The Client
Tom MacArthur for Congress (NJ-3) hired The Prosper Group to help them win their primary in the 2014 Election Cycle.
When The Prosper Group was hired, Tom MacArthur was 40 points behind in the race for the open seat in New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District. They hired Prosper to develop and execute a comprehensive digital strategy for voter persuasion, and to drive turnout on Primary Day. With the district being covered by the expensive Philadelphia media market, it was especially cost effective and particularly important for them to invest in digital to ensure they were reaching every voter in the district.
The digital primary campaign ran for 63 days with 9 different ad types and a final spend of $144,404.26. Our primary goals with this campaign were to build name id, voter persuasion, and voter turnout.
The Plan
We began by creating a plan for integrating voter contact online so we could be assured that our digital efforts were effective. Starting off, our priority was growing MacArthur’s online presence and building his name ID.
We began by running display and search ads to a landing page highlighting the most important points from Tom MacArthur’s biography. The page was graphic heavy with an email signup form to help grow the MacArthur email list. We also began running pre-roll ads to promote the campaign’s 30 second television spots, allowing visitors to get to know Tom and his positions on important issues.
Once we were confident that people knew MacArthur’s name, we used Facebook and Twitter to engage supporters and promote the campaign’s messaging. For instance, we contrasted MacArthur’s stance on Obamacare to Steve Lonegan’s which was a major issue in the district.
With the campaign’s coordination, we were able to target the campaign’s message to likely Republican primary voters through calculated display, search, social, and pre-roll ads that were served across multiple devices.
The Results
Because of the campaign’s heavy investment in digital, and their faith in The Prosper Group, we were able to help build Tom MacArthur’s Name ID, persuade voters to support him, and turn them out to vote for him on Election Day. This was a big part of his 19-point win over a well-known local politician, Steve Lonegan.
The MacArthur campaign demonstrats how investing in an integrated digital strategy can make a campaign victorious. It’s a perfect example of how the online space can be a key medium for campaign infrastructure, especially when tackled early.
The MacArthur campaign continued their digital advertising efforts after the primary and into the general election. This is included voter targeted Pre-Roll ads which were key to persuading independents and soft democrats to support MacArthur. For a a toss-up district, it was imperative the campaign reach voters early and often. In the end, MacArthur defeated Aimee Belgard 54.7% to 43.6%.
