GoodBuzz Solutions President Lauren Day was asked to partner with Potomac Strategy Group last year to fundraise for the Save Austin Now PAC.
Together we raised millions of dollars in 2021 from thousands of Austinities and Central Texans to get Prop B (a public camping ban) and Prop A (refunding the police department) on the ballot and then we ran an aggressive marketing and grassroots campaign for City of Austin voters to vote on.
Save Austin Now PAC Co-Founder Matt Mackowiak said, “With her typical professionalism and precision, no one worked harder to pull all of the elements together for Save Austin Now PAC fundraising events than Lauren. I’m extremely appreciative of her contribution.”
My primary responsibility was recruiting Austin event hosts for fundraisers in homes all over Travis County and in restaurants/clubs owned by supporters, inviting guests to attend these daily fundraisers (sometimes 2-3 events per day), and managing the event from planning to execution and follow up of commitments.
The last two weeks in May’s election and also in November’s election, I was aggressive at texting (peer-to-peer) Austin voters to get out the vote by helping them understand the proposition language, find their nearest poll, locate a ride there, and answer general questions.
Matt Mackowiak said on May 12, 2021, “The ten-week campaign is a blur. We raised $1.8M from 3,000+ donors, including extraordinary financial generosity from several courageous business leaders in our city. The support was extraordinary and unprecedented. We worked 16-18 hour days for ten weeks. We conducted more voter contact than anyone in Austin history. We were disciplined, strategic, data-driven, focused and relentless.”
“Despite Mayor Adler predicting it (Prop B) would be “very close”, in the end we won nearly 91,000 votes and secured a decisive 58-42% victory, which included 40%+ support from Democratic voters, 88% support from independents and 92% support from Republicans.”
With the Prop B decisive win in our pocket, we charted ahead with getting Prop A – refunding the police and increasing training – as a proposition on the November ballot.
We were ahead according to October polling numbers until George Soros & Co donated $1.5M in the final weeks before November’s Election Day. This out of state mega-donor threw money to fund a misinformation campaign of lies which ultimately led to the proposition’s loss.
Matt shared that in the eight weeks leading up to Prop A’s Election Day, Save Austin Now PAC did the following voter contact within the budget:
DIRECT VOTER CONTACT (ID, LIVE CALLS, TEXTS, ROBOCALLS):
- Over 6.4M total voter contacts (we did 4M total for May election)
- 1.979M robocalls
- 3.8M peer to peer text messages
- 547k live call center calls
- 121k individual voters identified
- 32% of the early vote ID’d as supporters of Prop A, and a 202% turnout of our ID’d supporters compared to overall electorate
DIGITAL:
- We developed 71 different content videos (all here under ‘video’) with four videos with at least 60,000 views on YouTube, including Spanish
- Over 7 million video views of our content
- We hit the average voter in our target universe more than 12 times over a 30 day period with a unique focus on Hispanic voters (20 times over 30 days)
- We owned 97% of Google Search results for relevant search terms
FIELD PROGRAM:
- Targeted doors knocked: 30,092 (in 30 days) and Doors canvassed: 6,160 (approximately 20%—the industry standard)
- Phone banking calls: 33,498 (conducted over seven days)
- 10 paid Field Organizers
- 60+ volunteers (knocking and calling consistently)
This does not include:
- $100,000 in digitally delivered TV and radio ads through OTT devices
- $60,000 in terrestrial radio to our top stations in terms of demo
- 20 billboards around the city
- 90 large signs placed around the city
- 1,800 yard signs placed
As a fourth-generation Austinite mom of young children, I am extremely invested in this city and want it to remain a place that continues to attract the best from around the world and keep them here working and raising their families. Common-sense policies governing where people can safely stay overnight and having access to help through 9-1-1 call centers and responsive police in emergencies should be basic to a functioning city like the Live Music Capital of the World.
GoodBuzz can serve as a fundraiser for your cause and a “marketing director for hire” on a monthly retainer contract or can serve you with specific a la carte projects. Should you like help promoting your issue, brand, or product please contact us here.
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