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2022

Katie Hobbs

  • $7.2 million raised online for the Hobbs team from 193K individual contributions
  • Creative paid media ads (like our Taylor Swift inspired ads) delivered a 487% return on ad spend
A smiling Governor Katie Hobbs holding a clipboard.
Governor Katie Hobbs

Challenge

The Arizona Governor race was a highly contested battleground election in 2022. Then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs needed to establish herself as a more moderate and serious candidate against Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate Kari Lake. The Hobbs team turned to Authentic to help raise enough money from grassroots donors to turn Arizona blue.

Services

General Consulting, Online Fundraising, Digital Advertising, Logo and Branding, Graphic and Web, and Mobile Messaging.

Strategy

We crafted a powerful political marketing strategy to showcase the clear contrasts between Katie Hobbs and her opponent, Kari Lake. We highlighted Kari Lake’s extreme positions on critical issues such as abortion and election denialism, as well as her preposterous beliefs in owning rocket launchers.

Meanwhile, our messaging emphasized Katie’s personal story and deep understanding of the challenges that Arizonans face every day. We highlighted her lived experiences and demonstrated how they would inform her work as Arizona’s next governor.

Unlike Kari Lake, who shamelessly pandered to Donald Trump and embraced dangerous and divisive rhetoric, Katie Hobbs is committed to putting sanity over chaos and fighting for the well-being of all Arizonans. Our targeted and persuasive messaging helped to solidify Katie’s position as the clear choice for voters, ultimately leading to her historic victory in the Arizona Governor race.

Tactics

Emphasizing Authentic Messaging:

Central to our tactics was establishing a sharp contrast between Katie Hobbs and her opponent, Kari Lake. We crafted a series of targeted messages for fundraising emails and paid ads that accentuated Katie’s understanding of Arizonans’ daily challenges. By highlighting her lived experiences and the informed decisions she would make as governor, we offered voters an authentic choice. Meanwhile, we exposed Kari Lake’s extreme views and alignment with divisive figures, ensuring that Katie stood out as the voice of reason and stability.

Creative Grassroots Engagement:

Capitalizing on cultural moments and popular trends, we turned a Taylor Swift album into a meme for Katie’s campaign. This was not just a creative endeavor but a strategic political marketing strategy move to connect with a broader audience. The “Midnight Deadline Alert” meme was an innovative play on campaign themes, and by aligning it with the recognizable motif of Swift’s album, we tapped into a wider demographic. The meme’s success wasn’t just in its creativity, but in its ability to generate grassroots support and bring a considerable surge in donations.

Smart Digital Acquistion:

Early and aggressive digital acquisition was a cornerstone of our online fundraising program. We recognized the value of building a substantial email list before the campaign’s official launch and grew it by over 40,000 names in the first few weeks. In 2021 alone, our paid acquisition strategies introduced over 379,000 new names, a testament to our focused online outreach. This didn’t just amplify our reach but translated to an impressive lifetime donation total of over $1.79 million by the campaign’s end, showcasing the power of our digital marketing strategy.

“Thanks to Authentic, we were able to build an historic campaign in Arizona that relied on grassroots support to propel us to victory. They were the lifeblood of our digital team, and I recommend them wholeheartedly.”

Governor Katie Hobbs
Headshot of a smiling Governor Katie Hobbs with a list of her and her opponent's political stances.

Outcome

Authentic played a pivotal role in securing Katie Hobbs’ historic victory in the Arizona Governor race.

With our innovative email and digital advertising campaigns, we highlighted the stark differences between Katie and her opponent, Kari Lake, and effectively communicated Katie’s message of choosing sanity over chaos.

Our strategic acquisition investments allowed us to grow the campaign by over 40,000 names from five different sources and brought in over 379,000 new names through paid acquisition in the year prior to Gov. Hobbs being in the cycle, resulting in a total lifetime of over $1.79 million raised.

Additionally, our Taylor Swift album meme, which cleverly played on the campaign themes and reached a new audience, helped bring in a substantial number of new donors. Our efforts not only helped Katie Hobbs break numerous state-wide fundraising records but also secured her victory in the election.