Press Release

First-person article describes "lessons learned" from use of cutting-edge targeting techniques in 2006 campaign

To download a PDF of the Campaigns & Elections article, click the photo above.

Tony Fazio, President of America's leading strategic direct mail firm and newly elected President of the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC), is the author of the first-person article "Lessons Learned: The Quest to Find Every Union Voter in California – Wherever They Live" in the current issue of Campaigns & Elections magazine.

Fazio's article describes the 2006 cutting-edge micro-targeting models created for the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO by a team of strategists and consultants including Winning Directions, Lake Research and Copernicus Analytics. The goal was to find labor-friendly voters throughout California.

"Traditional targeting has always told us to focus on union members and their families in big cities, and that's where most labor resources went for persuasion and GOTV efforts in years past," wrote Fazio. "But it's important not to build a targeting model for today's voters based on outdated demographic patterns."

Fazio described how the consultant team brought an understanding that "pro-labor voters aren't just urban union members and their families anymore." Quoting California Labor Federation head Art Pulaski, Fazio wrote, "'Pro-labor voters are still out there in large numbers, but the shifting demographics of the country mean you have to look for them in non-traditional ways and sometimes in unexpected places'" even in "the reddest of red counties."

"From Winning Directions' perspective, we also knew we wanted to add layers of information that would provide predictive value" wrote Fazio, as a means of "crafting effective messages and persuasion materials to bring our vote home." The results of the limited program of targeted mailers showed a significant positive recall of the messages and messengers, resulting in improved performance for specific issues of importance to labor, Fazio's commentary explains.

Fazio's Campaigns & Elections article concludes that the numbers for the sample mail program were large and significant enough to indicate that an expansion of this micro-targeting program on a statewide basis in 2008 will help increase the overall vote for issues and candidates supported by organized labor. Says Fazio: "We're proud we were able to help the California Labor Federation in developing this groundbreaking program and we look forward to expanding on these successes as we look to 2008 and beyond."