CHALLENGE
Nearing the final stretch of his bid for Atlanta City Council, Kwanza Hall faced two opponents and had yet to employ the leadership team who would guide his campaign across the finish-line. Running for an open seat during the 2005 mid-term election, the contest promised to be a low turn-out affair. Kwanza needed to energize his base voters and win with more than 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off.
SOLUTION
In October, Kwanza tapped Howard Franklin as Deputy Campaign Manager, with intentions to hire a permanent campaign manager. Howard effectively took the reigns of the campaign, supervising multiple aspects of Kwanza’s successful bid for Atlanta City Council. In addition to overseeing the voter ID program, coordinating earned media and direct mail, Howard also analyzed citywide polling results and interpreted them for district level issues and priorities. He supervised grassroots efforts including literature drops, street-corner visibility, and kept the candidate on target and above the fray. RESULTS
Leveraging creative visibility (retail visibility, neighborhood canvassing, a streetcar) and longstanding community ties, the campaign infiltrated gated communities and met with hard-to-reach voters. We created an air of ubiquity through targeted direct mail and repeated literature drops. And finally, Kwanza relied upon a targeted voter ID with a “knock-and-drag” GOTV program for early voting and election day, winning 54% in a three-way election.
Kwanza Hall Wins City Council Seat
http://clatl.com/atlanta/election-may-give-mayor-tighter-reins/Content?oid=1260243 |
