Creating a Campaign Organization - Three Approaches

[MineralMan]

Approach #1 - Hire a few people who have managed and staffed many campaigns in the past. Pay them well. Then, rely on volunteers, unpaid interns, and $15/hr. clerical staff in key campaign offices. Use a good, but not fantastic advertising agency to create and produce your advertising materials. Micromanage ads and go for traditional advertising approaches. Hold rallies, press the flesh, but don't overdo your marketing, since you're a little short of cash. Wait until a few days before a primary election to begin advertising and making appearances. Save your energy. Forget about any state that doesn't vote blue. They don't matter, really.

Approach #2 - Hire top staff with lots of chutzpah, even if they're associated with a failed third-party campaign in the past. Make sure that they agree 100% with your wildest dreams and then turn them loose. Pay them OK, but remember, they're not really stars, so don't overpay them. Base your campaign on enthusiastic supporters doing most of the work. They'll be really, really eager to help you win. Don't train them very much. Just let them do their own thing and hope for the best. Don't pay them, of course. They'll work hard because they love you. If they misbehave in their zeal, under no circumstances scold them, fire them, or tell them to "knock that crap off." Organize rallies that will turn out crowds of adoring supporters. The more people, the better, right? Never mind that 10,000 applauding fans are less than one percent of the primary voters from your party. Their enthusiasm will make up for that, right?

Approach #3 - Find the most creative and effective advertising and marketing people you can locate. Pay them very, very well, and turn them loose to create dozens of sharply focused ads attacking the current office-holder while presenting attractive proposals to the exact voters you hope to influence. Buy tons of air time on broadcast network affiliates and schedule all ads to run during news programming time slots. Pay the card rate for the time. Next, hire some outstanding, youngish field workers with solid experience in public relations. Pay them 60K a year. Have them open campaign offices in all major and mid-sized markets. Supply those offices with great yard signs, campaign paraphernalia and tschotkes they can hand out to all comers. Since you're financing your own campaign, give all that stuff away like candy, and just say, "No thanks" when people offer to donate. Don't force donations from people who will be advertising for you before giving them campaign collateral. That's just stupid. Have a few rallies here and there, but focus mainly on your media campaign. That will reach far more people. Pay social media "influencers" to push your campaign. You'll be amazed how little that costs per impression. Hit each state hard, beginning about a month before that state's primary election, and give red states just as much attention as blue states. They send delegations to the convention, too. Others may forget that, but you won't.

Which approach do you think is likely to produce the best results?

[nobuddy]

1. 3 obviously

[MineralMan]

2. I think we're going to test that.

It may change campaigning forever.