who had not had a competitive race in 15 years.

Eight months later Charlie Brown handily won the primary, raised over $1.6 million from 7,999 donors, recruited over 500 volunteers, and was featured in the New York Times, Time Magazine, and Newsweek. Charlie Brown put the CA-04 Congressional district back on competitive the map.

SPM's integrated approach was key to the success of the Brown Campaign. We found, recruited and trained the right team to put on the ground. With limited funds, we created a combination of guerilla media that tied radio, direct mail, cable TV, niche websites and internet advertising together. We used humor in our media to attack an entrenched incumbent. The result was a series of momentum-building events that allowed the campaign to catch fire. Combined with the right operation on the ground, the campaign raised over one million dollars in the last five weeks, turned out 86% of absentee-voting Democrats and produced the highest vote total for a Democrat ever in CA-04.

Direct Mail Pieces

Television Spots

Radio Spots

Campaign Web Sites

In 2006, the California Faculty Association wanted to run a "new media" campaign to engage California State University (CSU) students in the 2006 gubernatorial elections. SPM created a first-of-its-kind interactive web contest to take advantage of fast growing trends on the internet — user-generated content and social networking. Storefront also oversaw field programs on major campuses around the state to publicize the contest.

CSU students were asked to create 30-second anti-Arnold Schwarzenegger commercials or anti-Arnold websites. The winners received one year of free tuition and their video ran as an ad during the Daily Show. Winners were determined through rounds of public voting on the website. Contestants were encouraged to campaign for their entries.

Campaign Web Site

www.FlunkArnold.com became an overnight internet success story, garnering over one million hits in less than six weeks and receiving more web traffic than the Schwarzenegger website on several occasions at the end of the campaign.

Print Ads

Featured in Time Magazine and hailed in the blogosphere as "brilliant" by Houston Chronicle blogger Charles Kuffner, www.Flunkarnold.com garnered TV and print coverage in every major market in California and motivated CSU students to participate in politics.

At Storefront Political Media (SPM), our integrated approach to campaigns allows us to focus on the ultimate goal — victory — rather than how much TV time or direct mail a campaign is buying. In 2003, San Francisco Supervisor Gavin Newsom ran for Mayor. Over the course of the campaign and a contentious runoff battle, it became clear through survey research that the regular voting electorate was polarized and entrenched. The race for Mayor would not be won through TV ads or large scale media persuasion but on the ground through field operations, targeted media and turnout.

SPM crafted a field plan, a mail plan and a grassroots operation that focused on identifying and turning out 125,000 new voters. The plan created the largest vote-by-mail effort in San Francisco political history and the result was victory for Gavin Newsom.

Direct Mail Pieces

Television Spots

In the 2004 Presidential Campaign, the media Fund wanted to track President Bush's campaign events around the country, making sure to plant real-time counter attacks on the day of the President's visits. SPM planned and produced a series of radio spots and corresponding print ads, highlighting Bush's failed policies in each location.

The radio spots were each researched, developed and produced within 36 hours after learning the President's next campaign stop. They were designed to greet George Bush in cities on the day of his campaign events. The radio ads engaged listeners by giving them the "real-time" connection to the day's news — the spots often used the sound of planes taking off. The radio spots were complemented by full-page newspaper ads that ran in the local paper that day.

Print Ads

Radio Spots

"Hear"

"Nevada Talks Back"

At Storefront Political media, we believe that Democrats too often cede the language of morality to our opponents. In 2004, the Yes on 3 Committee was determined to stop the repeal Article XII, a Cincinnati law that prevented employment and housing discrimination against gay and lesbian members of the community.

In an election year in which many attributed the strength and size of the Christian conservative vote to the success of the Bush Campaign, SPM helped Yes on 3 to become the only winning gay and lesbian rights campaign in the entire country — in usually conservative Ohio no less.

By refusing to cede moral language and imagery, the Yes on 3 Campaign argued that repealing the anti-gay discriminatory measure was inconsistent with the traditional Christian values of equality and tolerance. Our mail pieces "Not Just on Sunday" and "Our Daily Bread" highlighted Cincinnati as a city of faith and community and used local religious leaders to frame the gay rights debate in a new and ultimately successful way.

Print Ads

"Daily Bread"

"Not Just on Sunday"