Campaign Solutions News

Peter Amen Joins Campaign Solutions

February 10, 2011 Tags: , , , , Campaign Solutions

Peter Amen, Online Advertising Strategist, Joins Campaign Solutions / Connell Donatelli

Alexandria, VA — Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli, Inc., a political consulting team specializing in online strategy, fundraising, advertising, and social media, announced today that Peter Amen has joined as Director of Business Development. Amen joins a team of 20 political professionals with offices in Virginia, California, and New Jersey. He will manage online advertising campaigns for political, corporate, and public affairs clients.

“Peter is one of the most experienced online advertising strategists in the political sphere. We’re very fortunate to have him,” said Partner Rebecca Donatelli. Amen added, “Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli are the premiere online team in Republican politics and public affairs. I look forward to helping elect more Republicans across the country and growing our issue advocacy practice in California.”

Amen is an expert in online advertising and a specialist in building and managing large political databases. He has worked successfully with clients including SarahPAC, Move America Forward, American Solutions for Winning the Future and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Amen is probably best known for his tenure as National Sales Director for Intermarkets, the publishing company for the Drudge Report. Prior to joining Intermarkets, he was the Founder and Principal of Performance Media Solutions, a media buying and management firm in San Francisco. Amen was also the Director of Sales for Interep Interactive, a full service online representation firm.

Becki Donatelli and her partner, the late Mike Connell, founded Connell Donatelli in 2003, which has developed and executed online advertising campaigns for McCain-Palin 2008, The Republican National Committee, The National Federation of Independent Business, Michele Bachmann for Congress, and scores of other political and public affairs campaigns. Founded in 1998, Campaign Solutions pioneered online fundraising for a variety of political and public affairs campaigns. The team raised over $42 million during the 2010 election cycle and nearly $100 million online for McCain-Palin 2008. Between 2009-2010, they received 55 Pollie Awards from the American Association of Political Consultants, including a record number of awards for online advertising. The team also received 4 Golden Dot Awards from the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet, and a Reed Award from Campaigns & Elections. Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli were honored to be the online team selected for the 2004 and 2008 Republican National Conventions.

For more information on Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli, please visit: www.CampaignSolutions.com or call (703) 684-3435.

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Campaign Solutions / Connell Donatelli Pioneer the Mobile Ad “Surge” for Online Campaigns

September 2, 2010 Tags: , , , , , Campaign Solutions

Groundbreaking Consulting Team Pioneers New Online Advertising Tactic

Alexandria, VA — It’s called the “Mobile Surge” and it looks like something straight out of the movie Minority Report. On behalf of the Michele Bachmann for Congress campaign, Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli unleashed the latest weapon in their online arsenal. Think of it as a Google “Surge” – this time, it’s for mobile devices only. And the experiment was highly successful. The Bachmann campaign had produced a television ad highlighting opponent Tarryl Clark’s record of taxing State Fair food. The challenge was to leverage this spot for persuasion on mobile devices.

Eric Frenchman, the team’s Chief Strategist, explains the twist on the new Mobile Surge: “Imagine you are standing on line at the Minnesota State Fair waiting to purchase a corn dog. You pull out your iPhone or Android and the only advertisement you see is this one highlighting Tarryl Clark’s votes for tax increases on State Fair food. That’s exactly what happened: in less than an hour, we served 12,500 geotargeted ad impressions to people within a 10 kilometer radius around the Fair.” So how did it perform? “Out of all new video views in the first day, 61% of the new YouTube views came in from iPhones and Android phones within the targeted radius at the State Fair.” Frenchman stressed, “when it comes to mobile advertising, it’s all about the apps, not the websites or search results.” This new strategy interacts with public opinion formation in real-time, as users experience an event. It’s groundbreaking stuff.

In 2007, Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli pioneered the web-based Google “Surge” (sometimes referred to as a “network blast”) for Bobby Jindal’s gubernatorial campaign. The original breakthrough occurred when Frenchmen realized that he could saturate roughly 95% of Google’s AdSense inventory for a given period of time. The tactic came to prominence in 2008 when Campaign Solutions/Connell Donatelli and the Yes on Prop. 8 campaign surged California for the critical 48 hours before the vote. One day later, California voters approved the measure 52.3% – 47.7%. It is now a commonly recognized tactic for all digital strategies.

Campaign Solutions President, Becki Donatelli, notes: “a Surge is most effective when concentrated around a seminal event, such as a phone your legislator day, a GOTV push, an election, or when a bill is introduced. Done properly, it creates immediate buzz, earned media, and a jolt in participation. Focusing it strictly to mobile devices, we took its effectiveness to the next level. We will look to use this for more of our Republican candidates and public affairs clients – now both on traditional and mobile devices.”

Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli are no strangers to innovation. Much of what are now standard online political tools and tactics were first designed and executed by members of their team including the first online political donation, the first online donor event, the first video donation appeal, the first online phone bank, the first “walk the vote,” the first Google Surge, and the list goes on and on.

For more information on Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli, please visit: www.CampaignSolutions.com or call (703) 684-3435.

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Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli Receive Top Honors From American Association of Political Consultants

April 19, 2009 Tags: , , , Campaign Solutions

Political Consultants Wins Best Use Of New Technology Award

WASHINGTON, DC — Campaign Solutions and sister company Connell Donatelli, Inc. have received top honors from the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC). The “Pollie Awards” are the official awards of the political communications industry and are considered “The Oscars” of political consulting. In total, Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli received a record-breaking 44 awards – more than any other Democrat or Republican firm in AAPC history. Connell Donatelli also received the prestigious AAPC Campaign Excellence Award for “Best Use Of New Technology.” This special award was presented for the firm’s groundbreaking search marketing work on behalf of McCain-Palin 2008.

The Campaign Solutions team specializes in online fundraising and advertising for Republican candidates and public affairs campaigns such as McCain-Palin 2008, the Republican National Committee, the 2008 Republican National Convention, the National Federation of Independent Business. The team is led by veteran GOP strategist and online political pioneer R. Rebecca Donatelli.

Tony Fazio, AAPC President, said, “44 awards is staggering total and this sets a new record for the AAPC. I congratulate Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli on this very high honor.” Fazio continued, “What was most encouraging about this year’s Pollie Awards was the high quality of the work that our judges had to choose from. This was the most competitive year to date as we received a record number of submissions.” Donatelli said: “We are honored by our peers for this recognition.” She added: “We will continue to pioneer cutting-edge technology to help our Republican candidates and our public affairs clients raise money and win campaigns.”

Campaign Solutions was the first political consulting firm to raise money online and received top honors in the highly-competitive “Best Of Show” competition for its critically acclaimed 2008 Republican National Convention website. Other Campaign Excellence Award winners include “Strategist of the Year” David Axelrod and “Campaign Manager Of The Year” David Plouffe. Connell Donatelli set other records in receiving 30 Pollie Awards for its online advertising including all of the top 5 honors for search marketing.

Founded in 1969, the AAPC is a multi-partisan organization of political and public affairs professionals dedicated to improving democracy. The AAPC has over 1000 members hailing from all corners of the globe. It is the largest association of political and public affairs professionals in the world.

For more information on Campaign Solutions, please visit: www.campaignsolutions.com

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